Maryellen Feehery Hank

Maryellen, a patent attorney for over 25 years, is a member of the intellectual property group. Her intellectual property counseling couples her analytical skills with a keen strategic viewpoint.

She advises clients on IP strategy development and implementation; IP portfolio licenses, acquisitions and divestitures; utility and design patent prosecution, including inter partes reviews, reexaminations and reissues; patent invalidity and non-infringement opinions; negotiation of complex IP transactions; trademark prosecution; trade secret counseling; patent, trademark and trade secret litigation; and other intellectual property counseling.  Also, she has appeared in U.S. District Courts, the Federal Circuit and before the U.S. Board of Patent Appeals for pharmaceutical and specialty chemical clients, among others.  She regularly coordinates with FDA counsel regarding Orange Book listable patents and provides paragraph (iv) litigation advice.  Clients seek her in the pharmaceutical, specialty chemical, biological, recycling, catalyst, design and animal repellent fields, among others.

Career highlights include:

• Counseled a Dutch pharmaceutical company regarding US intellectual property strategy and its patent portfolio covering its branded drug and pipeline in a $1.3 billion public offer for purchase by a company looking to expand its US pharmaceutical market presence
• Strategized with a client to determine the optimal parts of its international patent portfolio to divest
• Co-counseled international companies with foreign patent attorneys to develop optimal US patent protection (utility and design) and broad PCT applications
• Worked with client executive teams to maximize their IP portfolios in fields such as pharmaceutical, biological, specialty chemical, recycling, and catalysts
• Conducted due diligence related to a medical device company for possible acquisition of its software and device patents and pending applications
• Counseled a large privately-held international corporation on the in-license and ultimate acquisition of the international patent and trade secret portfolios for three pharmaceutical products from an international publicly traded corporation
• Structured license and sublicense agreements for a publicly traded corporation in a crowded patent field for a block-buster drug product
• Evaluated a target company’s international patent and regulatory portfolio for a possible merger or asset acquisition
• Represented an animal repellent manufacturer in the negotiation and sale of its multi­million dollar business including its trademark and patent portfolio
• Defended a large dermatological pharmaceutical company in the U.S. District of Connecticut and the Federal Circuit in patent infringement and invalidity lawsuits – successfully obtained summary judgments on invalidity and non-infringement, which were upheld by the Federal Circuit
• Navigated IP issues for numerous IPOs and other successful offerings
• Designed and implemented patent strategies for numerous drug and biological products, including Orange Book listed patents, vastly improving ROI for those drugs

Maryellen taught a Masters of Law course entitled, “Technology Law and IP for Non-Lawyers,” for several years as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Before becoming an attorney, Maryellen was a process engineer for Rohm and Haas.  She received her B.S.E. in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Honors & Recognitions

Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2004-2005

Professional & Community Activities

Leadership Philadelphia

Executive Leadership Program, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Waldron Mercy Academy, Association for Promoting Community Through Social Activities