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The comprehensive guide to the world's leading tax firms

With a strong IP group operating from the Northeast, Ropes & Gray remains highly ranked for its biotechnology expertise. "It has very good knowledge of the industry and how patents affect the industry," said a client. The firm merged in 2005 with IP boutique Fish & Neave, elevating Ropes & Gray's patent practice nationally.

Based in Washington, DC, James Myers was praised by in-house counsel as "very good and very knowledgeable". "He understands business concerns when we're speaking about management in different areas," said a client. "We had other firms working with us, and he was not very territorial. He was very easy to work with." The firm recently obtained favourable results for Motorola and Transamerica Life Insurance Company in separate proceedings. In a case that got widespread interest, the firm represented Becton Dickinson & Co, Dickinson & Co and Nova Biomedical Corp in a patent infringement case against Therasense and Abbott Labs. Judgments against Abbott had rendered useless the billions of dollars the company had paid to acquire patents on blood glucose meters and strips. One patent in question was found invalid, and another unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. The Federal Circuit subsequently granted an en banc hearing to further consider the standard for finding inequitable conduct.

US firm Ropes & Gray is often in the limelight, lauded by peers and competitors alike for its up-and-coming IP practice that rivals many of the top players in Japan. While the firm welcomed partner Maxwell Fox from Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker and discovery attorney Migusa Teramura from Morrison & Foerster earlier this year, the team's prowess and growth is in large part due to the commitment of partners Hiroyuki Hagiwara and James DeGraw. The firm's recent representation of Spansion Japan is testament to Hagiwara's expertise. Spansion Japan was embroiled in an ITC investigation on assertions that the company had infringed on Samsung Electronics' patents in relation to flash memory chip manufacturing, while simultaneously undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Ropes & Gray was successful in advising Spansion Japan on staying the ITC action and terminating the action altogether at the sale of its business and manufacturing facilities to Texas Instruments without negative impact, which ultimately contributed to a new case law on the matter.

"They listen to our story attentively and give us their advice and comments quickly," says a Japanese multinational company. "Good responsiveness is characteristic." Another interesting multi-jurisdictional case for the team was Fox's role as advisor to NEC Display Solutions in Activision TV, Inc, et al v Richardson Electronics, Inc, et al in relation to digital display technology patent infringement actions. Although the case is still in its infancy, the outcome may have an important effect on licensing activity in the industry.