Joseph M. Reisman is a partner in our San Diego office.
Dr. Reisman’s practice involves patent prosecution and strategic counseling, and legal opinion work, chiefly for clients in the pharmaceutical, chemical, medical device, and biotechnology industries; this practice allows him to utilize the technical training he received while earning a Ph.D. in Chemistry. He also has broad litigation and appellate experience. His litigation experience is varied and includes numerous complex patent infringement actions brought under the Hatch-Waxman Act, in which he has represented both defendants and plaintiffs. He has also represented major pharmaceutical companies in complex contractual disputes in, for example, private arbitration and litigation in the Delaware Court of Chancery. He has authored numerous appeal briefs and conducted oral argument on appeal at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Dr. Reisman often represents manufacturers of generic and follow-on products and has been a team leader in successfully earning early market entry of generic equivalents of many well-known products, including Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Valcyte (valganciclovir). Dr. Reisman regularly counsels his clients and provides strategic advice with an eye toward successful patent litigation strategies, including settlement, always keyed to successful business outcomes.
Dr. Reisman also has extensive experience obtaining, enforcing, and conducting due diligence reviews of complex patent portfolios, trade secret rights, and other forms of intellectual property. He has extensive experience developing and evaluating patent portfolios relating to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, health monitoring, specialty chemical, and water treatment technologies. In the context of client counseling, Dr. Reisman has a wealth of experience crafting intellectual property opinion letters, and he serves as the Chair Knobbe Martens’ Opinion Letter committee. Dr. Reisman also has extensive experience navigating the complex issues relating to Patent Term Extensions (PTEs), Orange Book listing, and Hatch-Waxman Notice Letter practices.
During his graduate studies in biochemistry, Dr. Reisman was awarded “La Bourse Chateaubriand” by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Embassy to the United States. Under that six-month grant, he continued his doctoral research (at the University of California, San Diego) on the structure and function of certain DNA-binding proteins, while working at the Université de Montpellier in Montpellier, France. After graduating from law school at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Reisman served for two years as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Alan D. Lourie, Circuit Judge, at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
In every year since 2012, Dr. Reisman has been included on the list of The Best Lawyers in America. He has been recognized in the field of Patent Prosecution, Patent Advisory, Strategy, and Management, and Patent Litigation. Since 2000, he has consistently served as an Adjunct Professor of Patent Law at the University of San Diego, School of Law. He is also an active member of the Federal Circuit Bar Association. He served, for several years, as a member of the Association’s Board of Directors and its executive leadership team. In 2022-23, he served as the Association’s President.
Dr. Reisman joined the firm in 1998 and became a partner in 2002.
Clerk Experience
Law Clerk to the Honorable Alan D. Lourie, Circuit Judge
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 1996-1998
University of California – Berkeley – School of Law, J.D., Executive Editor – The Berkeley Technology Law Journal
University of California – San Diego, Ph.D., Chemistry, Dissertation Title: “Analyses of Two Bacteriophage-encoded DNA-binding Proteins in Solution”
University of California – San Diego, M.S., Chemistry
Yale University, B.S., Chemistry
State Bar of California
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
U.S. District Court – Eastern District of California
U.S. District Court – Northern District of California
U.S. District Court – Southern District of California
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Biotech
Antibodies & Immunology
Biological Manufacturing of Chemicals
Biologics
Diagnostic Tools
Peptides
Personalized Medicine
Research Tools & Reagents
Synthetic Biology & Nanotechnology
Therapeutics
Chemical, Industrial & Materials
Analytical Chemistry
Biochemistry
Chemical Engineering
Combinatorial Chemistry
Concrete & Aggregates
Cosmetics & Personal Care Products
Food Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Physical Chemistry
Polymers
Energy
Biodegradable Materials
Bioenergy & Biofuels
Biomass
Clean Technology
Drinking Water Treatment
Green Chemistry
Waste Mitigation & Treatment
Medical Devices & Procedures
Biocompatible Polymers & Coatings
Catheters & Probes
Diagnostics
Drug-Eluting Devices
Medical Informatics & Software Systems
Ophthalmology & Eye Care
Vital Signs, Physiologic, & Hemodynamic Monitoring
Pharmaceuticals
Antibodies and Immunology
Biological Manufacturing of Chemicals
Biologics
Biosimilars
Diagnostic Tools
Peptides
Personalized Medicine
Research Tools & Reagents
Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine
Therapeutics
Appellate Litigation
Design Patents
Due Diligence
Global Portfolio Management
Hatch-Waxman Litigation
Inter Partes Review (IPR)
IP Strategy
IP Transactions, Agreements & Venture Capital
Litigation
Patent Litigation
Patent Strategy & Prosecution
Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) Trials (Post Grant)
Patentability
Post-Grant Review (PGR)
U.S. Patent Prosecution
Dr. Reisman has received multiple awards and has been honored in both national and international forums for his legal accomplishments:
- Recognized in the “Best Lawyers 2025 Guide” for Intellectual Property Litigation, Patent Litigation, and Patent Law in Best Lawyers in America (2024)
- Recognized for outstanding work in patent law in the 2024 edition of the Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) “Patent 1000 Guide” for Prosecution (2024)
- Selected to The Best Lawyers in America® for his work in Intellectual Property Litigation and Patent Law (2010 – 2024) and Patent Litigation (2023 – 2024)
- Recognized by The Legal 500 “United States” for Patent Litigation (2021 – 2023)
- Named one of the “World’s Leading Patent Professionals” in the Patent 1000 guide by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine for Prosecution. (2015-2023). In the 2018 guide, Dr. Reisman was described as being “extremely astute in counselling his pharmaceutical clients and narrowing their risk profile” and recognized for “leveraging his trial experience to prosecute patents that can withstand the rigours of litigation”. In the 2023 guide, he was described as someone who “has a vast understanding of contentious/non-contentious IP issues, which has given him a bird’s-eye view of multifaceted issues.”
- Named Top Patent Challenger Attorney 2020 by Docket Navigator
- Named a “Life Science Star” in Legal Media Group (LMG) “Life Sciences”. He has been recognized in all areas of the survey which include patent prosecution, patent advisory, strategy and management, general patent litigation/protection, and Hatch-Waxman litigation (2012 – 2018 and 2022-2024)
- Named by Legal Media Group (LMG) as one of the ” World’s Leading Patent Law Experts” (2015)
American Intellectual Property Law Association
Federal Circuit Bar Association – President (2022-2023); Chair, Amicus Committee (2009-2012)
American Chemical Society – Division of Chemistry and the Law
