Melissa Harwood

Melissa focuses her practice on strategic intellectual property counseling as well as patent due diligence for partnering deals, venture financings, public offerings and mergers & acquisitions.

Notable key matters Melissa has handled include representing: a biotechnology company in a US$100 million asset acquisition; a biotechnology company in a US$177 million IPO; investors in IP due diligence for a biotechnology company’s US$270 million Series A round of financing; and underwriters in IP due diligence for a biotechnology company’s US$80 million IPO.

Her practice also encompasses strategic patent counseling for clients in the biotechnology, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, including patent portfolio development and management, opinion preparation, and patentability, non-infringement, and freedom-to-operate analyses. Melissa advises private and public companies at all stages of development from proof of concept to regulatory approval and product launch.

Melissa also has extensive experience litigating patent matters in federal court and before the US Patent and Trademark Office, including inter partes review and reexamination proceedings. In addition to working closely with litigation counsel, she works closely with licensing, corporate and regulatory counsel, providing her clients with comprehensive IP representation.