Joseph P. Meara

Partner/Retired

Joseph P. Meara

Partner/Retired

Joseph P. Meara, Ph.D., counsels clients in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries on domestic and international intellectual property strategies. He is a partner in the firm’s Chemical, Biotechnology, & Pharmaceutical Practice, the Health Care & Life Sciences and Energy Sectors, and the Food & Beverage Industry Team.

Joe’s practice extends to all aspects of IP portfolio management, patent procurement, non-infringement, freedom to operate and invalidity opinions, due diligence, and licensing. In addition, Joe has been actively involved in appeals to the board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as well as ex parte reexaminations and Patent Office Trials, serving as lead counsel for inter partes review proceedings both opposing and defending patents.

Joe’s practice spans a wide array of technical areas including pharmaceuticals and drug delivery, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and personalized medicine. He has extensive experience in renewable energy technology including biofuels and batteries, and in chemical and biochemical fields such as peptides, proteins, modified nucleotides and oligonucleotides, organic and enzymatic synthetic methods, catalysts, electrochemistry, composites, adhesives, and polymers.

Joe’s scientific experience includes several leadership positions at Molecumetics, Ltd., a start-up pharmaceutical company, where he served as intellectual property manager, project leader, and senior scientist. His research involved the design and synthesis of protease inhibitors, including antithrombotics and antibacterials. His chemical knowledge includes organic and peptide synthesis, combinatorial chemistry, and the use of solid-phase and high-throughput synthesis techniques in the creation of complex heterocyclic compounds.

Affiliations

  • Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Member, American Chemical Society
17 January 2023 In the News

Exception to the Rule? Late Submission of Evidence as Supplemental Information Under 37 C.F.R. 42.123(b)

Foley & Lardner LLP Partner Joe Meara and Associate Aude Peden authored the article, “Exception to the Rule? Late Submission of Evidence as Supplemental Information Under 37 C.F.R. 42.123(b),” in the November/December issue of IP Litigator.
12 September 2022 Blogs

Exception to the Rule? Late Submission of Evidence as Supplemental Information Under 37 C.F.R. 42.123(b)

In PTAB trials, rules regulate when evidence may be presented by a party to ensure the opposing party a fair opportunity to respond to such evidence.
06 May 2022 PTAB Trial Insights

IPR Jeopardy: Estoppel Pitfalls for Multiple Concurrently Filed Petitions

In Intuitive Surgical, Inc. v. Ethicon LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently affirmed that estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(1) can apply as between concurrently filed inter partes review (IPR) proceedings which are not all decided at the same time.
29 May 2020 In the News

Meara Quoted in Law360 About Proposed USPTO Rule on Evidence

Partner Joseph Meara was quoted in the Law360 article, “IP Owners Approach USPTO Evidence Proposal With Caution,” about how patent owners may be able to harness a recent rule proposed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to get America Invents Act challenges thrown out early.
29 May 2020 In the News

Meara Quoted in BioWorld About Proposed PTO Rulemaking Post SAS v Iancu

Partner Joseph Meara was quoted in the BioWorld article, “Presumption in favor of petitioner seen as most critical piece of PTO response to SAS v. Iancu,” about the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s notice of proposed rulemaking in response to the 2018 decision in the U.S. Supreme Court decision SAS v. Iancu.
27 May 2020 Blogs

Proposed PTAB Rule Changes: More of the Same?

Today, May 27, 2020, the USPTO published in the Federal Register a new set of proposed rule changes that mostly codify the way contested proceedings are conducted in front of the PTAB.