Wolf Greenfield & Sacks

wolfgreenfield.com

Libbie DiMarco

Libbie DiMarco is a leading intellectual property litigator and head of the firm's ITC Practice. Libbie serves as lead counsel in complex and high-stakes patent disputes before the International Trade Commission and Federal District Courts nationwide. She is recognized for her commanding courtroom presence, strategic acumen, and unwavering commitment to her clients. As a trusted lead counsel, Libbie guides clients through every phase of litigation, from investigation and pre-suit negotiations through trial and appeal, with a focus on achieving decisive results. Libbie's practice spans a broad range of technologies, including data storage devices and systems, mobile and other electronic devices, chipsets, high-speed electrical connectors, printer cartridges, medical devices, and chemical products and processes. Libbie also handles intellectual property enforcement proceedings before the US Customs and Border Protection and post-grant proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). A thought leader on all matters related to the ITC, Libbie often speaks and writes about ITC trends and cases. She is ranked among the top 1% of best performing litigators at the ITC. Prior to joining Wolf Greenfield, Libbie clerked for the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Libbie co-chairs the firm’s Washington, DC office.

Heather DiPietrantonio

Heather DiPietrantonio counsels biotechnology and other life sciences clients on patent portfolio management and strategic development. With a PhD in genetics and just over 15 years of experience in the patent profession, Heather provides clients in the life sciences space with a unique and valuable perspective on intellectual property matters that lie at the intersection of technology and law. She works with clients ranging from start-ups and small- to mid-sized companies to research institutions at all stages of the business lifecycle. Heather helps clients survey competitive patent landscapes and renders opinions of counsel on freedom to operate, non-infringement, and patent invalidity. She also conducts IP due diligence for venture capital investment and corporate business development. Heather has experience working with a wide range of therapeutic areas including cancer, autoimmunity, metabolic disorders, and rare diseases with a focus on RNA-based therapeutics, gene editing, gene therapy, cell therapy, vaccines, antibodies, tissue engineering, and transgenic animals. Heather strives to cultivate a true partnership with each client and serve as an extension of their team. She leverages her combined business acumen, technical understanding, and legal knowledge to help clients develop and execute on intellectual property strategies that align with their company’s broader goals. In addition to her role within Wolf Greenfield’s biotechnology team, Heather is also active in the legal community through organizations like the Boston Patent Law Association, Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology, and Women in Bio. She has been repeatedly ranked by Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers, has been recognized by the IAM Patent 1000 as one of the world’s leading patent professionals, and has been recognized among Top Women of Law by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. During her doctoral research, Heather focused on the regulation of neuronal cell fate, differentiation, and axonal guidance through genetic and signal transduction mechanisms.

Richard Giunta

Rich is a nationally recognized leader in handling trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). He consistently ranks among the top 1% of lawyers in the country based on winning percentage and was named the PTAB practitioner of the year by Managing Intellectual Property in 2021. Rich has prevailed on issues of first impression numerous times, and in matters with more than one billion dollars at stake. Among the most experienced PTAB practitioners in the country in representing patent owners and petitioners alike, Rich has handled more than 200 matters before the PTAB, including inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR). Rich’s track record of success is unmatched, and he is routinely engaged to represent industry-leading companies (e.g., Google, Sony, Nuance, Becton Dickinson, Smith & Nephew, Shell Oil, Mediatek) and academic institutions (e.g., University of Florida, University of Minnesota). In practice for over 30 years, Rich also has extensive patent prosecution and reexamination experience. He has advised clients on the development of commercially valuable patent portfolios and led the firm’s Electrical & Computer Technologies Practice for more than 15 years. Rich has written and prosecuted patents that have been successfully asserted to a jury verdict of infringement and that have withstood attacks before the PTAB. He founded and led the firm’s Post-Grant Proceedings Practice for nearly 10 years. As a former senior hardware design engineer in a CPU development group and the holder of a patent on a memory diagnostic system, Rich is particularly skilled at handling all types of computer and software related technologies.

Oona Johnstone

Oona Johnstone works closely with life science clients, taking a creative approach to helping them develop IP strategy that is catered to their specific business needs. Oona’s practice includes US and foreign patent prosecution, IP due diligence, FTO and patent landscape analysis, IP transactions, and client counseling related to post-grant proceedings, including inter partes review (IPR), in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and cleantech. Her experience spans a wide range of technologies including biologics and biosimilars, systems and synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, gene editing and gene therapy, nucleic acid-based therapeutics, neuroscience, oncology, foodtech, agtech, transgenics, vaccines, and immune-modulating agents. Oona has a particular interest in technologies impacting the environment and sustainability, such as fermentation-based methods for producing alternative proteins, ingredients and flavors, and the advancement of cellular agriculture-based methods. Oona regularly counsels corporate clients ranging from start-ups to large multinational companies, financial institutions such as private equity and venture capital firms, non-profit organizations, and universities. Oona also has experience advising clients on maximizing patent term through patent term adjustment (PTA) and patent term extension (PTE). Prior to joining Wolf Greenfield, Oona was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. Her research, focusing on posttranscriptional gene regulation, was part of a large-scale initiative to use genome-wide technologies to characterize networks of RNA-protein interactions in the developing mammalian brain. Oona’s doctoral research on RNA helicases helped to elucidate cell biological questions related to RNA localization and translational regulation, while placing these mechanistic insights within the context of the developing embryo.

Patrick Waller

Patrick Waller chairs the firm’s Biotechnology Practice. He counsels clients in patent prosecution in the biomedical field and has experience in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, drug design and discovery, biological manufacturing and processing, structural biology, bioinformatics, and diagnostics. Patrick’s practice also involves strategic counseling in connection with patent portfolio development, licensing, and third party and competitor intellectual property. Patrick has extensive experience with contracts including those involving research organizations and consultants, all in the field of drug development. Specifically, he helps develop and implement technology licensing strategies for clients. In addition to general patent licenses, Patrick is particularly skilled when it comes to drafting research and development agreements, as well as collaboration agreements. His experience includes technical areas such as gene therapy, synthetic biology, diagnostics, and drug development, including small molecules and biologics. Patrick’s doctoral research involved the biochemical and genetic analysis of targeted protein degradation.