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Sapna Palla

Partner

Email

sapna.palla@aoshearman.com

Phone

+1 212 610 6389

Offices

New York

V-CARD
Sapna has spent over two decades representing clients in high-stakes patent, trademark, copyright, and complex commercial matters, including successfully litigating disputes in federal and state courts in a range of jurisdictions. She also has extensive experience with alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation.

Sapna also counsels and represents a variety of U.S. and international clients regarding U.S. intellectual property rights by providing them with infringement, validity, enforceability, and clearance opinions and by advising them in licensing and antitrust matters. She also conducts intellectual property due diligence investigations in connection with acquisitions and licensing deals. Sapna also counsels clients about patent law in Asia, including China and India.

Sapna’s patent litigation experience covers a broad array of technologies, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, drug delivery systems and medical devices, mechanical devices, batteries, software, and agrochemicals. Outside the patent area, she has represented clients in trademark, trade dress, and copyright litigation as well as counseling clients on trademark and copyright registration, strategy, and licensing. Sapna has also led a number of complex commercial disputes involving complex contractual matters in the oil, renewable energy, construction, and food services industries. 

Sapna frequently writes and speaks on a range of topics, including developments in litigation, e-discovery, patent law, patent reform, intellectual property law in Asia, pharmaceuticals, biosimilars, biotechnology, and medical devices. Her programs have been presented by the Practicing Law Institute and WestLegal Ed, and she has been published and quoted in leading publications, including Practicing Law Institute, Forbes, ABA Litigation Journal, IP Law360, New York Law Journal, Corporate Counsel Connect, Pharmaceutical Patent Analyst, and Bloomberg/BNA. 

Sapna is an inaugural member of Judge Janet Bond Arterton’s Intellectual Property American Inns of Court. She was a summer clerk for the Honorable Judge Denis R. Hurley of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. 

Sapna served as adjunct professor at Pace University School of Law, addressing antitrust and patent topics. She has lived and studied in both India and Tanzania. She is fluent in Hindi and Marathi and conversant in French. 

Published Work

  • Author, “The Patent Eligibility Battle for Life Sciences Companies in a Changing Landscape,” The National Law Review, July 11, 2018
  • Co-author, “Legal Issues for High-Growth Technology Companies,” The National Law Review, May 2, 2018
  • Co-author, “How to Shift Your Litigation Strategies for the New IP Landscape,” The National Law Journal, July 17, 2017
  • Co-author, “Global IP Trends: A Guide to Recent International Considerations for Patent Rights,” September 1, 2016
  • Co-author, “The New Biosimilars Frontier,” January 26, 2016
  • Co-author, “Devising a Patent Strategy to Protect The Intellectual Property of Biologics in Light of Ambiguities, Loopholes, and Pitfalls in The Regulatory Scheme,” Pharm Pat. Analyst, March 2013
  • Co-author, “Best Mode, Chapter for Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Law,” Practicing Law Institute, November 1, 2012
  • Author, “Patent Invalidity Rates in China,” White Paper, Intellectual Property Organization, September 1, 2012
  • Author, “Patent Invalidity Rates in Japan,” White Paper, Intellectual Property Organization, September 1, 2012
  • Author, “Should the Federal Circuit’s Model E-Discovery Order Change the Way [You] Conduct E-Discovery for Patent Litigation?” Bloomberg Law, January 23, 2012
  • Author, “Understanding the voluntary Carbon Market: Why Companies Buy Carbon Credits, Why the Voluntary Market Will Coexist with Future Mandatory Regulation, and Why Contracts Should Allocate Carbon Credit Ownership,” Bloomberg Law Reports – Sustainable Energy, May 1, 2009

Leadership Positions And Professional Affiliations

  • New York Intellectual Property Law Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Women in BIO – New York Steering Committee
  • ChIPS
  • Asian Bar Association of New York ? Intellectual Property ? Litigation
  • National Association of Pacific American Bar Association

Awards

  • Leading Life Sciences Lawyer, LMG Life Sciences, 2022
  • IAM Patent 1000, 2022

Qualifications

Admissions

Registered Foreign Lawyer, England and Wales, 2024

Admitted: US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2006

Admitted: US District Court (Southern District of New York), 2005

Admitted: Bar of the State of New York, 2001

Academic

JD, Pace University School of Law, cum laude (1998) 

BBA, Pace University, magna cum laude (1995)

Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.