Matthew McFarlane

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Before joining Practus, Matt McFarlane served as Counsel at Leichtman Law PLLC. Prior to that, he honed his legal expertise at prominent law firms and served as an adjunct professor of law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, where he taught patent claim construction and transactions involving patent rights. He has successfully represented clients in high-stakes patent disputes and advised on technology licensing, corporate governance, and risk mitigation. 

An active advocate for social impact, Matt has served as a director and advisor to several charitable organizations dedicated to environmental conservation, individual rights, and expansion of justice. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to advancing knowledge, innovation, and equity through law and leadership. 

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Represented inventor on a patent infringement jury trial against a former potential licensee that claimed to independently develop the patented technology years after confidential disclosure.  

• Defended company sued on patents relating to biotechnology tools, obtaining summary judgment of invalidity. 

• Advised a private capital investment firm, on further investment in an existing biotechnology company based on an enforceability analysis of intellectual property protecting the company’s principal asset  

• Advised a not-for-profit investment firm on intellectual property issues surrounding its various grantmaking activities 

• Advised a not-for-profit medical education company, on corporate structure and intellectual property issues surrounding its charitable purpose and potential for-profit applications  

• Counsel for several pharmaceutical companies engaged in Hatch-Waxman litigation for the sale of generic pharmaceutical products. 

• Defended company against patent infringement allegations for claims relating to milling machine operation. 

• Defended beverage industry client in trademark infringement and false advertising jury trial.  

• Defended company sued in a multi-district patent infringement litigation involving patents for genetic-based tests to detect genes linked to hereditary cancer, obtaining a dismissal of all claims. 

• Defended an inventor in a lawsuit filed by a competitor seeking declaratory judgment of non-infringement and invalidity of patent claims covering prenatal testing methods. 

• Represented a biotechnology tool development company in a patent infringement lawsuit against a competitor involving genetically engineered mice. 

• Advised a pharmaceutical company regarding the enforceability and strength of the patent portfolio protecting a key drug product in development 

• Advised a biotechnology company regarding licensing renegotiations based on critical evaluation of licensed patents; negotiated settlement without litigation led to tremendous reduction in royalty payments over time 

• Counsel for a domestic agricultural biotechnology company in a patent infringement, patent licensing, and antitrust lawsuit involving genetically modified agricultural products. 

• Counsel for a pharmaceutical company in a patent infringement jury trial and subsequent appeal in a case involving analogs of recombinant therapeutic proteins. 

• Counsel for a domestic biotechnology company and universities in a patent infringement jury trial and subsequent appeal in a case involving immune system treatment methods. 

• Counsel for pharmaceutical companies in a patent litigation involving methods for the recombinant expression of proteins. 

• Served as pre-litigation counsel to biotechnology company in planned product-line expansion involving therapeutic antibody technology. 

• Counsel for a biotechnology company in a patent litigation involving bacterially produced recombinant therapeutic proteins.