Sequeira is a leader among women in patent law, a field still dominated by men - even at Fenwick & West, a firm with a strong commitment to diversity. She is the only female patent partner at the firm and was the first in her group to work up from associate.
"It took plenty of hard work and a great client base," she said
In 2016, Sequeira's work and that of the substantial patent team she manages helped advance hundreds of cutting-edge technologies, including virtual reality platforms for meditation in visualizing organs during surgery, a robotic system for performing surgical procedures on patients, software that assists doctors in choosing optimal radiation treatment plans for their cancer patients, a home fertility test for men and the first innovation in condom design in 70 years.
Sequeira protects clients' software and internet technologies, including those involving social networking, online advertising, telemedicine, computer security and e-commerce. She represents Mynosys Cellular Devices Inc., LELO Inc., PerceptiMed Inc., Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Embrace Technologies, Joylux Inc., Auris Surgical Robotics Inc. and Coursera Inc.
She filed patents for Cipherome Inc., which develops computational methods for interpreting personal genome variations to allow for personalized drug selection; for TruTag Technologies Inc., which makes edible optical silicon dioxide microtags with unique spectral signatures used by pharmaceutical and medical device companies to prevent counterfeiting; and for CHITA Inc., the makers of a platform that allows companies to store and manage their carefully regulated Food and Drug Administration documents.
A key client is Facebook Inc., where Sequeira is lead outside counsel in charge of protecting much of the company's most valuable technologies. She and her team filed more patent applications for Facebook alone last year than some attorneys file on behalf of all their clients.
"The engineers at Facebook come up with new features constantly," she said. "We meet with them multiple times a week, then go back to the office to put together patent applications."
She has prosecuted many of Facebook's foundational patents, including the "Like" button, feed ranking, ads, events, groups, icons for friend request and notifications for Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Atlas, Jibbigo, LiveRail and others.
"I'm an active Facebook user," she said. "I want to make sure I can speak the lingo."
— John Roemer
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