Describe your firm's approach to litigation and your strategy for building successful teams for trials or other matters. Finnegan's success in litigation is predicated on the depth and diversity of experience of the members of our teams. We have more than 230 litigators with substantial bench and jury trial experience who have technical degrees (150+ with graduate degrees) in virtually every field that we have litigated. Our ranks include former Federal Circuit and district court clerks, [International Trade Commission] staff attorneys, and [U.S. Patent and Trademark Office] examiners and [Patent Trial and Appeal Board] judges. And, as a full-service IP firm, we have unparalleled experience across the entire spectrum of IP issues that a client faces including patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright litigation and counseling.

Discuss the two biggest intellectual property litigation cases your firm worked on in 2019 and how you reached successful outcomes. [Finnegan] secured a victory for Combe in the [U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia] involving the VAGISIL brand of feminine-care products, winning a de novo appeal from an adverse ruling at the [Trademark Trial and Appeal Board]. The court reversed the TTAB's decision, found likelihood of confusion between the parties' VAGISIL and VAGISAN marks, and concluded the results of Combe's confusion survey were "powerful evidence of actual confusion."

[The firm] represented Valeant, Salix and Progenics in the [U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey] to protect patent rights related to the successful Relistor tablet, a mu-opioid receptor antagonist for treating opioid-induced constipation in adults with chronic non-cancer pain. After trial in May 2019, Judge [Stanley] Chesler upheld the validity of the asserted patent claims and found those claims infringed, entering judgment in favor of plaintiffs through the life of the patents in 2031.

What are the most challenging and satisfying aspects of your work in litigation? Our litigation practice lives at the intersection of technology and the law, which is challenging because the contours of both are inherently dynamic. This challenge, however, highlights Finnegan's strength because our lawyers are subject matter experts that are not just providing strategies for our clients that react to changes, we are also thought leaders that put our clients in the best position to anticipate challenges ahead. We gain a considerable amount of satisfaction from identifying and solving IP-related business issues that our clients did not see coming both within and outside the context of litigation.

What is the most important piece of advice you'd share with young lawyers? Never underestimate your potential to contribute to a case. Young lawyers should dig into every case to get a complete understanding of the legal and factual issues facing the client. It is also important to maintain perspective and ask, "How is what I am doing furthering the client's goals?"

Responses submitted by Frank DeCosta, partner and leader of the litigation section at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner. DeCosta has significant experience in patent litigation and client counseling. As a first-chair litigator, he directed litigation teams that obtained jury and bench judgments of more than $100 million. He frequently defends clients against patent infringement charges directed to complex technologies.

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