Dr. Eldora Ellison is a Director in the Biotech/Chemical and Litigation Practice Groups. Over the course of her eighteen-year career, she has gained extensive experience in inter partes patent matters, built on a strong foundation in patent prosecution. Dr. Ellison has represented clients in more than a dozen patent interferences before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and she is lead counsel in five of the new inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Dr. Ellison also has significant experience in representing clients in litigations in the United States District Courts and in patent reexaminations. Dr. Ellison's practice includes counseling clients on intellectual property strategy, including Hatch-Waxman issues; preparing and prosecuting patent applications; resolving inventorship disputes; and evaluating patent portfolios, e.g., for invalidity, non-infringement, and freedom-to-operate. Dr. Ellison represents a variety of types of clients, including large multinational corporations, start-up companies, and not-for-profit organizations. Dr.
Ellison has served as an expert witness on patent matters, and LMG Life Sciences has named her a “Life Science Star.” She has been quoted in publications such as IPLaw360 and The Washington Post for her analyses of developments in patent law.
Dr. Ellison is an editor of Patent Office Litigation, a two-volume set focused on the new contested proceedings under the America Invents Act published in 2012 by Thomson Reuters Westlaw. This book examines how the proceedings interact with other aspects of patent procurement and enforcement, and it delivers practical analysis and advice.
Dr. Ellison's intellectual property experience has been principally in technical areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, molecular biology, therapeutic methods, diagnostic assays, analytical instruments, immunology, virology, bacteriology and vaccines.
She lectures and publishes frequently on topics such as the American Invents Act, patent interferences, patent reexaminations and concurrent patent litigation, and patents and licensing. And she serves on the faculty for the District of Columbia Bar's Continuing Legal Education Program. Dr. Ellison is the Chairperson of the firm's Professional Development Committee, and she previously chaired the firm’s Diversity Committee. She also serves as a Member of the Board of Directors for Turning Point Academy Public Charter School in Maryland.