John J. Molenda

John Molenda is co-chair of Steptoe’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry Practice, is head of the Intellectual Property Practice for the New York office, and has served on the firm’s Executive Committee. He focuses on patent litigation at the district court and appellate levels, opinions of counsel, due diligence, and post-grant proceedings, including inter partesreviews (IPRs) and reexaminations.

He represents clients across technologies, including biotherapeutics (biologics), pharmaceuticals (Hatch-Waxman), biochemical research tools, genetically modified plants, medical devices, semiconductors, fiber optics, and computer software.

With respect to John’s appellate practice, he litigates regularly in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, including briefing, oral argument, and complex motion practice. He has held substantial roles in over 20 Federal Circuit appeals, including arguing one of the first pharmaceutical-related IPR appeals.

John is active in the Federal Circuit community, currently serving as a Vice Chair of the Federal Circuit Bar Association’s Bench & Bar Planning Committee. He has previously held leadership roles on the FCBA’s Patent Litigation, Legislation, and Rules Committees. Prior to private practice, he served as a Federal Circuit law clerk for the Honorable Alan D. Lourie.

With respect to his district court and IPR practices, John has served as lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigations across the United States and has played key roles in multiple trials, mediations, and Markmanproceedings.

At the same time, John routinely counsels clients on the strategic use of IPRs as part of litigation and settlement strategy, and has served as lead counsel in numerous IPR proceedings on behalf of both petitioners and patent owners. John has served as co-chair of PLI’s Fundamentals of Patent Litigation program since 2014 and speaks regularly about current topics and trends in IPR practice.

While John’s work encompasses a wide range of technologies, he has developed a particular expertise in the area of biologics and biosimilars. He currently represents two pharmaceutical companies in a case involving blockbuster biologics to lower cholesterol and is coordinating pre-litigation strategy and counseling for a global biosimilars program involving high-value monoclonal antibody and cytokine products.

John has also led biologics teams conducting transaction-related diligence and pre-petition diligence in advance of IPR filings. He speaks frequently on recent developments involving biologics and biosimilars for organizations including ACI, World Congress, Knowledge Group, BIOTECanada, Canaccord Genuity, and the FCBA.