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Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP
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Of Counsel
(P) 617-443-9292, ext 304
(F) 617-443-0004
lmeyer-leon@sunsteinlaw.com
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EDUCATION
Boston College Law School, J.D.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D
Smith College, A.B.

Articles

 

Leslie Meyer-Leon, Ph.D.

Leslie Meyer-Leon, Of Counsel to our firm, brings nearly two decades of deep transactional, dispute negotiation, and patent prosecution experience to a practice focused primarily in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biochemistry and oncology. She uses her broad range of skills to help clients harness the resources they have at their disposal to achieve their business goals. Leslie uses intellectual property law to bring together the best parts of science, business, law and people, namely, significant technological developments, interesting business problems, the challenge of building on legal precedent, and people who are creative and enthusiastic about what they are doing.

Experience

  • Prior to joining our firm, Leslie managed her own law practice (IP Legal Strategies Group P.C.) for nine years, where she developed her client-centered and interdisciplinary approach toward using portfolio strategies for overcoming business obstacles. There she handled IP-related transactions (e.g., patent, trademark, and copyright licensing; confidentiality, material transfer, and joint research agreements; employment, consulting, and work-for-hire agreements); resolution of business disputes by negotiated settlement and leveraging of IP assets; patent and trademark prosecution; patent-interference proceedings; patent infringement, validity, and freedom-to-operate opinions; IP-related due diligence.
  • Obtained favorable outcomes as lead attorney, on behalf of major pharmaceutical company, in multiple patent-interference proceedings, resulting in elimination of competing biotech patents and applications.
  • Conducted patent infringement, validity, and pre-litigation analyses related to biotechnology, organic and inorganic chemistry, diagnostic devices, and many other technologies.
  • Negotiated joint venture, collaborative research, and patent out-license with European-based multinational on behalf of entrepreneur.
  • Prosecuted patent applications for numerous institutions, especially in the chemical, biochemical, and biotechnology-related arts.
  • Represented start-up and mid-size companies, multinational companies, non-profit medical research institutions, retail, service, financial, and real estate establishments, and entrepreneurs.
  • Conducted intellectual property due diligence for numerous IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and follow-on securities offerings; negotiated opinions of counsel; assessed litigation risks and benefits; evaluated competitive strength of target IP.
  • Negotiated and drafted technology licensing agreements, sponsored-research and development agreements, supply agreements, and confidentiality agreements.
  • Negotiated terms of sale of technology start-up company on behalf of seller.
  • Managed license dispute on behalf of licensor including settlement negotiations, supervising audit of licensee, and participating on litigation team during trial before arbitrator.
  • Appeared on behalf of inventor-creditor before US Bankruptcy Court and before U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to correct ownership record for patents subject to bankruptcy stay.
  • Renegotiated supply and license agreements to curtail infringing acts of former distributor.
  • Reshaped copyright and trademark ownership and licensing structure to settle infringement and product-dumping dispute.
  • Obtained favorable judgment in internet domain dispute, to halt hijacking of trademark-related domains by female escort service.
  • Represented plaintiff in district court action to correct inventorship on certain patents which had blocked plaintiff's commercial freedom-to-operate; conducted early-stage discovery and witness interviews as a member of plaintiff litigation team; provided analysis of winning claim construction and prosecution-history estoppel positions as a member of biotechnology defendant litigation team; litigated patent inventorship challenge; prepared complaints, discovery requests, law and fact memoranda, and appellate materials.

Community and Professional Involvement

  • Advises the editorial board of the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery as a member of its Patent Highlights Advisory Board (2001 - present)
  • President, Boston Patent Law Association (2007 - 2008)
  • Officer and Member, Board of Governors, Boston Patent Law Association (2000 - 2009)
  • Co-Chair, Patent Law Committee, Boston Patent Law Association (1998 - 2004)

Honors

  • Chosen by Nature Publishing Group as featured patent attorney in the career snapshots section of its journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (2008)
  • Ph. D. awarded in Molecular and Cellular Biology, based on a dissertation on the biochemistry of DNA-binding proteins and site-specific DNA recombination (1989)

Bar & Court Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office