Ms. Valenti has experience representing clients in all stages of patent litigation, from pre-suit investigation through trial and appeal.
Representative Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals Experience:
- Representing Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in litigation concerning its generic equivalent to Suboxone®, a product used to treat opioid use disorder. After the district court granted a preliminary injunction halting its generic sales, Dr. Reddy’s successfully appealed to the Federal Circuit, allowing it to continue sales of its product. Ms. Valenti also represented Dr. Reddy’s in a related inter partes review in which the PTAB invalidated as anticipated all but one of the challenged claims. The underlying patent infringement litigation remains pending in the District of New Jersey.
- Represented Actavis Laboratories in a trial victory over Tris Pharma in Delaware federal court in a case relating to Actavis’s generic version of Quillivant XR® (methylphenidate hydrochloride). Appellate proceedings concerning certain asserted patent claims remain pending.
- Represented Teva in a patent infringement action filed by Otsuka relating to Teva’s filing of abbreviated new drug applications for generic versions of Otsuka’s drug Abilify® (aripiprazole). Teva defeated a motion for a temporary restraining order, allowing Teva to launch its products. The case against Teva settled favorably before trial.
Representative Technology Experience:
- Represented Personalized Media Communications in a jury trial victory against Apple in the Eastern District of Texas, the jury awarding PMC $308.5 million in past damages for Apple’s infringement of a patent claiming digital rights management technology.
- Representing Continental Automotive Systems in patent litigation concerning brake control methods.
- Defending IBM as a third-party defendant in patent infringement suits before the United States Court of Federal Claims, filed against the federal government, regarding computer systems and methods for broadcasting disaster warnings.
- Represented The Gillette Company in litigation filed against Dollar Shave Club, Inc., in which Gillette asserted infringement of a patent directed to razor blade coatings. The matter settled favorably before trial.
Outside of district court litigation, Ms. Valenti also has extensive experience representing technology and life sciences companies in disputes arising under patent licenses and joint development agreements. In this context, Ms. Valenti advises clients on the intersection of intellectual property and commercial issues, and has successfully represented clients in international arbitrations concerning such matters.
Pro Bono
Ms. Valenti has an active pro bono practice. Ms. Valenti worked with the ACLU of Massachusetts (ACLUM) to challenge the application of a Massachusetts state prison policy to firm pro bono client, Mr. Geoffrey Pesce. The policy categorically denied opioid agonist treatment to inmates who, like Mr. Pesce, suffer from opioid use disorder (OUD). Ms. Valenti successfully argued a motion for preliminary injunction, which ensured that Mr. Pesce would have continued access to his physician-prescribed methadone treatment for OUD during a short incarceration. In its decision granting the motion, the Massachusetts federal court found that Mr. Pesce was likely to prevail on both his claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Eighth Amendment because the prison policy implies a “pretext for some discriminatory motive” and would deviate from the standard of care by “ignoring treatment prescriptions given to Mr. Pesce by his doctors.” In a later ruling awarding Goodwin and ACLUM attorneys’ fees, the court described the case as “involving constitutional issues of broad concern to the treatment of drug addiction in correctional facilities.”
Ms. Valenti also led a team that submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of Ohio on behalf of the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization committed to healing, education and advocacy on behalf of victims of sexual assault. The Court agreed with the positions taken by Joyful Heart in its brief, and overturned a decision dismissing rape and kidnapping charges against an alleged serial rapist based on pre-indictment delay.
In 2016, Ms. Valenti gained significant trial experience during a six-month secondment with the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s Office, where she served as an assistant district attorney. During this time, she prosecuted numerous felony cases on behalf of the state of New York, including a bench trial, a jury trial and several hearings. In other work with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, Ms. Valenti successfully briefed and argued an appeal before the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, ensuring a criminal defendant convicted of robbery remained in prison.
