Andrei Iancu

Iancu has led Irell & Manella for five years while juggling a large patent litigation practice. He was recently nominated by President Donald J. Trump to be director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

The veteran patent practitioner has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in bet-the-company cases.

He represented the biotechnology company Juno Therapeutics Inc. in a patent and contract dispute against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.

“They have a DNA approach to treating various forms of cancer, extremely successful, extremely important to society, of course, and patients,” Iancu said.

The dispute, which surrounded therapies for the treatment of certain forms of cancer, ultimately settled favorably after several years of litigation.

Iancu also defended molecular diagnostic company Ariosa Diagnostics Inc. and aircraft manufacturer B/E Aerospace against patent infringement actions.

“I do represent clients in a whole host of areas of technology,” said the attorney, who has also represented TiVo Corp. in many cases over the years.

In one case that settled confidentially before trial in November, Iancu advised TiVo in a patent infringement lawsuit filed against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

In 2012, the attorney secured $1.6 billion in settlements for TiVo as a result of patent litigation against Motorola, Microsoft, Verzion Wireless, EchoStar and AT&T.

— Skylar Dubelko