Blending scientific training and extensive patent litigation and intellectual property (“IP”) counseling experience, Anders Aannestad provides comprehensive insights into complex IP issues facing his clients. His expertise is applied in all phases of IP litigation, from case management and discovery to depositions and trials. Mr. Aannestad helps his clients obtain dispositive facts and put them to effective use for case-winning results, including trial court and Federal Circuit rulings, and decisions positioning his clients for attractive settlement.
As part of his Hatch-Waxman pharmaceutical litigation practice, Mr. Aannestad represents Sandoz Inc. and Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in high profile patent litigation in the Southern District of New York against Teva Pharmaceuticals regarding Sandoz and Momenta’s application for approval to sell a generic glatiramer acetate product. During 2011, Mr. Aannestad served as trial counsel for Sandoz and Momenta in that case, as well as for Sandoz in the Allergan v. Sandoz trial in the District of Delaware regarding Sandoz’s application to sell trospium chloride.
In 2009-2010, Mr. Aannestad represented Axis-Shield Diagnostics Ltd., Euro-Diagnostica AB, and Stichting Voor De Technische Wetenschappen in patent litigation in the Southern District of California against Inova Diagnostics, Inc. regarding infringement by Inova’s products for the detection of rheumatoid arthritis. Mr. Aannestad represented his clients through motion and claim construction hearings resulting in the elimination of Inova’s primary defense and a favorable claim construction order leading to a settlement resolving the litigation without trial.
Mr. Aannestad had a lead role representing General Atomics in a 2007-2008 patent case against Axis-Shield relating to diagnostic assays for homocysteine. In that case, Mr. Aannestad’s technical skills, combined with his fluency in Norwegian, put him at a distinct advantage in key depositions, resulting in the grant of summary judgment of noninfringement by the Northern District of California and affirmance by the Federal Circuit. Axis-Shield subsequently became a Morrison & Foerster client.
As another example, Mr. Aannestad was part of the team that represented the Regents of the University of California against Monsanto in the Northern District of California, in a case that concluded on the eve of trial in a 2006 licensing agreement worth more than $200 million in royalty payments.
In 2005, Mr. Aannestad helped represent Scantibodies Clinical Laboratory, Inc., a San Diego-based manufacturer of diagnostic parathyroid hormone assays, through trial in a patent infringement action brought by Nichols Institute Diagnostics in the Southern District of California. Following a two-week bench trial and three-week jury trial, the patent was invalidated on three grounds (best mode, enablement, and written description), and one of the Scantibodies' products was found not to infringe. On appeal following the district court's ruling on post-trial motions, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the asserted patent is anticipated by prior art and therefore invalid. During that case, Mr. Aannestad developed a key damages strategy that successfully undermined Nichols’ damages claims.
Mr. Aannestad is admitted to practice in California and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and is fluent in Norwegian. Mr. Aannestad is an experienced triathlete who has competed in hundreds of endurance events ranging from sprint and Olympic distance triathlons to ultradistance races and the Hawaii Ironman World Championship, and has twice cycled from San Francisco to San Diego to raise funds for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.