Personal interactions with clients are important to Melissa, a partner in Merchant & Gould's Washington D.C. office. She loves working with scientists, other attorneys, and business leaders to help them achieve their intellectual property goals. Her background in science—a chemistry degree, plus experience as a corporate patent attorney and as a research chemist in the area of synthetic organic chemistry at Burroughs Wellcome—is the critical basis for understanding the language of the scientists with whom she works.
Melissa focuses her practice on organic and inorganic chemistry, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, food chemistry, polymer chemistry, petroleum chemistry, and biochemistry. She is experienced in patent preparation and prosecution and enjoys working with clients to develop creative strategies for patent portfolios. Melissa has experience in all areas of U.S. and foreign patent prosecution.
She also has considerable experience on topics related to Hatch-Waxman and the associated Food and Drug Administration practice. Melissa is skilled at conducting infringement, validity, freedom-to-operate and patentability investigations, and patent estate due diligence reviews.