Overview
Adam Lawton represents clients in patent litigation and antitrust litigation, with a focus on the biopharmaceutical, life sciences and technology industries.
Adam advises companies at both the trial and appellate levels, as well as before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in inter partes review proceedings.
He has significant experience in matters that lie at the intersection of antitrust and patent law, focusing particularly on antitrust challenges to patent litigation settlements and patent enforcement conduct.
Adam draws on his academic training in synthetic chemistry and professional experience in the software industry to offer technical insight and industry expertise on the legal issues confronting top biopharmaceutical and technology companies. He has worked directly with fact witnesses ranging from CEOs to clinical development executives, commercial executives and software engineers, and with experts ranging from molecular biologists to pharmaceutical formulation scientists, former FDA officials and economists.
For clients in the biopharmaceutical industry, he has litigated cases involving biologics, cell therapies and small-molecule pharmaceuticals, in therapeutic areas including hematology-oncology, rheumatic disease, cardiovascular disease, men’s health and diabetes.
He has coauthored winning briefs at every stage of federal-court litigation, and, when representing defendants, he has devised and helped to implement legal strategies that have eliminated billions of dollars of claimed damages.
Before entering the practice of law, Adam worked in the technology sector, where he managed corporate development, intellectual property licensing and patent portfolio development for a venture-backed software company.
In his free time, Adam is an avid runner. He has run more than 60 marathons and half marathons.
Capabilities
Practices
Industries
Experience
Patent Litigation
Biopharmaceutical and Other Life Sciences
Kite Pharma, a Gilead subsidiary, in defeating allegations of patent infringement relating to its chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, Yescarta®.
Amgen in defending against allegations of patent infringement relating to its bevacizumab (Mvasi®) and trastuzumab (Kanjinti®) biosimilars.
AbbVie in patent infringement litigation relating to Humira® biosimilars.
Abbott Laboratories in its successful defense against patent infringement litigation filed by a life sciences company relating to Humira®.
The University of California in appealing an adverse decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board involving CRISPR technology.
Technology
Google in a multi-patent case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and six parallel proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board resulting in a combination of dismissal of claims, non-infringement findings and invalidity findings for each of the 10 patents asserted against numerous Google products, as well as Google services for mobile phones and tablets.
Microsoft in defending against accusations of patent infringement related to sales of the Microsoft Office software suite, a case in which Munger Tolles’ clients obtained summary judgment of non-infringement and won affirmance by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Antitrust Litigation
Biopharmaceutical and Other Life Sciences
IDEXX Laboratories in defeating a purported consumer class action relating to volume commitment programs offered to veterinarians who purchase diagnostic equipment for in-clinic use.
AbbVie:
- before the U.S. Supreme Court at both the certiorari and merits stages in FTC v. Actavis, Inc., in which the Court determined the appropriate level of antitrust scrutiny for so-called “reverse payment” settlements of pharmaceutical patent litigation and rejected the FTC’s proposed presumption of illegality for those settlements.
- in defeating claims brought by the FTC seeking disgorgement of over $1 billion based on allegations of wrongfully delayed generic entry.
- in defending against sham litigation antitrust claims and successfully obtaining summary judgment, before an MDL court.
Takeda Pharmaceuticals in purported antitrust class actions brought by direct and indirect purchasers of Actos and Actoplus Met in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, as amici in appeals involving antitrust challenges to pharmaceutical patent litigation settlements.
More
Adam’s pro bono practice focuses on representing clients in the various forums that play a role in the U.S. immigration system, and he has co-chaired the firm’s pro bono immigration program.
He has successfully represented clients before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the immigration courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and he has secured relief including asylum, lawful permanent residence and special immigration juvenile status.
Publications
- Contributing author, ABA Antitrust Section’s “Pharmaceutical Industry Antitrust Handbook”
Speaking Engagements
- Panelist, Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association, Washington in the West (January 2025)
- Panelist, California Lawyers Association, The Patent Office Comes to California (June 2024)
- Moderator, Consero IP Forum for Life Sciences (December 2023)
