Ms. Yohannan is a member of the firm’s Patent Litigation Practice Group. Ms. Yohannan represents pharmaceutical, biotechnical, chemical, and electrical clients on patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret matters before federal and state courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Ms. Yohannan has served as lead counsel in cases before several federal district courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The cases she has litigated include patent, trademark, and trade dress cases that cover the chemical, medical device, mechanical, and biotech fields.

Ms. Yohannan is a frequent speaker on intellectual property issues in the United States. She will be moderating a panel of speakers regarding recent patent law decision at the Federal Circuit Bar Association’s Tenth Bench and Bar Conference. Ms. Yohannan has also given talks in various forums on how to navigate the ethical rules that govern practice before the USPTO.

Ms. Yohannan was appointed to the Advisory Committee to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by then Chief Judge Haldane R. Mayer. Ms. Yohannan served two consecutive terms on the Advisory Committee. While on that Committee, Ms. Yohannan assisted the Court by providing advice and counsel, serving on the steering committee for the bi-annual Judicial Conference, spearheading the drafting and publishing of the second volume of the Court’s history, among other duties and responsibilities.

Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Ms. Yohannan practiced at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, and was Of Counsel to Wiley Rein LLP where she worked with the Intellectual Property, Litigation, Copyright, Communications, and Appellate practices. Ms. Yohannan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Pauline Newman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She has also served as an Associate Solicitor to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where she was responsible representing the USPTO on a variety of matters before federal trial and appellate courts. In that capacity, Ms. Yohannan was responsible for drafting briefs on behalf of the government before the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Yohannan received her J.D., with high honors, from The George Washington University Law School. She also holds a M.S. in Molecular Genetics from the University of Connecticut and a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Lafayette College.

Representative Experience

• Served as lead attorney on appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and in patent and trademark litigation in various U.S. district courts.
• Counseled various chemical, pharmaceutical, electrical, and biotechnological clients on infringement, validity, freedom to operate, licensing, and regulatory matters.
• Negotiated numerous complex telecommunication agreements for leading telecommunications providers.
• Provided contract and licensing advice to a client acquiring a background music service; evaluated numerous national and international music license agreements.
• Litigated numerous attorney disbarment prosecutions on behalf of the USPTO.
• Experienced in writing amicus curiae briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Authored an international treaty on industrial design patents and provided legal advice on patent legislation.
• Authored various parts of 37 Code of Federal Regulations, which governs the USPTO.

Representative Litigations

• Hewlett Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb Inc.
• Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.
• Odetics, Inc. v. Storage Technology Corp. et al.
• Kubota Tractor Corp. v. Gamut Trading Co. et al.
• Eli Lilly Co. v. Barr Labs. Inc.
• SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Apotex, Inc. et al.
• Novamedix Dist. Ltd. v. Q. Todd Dickinson
• Vallana v. Nicholas Godici
• Humanoids Grp. v. James E. Rogan
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office v. Michael Colitz
• AstraZeneca v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al.
• Ortho McNeil v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Zuna Corp. v. Atico Int’l Inc. et al.

Representative Appeals

• In re Baker Hughes Inc.
• In re Belvedere
• In re Berg
• In re Berger
• In re Bonczyk
• In re Cederblad
• In re CUBA, Inc.
• In re Gately
• In re Greenleaf
• In re Kollar
• In re LC Licensing
• In re McDaniel
• In re Reeves
• In re Sastry
• In re Wako Pure Chemical
• Dethmers Mfg Co. v. Automated Equipment Mfg

Organizations

• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Federal Circuit Bar Association
• Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association

Publications

• Edward H. Phillips v. AWH Corp. et al.: Did the Federal Circuit Change Anything? Patent Strategy & Management, vol. 6, no. 5 (Sept. 2005).
• 2002 Patent Law Decision of the Federal Circuit, Am. Univ. L. Rev., vol. 52, no. 4 (2003).
• Chief Editor and Contributing Author, The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: A History, 2nd Ed. (2004).
• Editor and Contributing Author, Intellectual Property Law Monthly (2002-2004).