Womble Bond Dickinson Places 11 Attorneys on 2019 IAM Patent 1000; Firm’s California & NC Patent Practices Also Recognized

Eleven Womble Bond Dickinson attorneys have been recognized by Intellectual Asset Management magazine in the IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners for 2019. Firm attorneys ranked in the 2019 IAM Patent 1000 are:

• Daniel Attaway – Litigation . Attaway represents pharmaceutical and biotech patent holders in Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) and related patent litigation. He also has represented clients in non-practicing entity (NPE) and trade secrets cases in both state and federal court in Delaware. In addition, Attaway serves as Delaware counsel for out of state clients before the US District Court for the District of Delaware.
• Brent Babcock – Litigation, National Post-Grant Proceedings . Babcock represents high-technology clients in every aspect of intellectual property disputes, focusing on federal district court litigation throughout the country, trials and post-grant patent proceedings before the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) proceedings, including domestic and international arbitrations. His practice also includes pre-litigation counseling, pre-interference and post-grant proceeding consulting, and appellate briefing and oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
• Christopher Bolen – Transactions . Bolen’s principal areas of practice include complex technology licensing, strategic alliances, and IP-related transactions, as well as trademarks and copyrights. He guides his clients through the complexities of acquisition, development, protection and commercialization of technology and brands in both traditional and electronic distribution channels. Bolen serves on Womble Bond Dickinson’s Global Board, and is the past Co-Leader of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group.
• Mary Bourke – Litigation . Bourke was the co-first chair for Pfizer’s successful defense of Lipitor® against several ANDA filers. Additionally, Bourke currently represents AstraZeneca in multiple litigations involving AstraZeneca’s successful drug CRESTOR®. She has more than 25 years of patent litigation experience at both the district court and appellate levels.
• Chris Humphrey – Prosecution . Humphrey leads Womble Bond Dickinson’s Patent Prosecution & Litigation Practice Group. He helps clients achieve their business objectives in three main areas: creating and managing an international patent portfolio; analyzing the competitive patent landscape to ensure the business risk associated with commercial activity is manageable; and evaluating third party patent portfolios as part of the acquisition process.
• Lou Isaf – Prosecution . Isaf has more than four decades of experience providing strategic advice relating to all aspects of intellectual property development, procurement, market protection and commercialization. His practice includes analyzing complex patent portfolios, assessing infringement and validity of patents, resolving patent conflicts and developing intellectual property strategies both domestically and internationally.
• Dan Ovanezian – Prosecution . Ovanezian has 20 years of experience in intellectual property law. His practice encompasses the entire patent life cycle, including mining and identifying patentable inventions and advising patent committees, conducting training seminars in IP matters, and prosecuting patent applications with the USPTO. Ovanezian also helps companies establish patent committees and perform IP landscaping, and regularly guides startups looking to develop IP portfolios for IPOs and other exit strategies.
• Bill Ragland – Litigation. Ragland is among Womble Bond Dickinson’s most experienced lead litigators and intellectual property strategists. He has litigated more than 60 patent infringement and patent-related cases in his 32-year career, as well as scores of other intellectual property disputes. Ragland also provides strategic advice regarding the structure, negotiation and implementation of intellectual property enforcement and licensing programs and portfolio management services. He is a past president of the Atlanta Bar Association, founded the Atlanta Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section and served as its first co-chair, served as chair of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Litigation Section, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia.
• Jim Scheller – Prosecution . Scheller concentrates his practice on patents, copyrights and other intellectual property in connection with electronic, computer, and Internet related technologies as well as medical device technologies. His work includes patent prosecution, IP counseling, opinion preparation, due diligence, review and evaluation of patent portfolios, freedom to operate studies, IP licenses and litigation support. Scheller has been admitted to the California bar since 1983.
• Andrew Spence – Prosecution . Spence is an IP attorney whose practice focuses on patent procurement and protection in electronics and computer technology. He has significant experience handling complex patent matters for companies in various fields and covering a number of diverse technologies, including telecommunications, aerospace and e-commerce.
• Jeffrey Whittle – Transactions . Whittle provides over two decades of legal experience to clients in the energy and high tech industries. He advises on strategic and complex technology transactions, licensing, patent protection, portfolio analysis, and other contentious and transactional intellectual property matters including inter partes reexaminations, post-grant reviews, and derivation proceedings, among other disputed cases. Whittle leads Womble Bond Dickinson’s International IP Energy Group and serves as Managing Partner of the firm’s Houston office.

In addition, the IAM Patent 1000 report recognizes Womble Bond Dickinson as a top firm for patent law in California (Patent Prosecution) and North Carolina.

The report described the firm’s California patent practice as follows: “The past year was transformational for the IP practice at transatlantic full-service outfit Womble Bond Dickinson; in January it added a 20-strong crew of lawyers and patent agents including James Scheller from well-known tech firm Blakely Sokoloff Taylor Zafman; in May it added all-round high-technologist Daniel Ovanezian from Lowenstein; then in November it scored a coup with the addition of top PTAB mind Brent Babcock from Knobbe Martens. These moves give it a strong prosecution, strategic counselling and post-grant practice to build on in California and an additional resource for clients of IAM Patent 1000-ranked lawyers from the firm’s offices in Delaware, North Carolina and Georgia.”

For North Carolina patents, IAM reported, “Womble Bond Dickinson is a major presence in North Carolina with offices in Charlotte, Research Triangle Park and Raleigh, each well-served with switched-on IP lawyers capable of solving complex patent riddles. In Charlotte, Andrew Spence is the go-to guy for anything high-tech. He knows his way around the USPTO, including the PTAB. Based in Research Triangle Park, Christopher Bolen advises life sciences companies on the protection and commercialization of their key intangible assets. In Raleigh, Christopher Humphrey is a master of the chemical and mechanical arts who excels as a strategic and commercial portfolio management and development guide.”

The IAM Patent 1000 is an annual guide to the leading patent practitioners in 50 jurisdictions around the globe. Researchers spent five months interviewing patent attorneys and the buyers of their legal services to determine the IAM Patent 1000 for 2019. Ranked attorneys do not pay to be listed in the IAM Patent 1000.