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Materials Science and Energy Storage

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Our Materials Science and Energy Storage team provides full-spectrum patent counsel services, working closely with clients...

Our Materials Science and Energy Storage team provides full-spectrum patent counsel services, working closely with clients throughout the innovation lifecycle to address the technical, economic, regulatory, and environmental challenges faced by materials science and energy storage-focused companies.<div data-reactroot=""><span class="rich-text-component-embed" data-component-info="{&quot;uid&quot;:&quot;blt0152fed24bd8d971&quot;,&quot;_version&quot;:1,&quot;locale&quot;:&quot;en-us&quot;,&quot;table_source&quot;:&quot;&lt;div style=&#x27;position: relative;width: auto;padding: 0 0 72%;height: 0;top: 0;left: 0;bottom: 0;right: 0;margin: 0;border: 0 none&#x27; id=\&quot;experience-66290771225f6\&quot; data-aspectRatio=\&quot;1.38888889\&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen src=&#x27;https://view.ceros.com/mofo/materials-science-energy-storage-group&#x27; style=&#x27;position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;bottom: 0;right: 0;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: 0 none;height: 1px;width: 1px;min-height: 100%;min-width: 100%&#x27; frameborder=&#x27;0&#x27; class=&#x27;ceros-experience&#x27; title=&#x27;Materials Science and Energy Storage Group&#x27; scrolling=&#x27;no&#x27;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Ceros - Materials Science and Energy Storage&quot;,&quot;publish_details&quot;:{&quot;time&quot;:&quot;2025-03-21T16:43:41.373Z&quot;,&quot;user&quot;:&quot;blt02c6960575474003&quot;,&quot;environment&quot;:&quot;bltf4674cd9142c5020&quot;,&quot;locale&quot;:&quot;en-us&quot;,&quot;_trace&quot;:&quot;array_node;description;publish_details&quot;,&quot;_key&quot;:&quot;publish_details&quot;},&quot;_fetched&quot;:true,&quot;_content_type_uid&quot;:&quot;table_content&quot;,&quot;_trace&quot;:&quot;array_node;description&quot;,&quot;_key&quot;:&quot;key&quot;}" data-component-type="table_content" data-component-inline="false"></div>

Nathan Vogler is a Partner in the firm’s Patent Group and heads the patent group’s Materials Science and Energy Storage practice. His practice concentrates on domestic and international patent prosecution, IP due diligence, IP counseling, IP portfolio management, and IP litigation support including patent infringement and validity determinations. Nathan has handled matters in all stages of patent prosecution, including new application drafting, office action responses, patent appeals, and continuation and divisional filings. He has drafted and prosecuted patents in various technology areas, including polymer chemistry, composite materials, industrial processing, nanotechnology, catalysts, batteries, magnets, consumer electronics, and software. In addition, Nathan has experience handling reexaminations, reissue applications, and supplemental examinations before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.In addition to his patent prosecution experience, Nathan also has considerable experience in adversarial proceedings before the USPTO including inter partes review proceedings instituted by the America Invents Act. He has experience representing both Petitioners and Patent Owners, and has represented clients in all stages of the proceedings, such as drafting petitions, patent owner responses, expert depositions, and oral hearings before the PTAB.Representative completed post-grant matters include the following:<ul><li>IPR2021-00210, -00211, -00213: Successfully defended patent owner Malvern against three inter partes reviews, resulting in petition denials.</li><li>IPR2017-01312: Successfully defended patent owner HML. The USPTO found all claims patentable in a final written decision.</li><li>IPR2014-01266, -01313: Defended patent owner HML against two inter partes reviews by different parties, resulting in claim survival or petition denial.</li></ul>Nathan received his J.D. with high honors from The George Washington University Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and was a member of the George Washington Law Review. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering, with a minor in chemistry, summa cum laude from Purdue University. While in law school, Mr. Vogler was a summer associate at Morrison Foerster.Nathan is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Virginia and District of Columbia and is registered to practice before the USPTO.

Nathan Vogler

Partner

Anita Choi has decades of experience providing strategic advice to companies and investors in the <a href="/capabilities/life-sciences-healthcare" target="_self" dir="ltr">Life Sciences</a> and <a href="/capabilities/food-agriculture" target="_self">Food + Agriculture</a> industries. She has helped start-up companies build IP portfolios around their core technologies, and counseled them on issues related to patents versus trade secrets. She has worked with larger, more established companies to manage global patent portfolios in a way that integrates IP with their business models. Combining her legal and business expertise enables her to navigate complex challenges that require complex solutions hence why she is so often called upon by clients to help with assessing, building and strengthening patent portfolios.  She has also counseled investors in IP due diligence, identifying critical issues that may affect valuation and risk assessment in deals.Anita is part of the <a href="/life-sciences-healthcare-leadership" target="_self">Life Sciences + Healthcare Leadership Team</a>, as well as the Food + Agriculture Leadership Team within the firm. She co-leads the firm’s Chemistry Subgroup within the patent practice, which covers both the Pharmaceuticals and Materials sector within the chemistry space. She also co-leads the firm’s Food + Agriculture patent practice. Anita’s clients praise her ability to quickly gain a deep understanding of their technology and business, which allows her to think critically, creatively and practically in patent portfolio management.Anita is recognized as a key lawyer by The Legal 500 US for patent prosecution. She received her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Chemistry and was named to the Order of the Coif. During law school, Anita also completed her M.B.A. at the Wharton School of Business.Anita is co-editor of our <a href="https://lifesciences.mofo.com/" target="_blank" dir="ltr">MoFo Life Sciences Blog</a>.Life SciencesAnita gained a solid technical background across disciplines during her time studying at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), where she received her Bachelor of Science with honors. She spent several years working at Pfizer, developing small molecule compounds for use in oncology therapies. She has performed research at CalTech involving unnatural amino acids, and at MIT involving fluorescent zinc sensors, both for use in developing neuroscience applications.Anita has counseled clients in a wide variety of life science technologies, including small-molecule pharmaceuticals, cannabinoids, nutraceuticals, pharmaceutical and cosmetic uses, pharmaceutical formulations, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health.Food and AgTechAnita has advised businesses in developing IP strategies for soil and crop technologies, sustainable farming, alternative protein sources, fermentation technologies, extraction technologies, new categories of food and beverage products, and food packaging.The breadth of technologies that Anita works with also enables her to provide IP advice at the intersection of multiple technical disciplines. For example, Anita’s practice is also well positioned at the convergence of data analytics in the Life Sciences and Agriculture industries.ChemistryAnita also has technical expertise in chemistry outside of Life Sciences, such as in the Materials space, including Cleantech. She has developed IP strategies for biobased materials, polymer chemistry, composite materials, catalyst-based technologies, industrial processing, batteries, and carbon capture technologies.IP Due DiligenceAnita is skillful with investor-side and company-side patent due diligence. She supports many of the firm’s corporate deals, advising on ownership and patent portfolio risks and conducting patentability and freedom-to-operate assessments. She also supports her own clients undergoing IP due diligence by investors.IP Litigation SupportAnita also works closely with the IP Litigation Group to formulate strategies for infringement contentions, validity/invalidity contentions, and claim construction positions. She actively supports the patent litigators in pre-litigation diligence matters to evaluate the strength of patents and patent portfolios.Pro BonoAnita has an active pro bono practice and has been awarded the State Bar of California's Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services for many consecutive years. She regularly represents families seeking legal guardianship. She also assists numerous non-profit organizations in developing and securing patent protection for their core technologies.

Anita Choi

Lisa N. Silverman focuses on patent portfolio management and strategic patent counseling in the areas of chemistry and life sciences. She has extensive experience in securing U.S. and foreign patent protection for pharmaceutical products and a deep understanding of patent lifecycle management and strategies for maximizing patent term. In addition to pharmaceuticals, Dr. Silverman also works with clients in the areas of clean technology, bioassays, and medical devices.Dr. Silverman routinely represents clients in both investor- and target-side due diligence, including patentability and freedom-to-operate assessments. She has a keen interest in the intersection of patent and regulatory considerations for pharmaceutical products and medical devices, and she has prepared numerous applications for patent term extension.Dr. Silverman has represented companies of all sizes, from start-ups to multi-national corporations, and provides advice tailored to each client’s unique business needs. She has worked with large companies to ensure robust patent protection for marketed drug products. She has worked closely with several mid-size companies to expand patent protection and mitigate potential infringement risks as lead drug candidates have moved through clinical development toward commercialization. She has also advised small companies on securing early foundational patents.Prior to entering the legal field, Dr. Silverman obtained her Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University, where she was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Her doctoral research in the laboratory of Professor Steven G. Boxer focused on spectroscopic investigation of charge transfer reactions in organic, organometallic, and biological molecules. Dr. Silverman received her B.A. summa cum laude, in chemistry and political science from Barnard College, where she performed synthetic organic chemistry research in the laboratory of Professor Christian M. Rojas. She also studied alpha-helical folding of small peptides in the laboratory of Professor Ronald Breslow at Columbia University.Dr. Silverman received her J.D. from Stanford Law School. She was a member of the Organizations and Transactions Group of the Stanford Law School Mills Legal Clinic, where she provided governance advice and drafted contracts and management materials for Northern California non-profit organizations.

Lisa Silverman

Materials Science and Energy Storage

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