Joseph J. Mellema

Joe Mellema is a partner in the Firm's Litigation Group. His practice focuses on litigation in federal and state courts, including the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, and business and commercial disputes. He has handled patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair business practices, antitrust, and business and commercial lawsuits in all phases of litigation and arbitration.

Joe is well-versed in patent and trademark enforcement, preparation and prosecution, as well as trademark enforcement and opposition proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent & Trademark Office. He has considerable experience litigating patents in a variety of technical fields, including optical devices and components, computer networks and databases, semiconductor devices and processes, computer hardware and software, and pharmaceuticals.

He has dual degrees in electrical engineering and physical sciences, and was formerly a systems engineer at Raytheon Company working on next-generation sensors and systems for the Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Joe has particular experience in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries, representing companies in patent-related disputes, managing IP portfolios, and conducting due diligence projects. He has represented specialty and brand pharmaceutical companies in disputes under the False Claims Act, involving Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA), and pertaining to trade secrets for proprietary processes for preparing drug formulations and compositions. He has also successfully litigated multi-billion dollar complex pharmaceutical cases under the Hatch-Waxman Act.

Joe was selected to the 2017 Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for Intellectual Property.