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Intellectual Property

Market-leading companies and emerging innovators alike turn to Arnold & Porter to protect and enforce their most important assets — domestic and international IP rights spanning patents, trademarks, copyrights, rights of publicity, trade secrets, and related content. Our well-recognized and respected Intellectual Property team litigates and counsels on all aspects of IP for clients in key, economically vibrant industries where cutting-edge IP protection and brand integrity are critical, including technology, life sciences, medical device, consumer goods, food and beverage, fashion and luxury, and media. Our record across jurisdictions has earned us the reputation as a go-to firm handling complex, high-stakes cases, where the right to make or sell core products may be at risk.

  • Expansive Presence: 70+ patent litigators with a strong record of success in significant patent jurisdictions throughout the U.S. — including California, Texas, Delaware, New York, the PTAB, the ITC, and the Federal Circuit — and before the English Patents Court.

  • Relevant Degrees: More than half of our patent team members hold degrees in engineering and scientific disciplines, including biology, biochemistry, all engineering fields, computer science, and physics.

  • The Name for Household Names: Our trademark practice serves a variety of industries where branding and cutting-edge IP protection are critical, including the consumer goods, food and beverage, fashion and luxury, and life sciences sectors.

IP Practice Recognized in Law360's 2023 Practice Groups of the Year Awards
Law360 IP Group of the Year logo
"Arnold & Porter provides robust guidance and services for complex and sophisticated matters. They are also extremely responsive and timely." – Chambers USA Intellectual Property: Litigation

Experience Highlights

  • Adobe in multiple IP cases, including patent, copyright, and trade secret matters across several jurisdictions. We have successfully defended Adobe in numerous patent matters across e-commerce platforms and systems, electronic signatures, real-time animation, and other technologies. We also represent Adobe in the protection of its IP rights against infringers.

  • Boston Scientific in securing a US$158 million verdict following a patent litigation between competitors in the endoscopy space. The jury found that the plaintiff willfully infringed the asserted patents.

  • Hologic in securing a complete win and recommended limited exclusion order before an ALJ in an ITC investigation of a four-patent infringement complaint involving mammography imaging technology, which led to a favorable settlement.

  • Hologic Inc. as lead trial, appellate, and Supreme Court counsel in patent litigation, secured complete plaintiff and counter-claim defense jury verdict for Hologic, affirmance on appeal, and U.S. Supreme Court upholding of assignor estoppel doctrine. The SCOTUS decision has important implications for patent assignments, employee mobility, and due diligence of corporate transactions.

  • Nike in numerous IP cases, including patent (utility and design), trademark, trade dress, and trade secret matters in courts and before administrative agencies across several jurisdictions. Our representation includes both offensive and defensive work. We have been successful both in enforcing Nike’s IP rights against infringers and in defending Nike against infringement claims across all IP subject matters. 

  • Major League Baseball in litigation before the Copyright Royalty Board and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals concerning the allocation of billions of dollars in copyright royalties, as well as in rulemaking proceedings before the Copyright Office concerning compulsory licenses for cable systems and satellite carriers.

  • Pfizer in numerous trademark litigations and disputes, TTAB matters, and other matters involving infringement of the Pfizer mark and numerous other brands.

  • Samsung in a litigation against a university claiming infringement of multiple patents relating to the interface between humans and devices, where the university asserted theft of the inventions (in addition to infringement) and sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. On the eve of trial, we prevailed on a novel issue of law and then prevailed in having the patent claims adjudicated as unpatentable.

  • Sanofi and Regeneron in successfully invalidating Amgen's patents and preserving Sanofi and Regeneron's ability to continue to market its life-saving, cholesterol-reducing drug Praluent. The case involved important issues relating to antibody patents and its outcome is likely to have an impact on companies developing therapeutic antibodies.

  • The Hershey Company as trademark counsel, enforcing the company's many valuable trademark and trade dress rights (including shape marks and color marks) in litigation, TTAB proceedings, domain name disputes, and cease-and-desist letter practice, as well as trademark protection matters at the USPTO.

Language - English

Focus Areas

Key Contacts

Douglas A. Winthrop
Douglas A. Winthrop
Partner
San Francisco;
Silicon Valley
+1 415.471.3174 +1 415.471.3174
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Related Services

Recognition

  • Benchmark Litigation
    Intellectual Property: Tier 1 (2024)
  • Chambers USA
    Intellectual Property (Nationwide) (2024)
    Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets (Nationwide; Washington, D.C.; New York; Illinois) (2024)
    Intellectual Property: Litigation (Washington, D.C.) (2024)
    Intellectual Property: Patent (New York) (2024)
    Intellectual Property: Patent Prosecution (Washington, D.C.) (2024)
    Life Sciences (Nationwide, California) (2024)
    Technology: Outsourcing (California) (2024)
  • Law360
    "Practice Group of the Year" (2023)
  • Managing Intellectual Property

    20 of the firm's attorneys were listed as "IP Stars" in the magazine's survey report focusing on the "leading" intellectual property attorneys in the United States and the UK (2023)
    Patent Disputes (National; California; Washington, D.C.; New York) (2023)
    Trademark Disputes (National; California; Washington, D.C.; New York) (2023)
    Copyright & Related Rights (National; California; Washington, D.C.) (2023)
    Patent Prosecution (Washington, D.C.) (2023)
    IP Transactions (National) (2023)
    Life Sciences – IP (National) (2023)

  • BTI Consulting Group
    IP Litigation Leaders (2024)
  • Chambers Global
    Intellectual Property: Patent (USA) (2024)
    Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets (USA) (2024)
  • World Trademark Review 1000
    Prosecution and Strategy (New York; Washington. D.C.; Illinois) (2024)
    Enforcement and Litigation (California, New York, Illinois) (2024)
  • The Legal 500 US
    Trademarks: Litigation (2024)
    Intellectual Property: Copyright (2024)
    Patent Litigation: Full Coverage (2024)
    Patents: Prosecution (including Re-Examination and Post-Grant Proceedings) (2024)
    Outsourcing (2024)
    Sports (2024)
  • LMG Life Sciences Awards 
    Life Cycle Firm of the Year - United States (2023)
    Patent Impact Case of Year – United States: Amgen v. Sanofi (U.S. Supreme Court 2023)
    Firm of the Year — Intellectual Property (2021)
    Impact Case of the Year: Amgen v. Sanofi (Federal Circuit 2021)
    Impact Case of the Year: Hologic v. Minerva (U.S. Supreme Court 2021)
  • LMG Life Sciences Guide
    General Patent Litigation (2024)
    Patent Strategy and Management (2024)
    Hatch-Waxman Patent Litigation (2024)
  • IAM Patent 1000
    Litigation (National; New York; California; Washington, D.C.; Illinois) (2024)
    Prosecution (Washington D.C.) (2024)
    Transactions (New York; UK: England & Wales) (2024)
    International (2024)
  • Chambers UK
    Life Sciences: Regulatory (UK-wide) (2024)
  • The Legal 500 UK
    TMT Intellectual Property: Patents (Contentious and Non-Contentious (2023)
  • Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms
    "Best Law Firms" for Litigation - Intellectual Property – Chicago; Colorado; National; Washington, D.C.; New York; San Francisco (2024)
    "Best Law Firms" for Litigation - Patent – Chicago, National, Los Angeles (2024)
    "Best Law Firms" for Trademark – National, New York, Los Angeles (2024)
    "Best Law Firms" for Copyright – National, New York (2024)