Richard Sanders, Partner

Richard S. Sanders is a partner in the Cooley Godward Kronish Litigation department.  He joined the Firm in 2007 and is one of the founding partners of the Boston office.

He specializes in all areas of intellectual property and commercial litigation, including patent and trade secret litigation; non-competition litigation; inventorship, licensing, and technology and life sciences partnering disputes; and other complex litigation and dispute resolution, including antitrust, unfair competition, and general corporate/commercial litigation. Mr. Sanders routinely advises domestic and foreign clients on all aspects of U.S. legal disputes, including litigation risk management, pre-litigation analysis and assessment, and negotiated dispute resolution, and represents those clients before courts, arbitrators and mediators across the United States. Mr. Sanders' clients are located around the world, including North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Sanders was a partner in the Boston office of Sullivan & Worcester LLP, and national Chair of that firm's Technology Litigation Practice Group.  Before joining Sullivan & Worcester, he was a partner in the Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Groups at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP.

Representative Client Work

  • Represents a life sciences company in ANDA litigation
  • Represents an e-commerce company in patent infringement litigation relating to network sales systems
  • Represented a provider of integrated network performance management solutions in a patent infringement litigation
  • Represented a leading developer of advanced wireless technologies in patent infringement and licensing litigations
  • Represented a life sciences company in a license dispute concerning the company's efforts to seek FDA regulatory approval for one of the company's Phase III products
  • Represented a operational support systems software and services company and its U.S. and foreign subsidiaries in a dispute concerning the theft of confidential, proprietary and trade secret and copyrighted business information and software
  • Represented an Argentinean national in a U.S. patent ownership dispute
  • Represented a manufacturer of optical fiber cable in a patent infringement litigation
  • Represented a technology company and its Irish subsidiary in a dispute concerning worldwide distribution rights
  • Represented a Japanese multinational corporation in a license dispute involving fullerene production technology
  • Advised a technology company on U.S. and worldwide product liability issues
  • Represented a software company in a dispute with a licensee concerning unpaid royalties
  • Represented a life sciences company in a dispute with a French multinational corporation concerning license, supply, marketing and distribution rights for superparamagnetic iron oxide particles
  • Represented a technology company in a dispute concerning the theft of confidential, proprietary and trade secret information relating to business methodologies for electronic data storage and protection
  • Represented an engineering software development company in a dispute concerning the theft of confidential, proprietary and trade secret information relating to software used to simulate the three dimensional flow of molten plastic
  • Represented a multinational corporation in a license dispute involving fullerene production technology
  • Advised a pharmaceutical company on issues involving a serious adverse event following administration of the company's drug during a Phase III clinical trial
  • Represented a life sciences company in an inventorship and trade secret dispute relating to the development and use of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents
  • Represented a life sciences company in a license and trade secret dispute relating to methods to treat mitochondrial disease using uridine analogs
  • Represented a life sciences company in a patent infringement action relating to cell preservative fluids
  • Represented a start-up life sciences company in a theft of trade secrets dispute relating to insulin pump technology

Representative Court Decisions

  • In Re Diagnostics Systems Corp., Misc. Docket No. 882 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 2, 2008)
  • Affiliated Foods Midwest Cooperative, Inc. v. Integrated Distribution Solutions, LLC and Retalix, Ltd., 460 F. Supp. 2d 1068, 2006 WL 3060028 (D. Neb. 2006)
  • Gianelli v. Chirkes, 377 F. Supp.2d 49 (D.D.C. 2005), aff'd, 204 Fed. Appx. 24 (D.C. Cir. 2006)
  • Furukawa Electric Co. of North America et al. v. Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Co. Ltd.,  No. Civ.A. 05-11219-RGS, 2005 WL 3071244 (D. Mass. Nov. 16, 2005)
  • Lycos, Inc. v. Internet Venture Works, Inc., No. Civ.A. 02-11383-RWZ, 2003 WL 21146 (D. Mass. May 19, 2003)
  • Digital Privacy, Inc. v. RSA Security, Inc., 195 F. Supp.2d 771 (E.D.Va. 2002)

Publications

  • Espionage: A byproduct of today's global economy, Boston Business Journal (March 2, 2007)
  • "Litigation is a Risk of Doing Business in the United States," The Lawyers Weekly (Canada), Vol. 23, No. 37 (February 6, 2004)
  • "Doctrine of Inevitable Disclosure: How Courts Impose Non-Compete Requirements," 5(No. 2) Journal of Biolaw and Business (2002)
  • "Discovery from Out-of-State and Foreign Nonparty Witnesses," Massachusetts Discovery Practice Ch. 18 (MCLE Books, Inc. 2002)

Speaking Engagements and Interviews

  • "Protecting Your IP and Managing IP Risks in a Competitive Environment," CleanTech North, Toronto, Canada (2009)
  • Collaboration Overview:  Structures, Term Sheets, Economics and Risks," BioContact Quebec 2009, Quebec City (2009)
  • "Partnering Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them," BioPartnering North America, Vancouver, Canada (2009)
  • "Cross-Border Business:  What You Need To Know," BioContact, Quebec City, Canada (2008)
  • "Inconvenient Truths? Recent Patent Law Decisions and Their Impact on Partnering Deals," BioPartnering Europe, London, U.K. (2007) 
  • Quoted exclusively and extensively in an article entitled "Corporate espionage: a by-product of today's global economy" in CanadExport, a Canadian publication aimed at providing news and advice on trade and investment opportunities around the world
  • Profiled in the Montreal Gazette article titled "Suing Rivals is the U.S. way of doing business:  Sanders advises Canadians on how to mitigate the risks of litigation" (August 4, 2006)
  • Appeared on CNBC as an expert on representing foreign businesses in U.S. litigation (2005)
  • "Globalization Strategies for Emerging Corporates: Operationilizing Winning Strategies," Citigroup Commercial Banking Group, Thought Leadership Roundtables, Mumbai and New Delhi, India (2005 and 2006)
  • "U.S.-Canada Cross Border Intellectual Property Litigation: Distinctions, Litigation Strategies, and Litigation Management," Canadian Bar Association, Quebec Division, Section of Information, Telecom, and Intellectual Property, Montreal, Canada (2005)
  • "Managing Risk: Current Legal, Accounting and Disclosure Issues Impacting Israeli Companies in the US," Investing in Israel Conference, New York (2005)
  • "Forging the Resolution of International Disputes: Managing the Expense of Expanse," The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Annual Meeting, Winnipeg, Canada (2004)
  • "US-Canada Cross-Border IP Litigation: Distinctions, Litigation Strategies, and Litigation Management," The Canada-U.S. Licensing Executive Society Annual Meeting, Boston (2004)

Mr. Sanders was voted a Best Lawyer in America in 2009 and 2010, and a Massachusetts Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2005 and 2006.

 

Mr. Sanders received his B.C.L. and LL.B., with honors, as well as his M.S. and B.S., from McGill University.

Education

  • McGill University
    LLB, with honors
  • McGill University
    BCL, with honors
  • McGill University
    MS Immunopathology
  • McGill University
    BS Physiology

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court, District of Nebraska
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
  • United States Supreme Court

Admissions

  • Massachusetts

Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Boston Bar Association
  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Canadian Corporate Counsel Association
  • Federal Circuit Bar Association

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