CHING-LEE FUKUDA is a leader of Sidley’s IP Litigation practice, co-heads the New York IP group, and is a member of the firm’s Global Life Sciences Leadership Council.
She has led significant patent litigation victories in district courts, at the ITC, the PTAB, and the Federal Circuit, focusing on electronics, software, medtech and medical devices. With 23 years of experience, her successes include numerous jury and bench trial wins, as well as wins during preliminary injunction, summary judgment and appeal. She also has led and participated in more than 90 PTAB proceedings, on behalf of petitioners and patent owners. Over the past six years, three of Ching-Lee’s cases have been awarded “Impact Case of the Year” by LMG Life Sciences.
Ching-Lee led a damages trial team that helped secure a jury award of $155 million for Bayer against Baxalta, which was then increased to $182 million with supplemental damages and interest. This jury award ranks among the top 10 largest patent verdicts in Delaware, and was affirmed by the Federal Circuit in 2021. The case was widely reported in The New York Times, Law360, Bloomberg Law and Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review, among others, and received the 2019 LMG Life Sciences award for “Patent Impact Case of the Year.” The team was also selected as a “Legal Lion” by Law360. She also helped lead a team that obtained a stunning victory in the Antares Pharma Inc. v. Medac Pharma Inc. case, affirmed in a precedential opinion by the Federal Circuit, which won the 2015 LMG Life Sciences award for “Patent Impact Case of the Year.” More recently, Ching-Lee led a team that obtained a victory for Nevro at the PTAB that voided 84% of Boston Scientific’s total damages claim in a Delaware case, and she led the appellate team for Nevro that obtained a Federal Circuit affirmance of the PTAB win.
In addition, her wins include §101 patent eligibility dispositions on behalf of both defendants and plaintiffs. Most recently, Ching-Lee led an appellate team on behalf of BioTelemetry (CardioNet) that convinced the Federal Circuit to issue a precedential opinion (Judges Stoll, Plager and Dyk) reversing a Massachusetts decision and upholding the eligibility of a cardiac monitoring patent. The decision was widely reported in Law360, Law.com and The National Law Review, among others, and received the 2020 LMG Life Sciences award for “Patent Impact Case of the Year.” One of her summary judgment arguments also helped shape an invalidity ruling that was affirmed by the Federal Circuit during the early days of modern-day §101 jurisprudence.
Ching-Lee is Chambers USA-ranked in Intellectual Property: Patents, shortlisted for “Patent Lawyer of the Year” by IFLR in its Women in Business Law Awards Americas, and shortlisted by Managing IP for “Practitioner of the Year (Litigation) – New York” in 2021. For two years in a row, in 2020 and 2021, she was named the “Post Grant Proceedings Attorney of the Year” by LMG Life Sciences for her work on behalf of medtech, medical devices, and chemicals companies. Since 2018, Ching-Lee has been named an “IP Star” by Managing IP, a “Life Sciences Star” by LMG Life Sciences and one of Managing IP’s “Top 250 Women in IP” worldwide. She was also shortlisted by Managing IP Women in Business Law Awards in 2020 for the “Best in Patents” category, and shortlisted by Managing IP Americas Awards 2019 and 2020 for “Outstanding Litigator: PTAB.” Ching-Lee was recognized by Best Lawyers in America 2020–2021 for her work in IP Litigation, and was named by IAM Patent 1000 as one of the world’s leading patent practitioners in 2015–2021, in which she is described as having “superb legal acumen,” “a great intellect, and “can handle the most complex of cases.” Ching-Lee is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars and is widely quoted and published in media, particularly regarding §101 patent eligibility, PTAB proceedings, and 35 U.S. Code § 112, ¶ 6 issues.