Sharon B. McCullen

Senior Counsel

Sharon McCullen Ph.D. advises US and international clients on strategic intellectual property (IP) issues in the chemical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, oncology and medical device areas. She has experience writing and prosecuting patent applications for new chemical entities, pharmaceutical formulations, chemical processes and catalysts. Sharon counsels clients on freedom to operate matters, validity and scope of protection of patent portfolio, portfolio management, negotiates and drafts technology licensing agreements and conducts intellectual property due diligence analysis in connection with venture capital financing and public offerings. She has counseled clients in reexaminations before the US Patent & Trademark Office, oppositions before the European Patent Office, and nullity proceedings before the German Patent Office.

Extended Profile

Sharon has authored several scientific articles, lectured in the area of material science and is the co-inventor on 45 US patents, as well as many international patents. Before joining Morgan Lewis, she was a research scientist at Mobil Oil (now ExxonMobil Corp.). The American Chemical Society recognized Sharon for her role as a co-inventor of the PxMax^SM process of ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.

selected representations

Established and implemented intellectual property programs for many small, medium-size, and multinational companies.
Represented OncoEthix in its $110 million sale to Merck with additional milestone payments of up to $265 million contingent upon certain clinical and regulatory events being achieved.
Represented Universal Display Corporation in its $105 million acquisition of FujiFilm’s portofolio of patents and patent applications directed to OLED materials as well as devices using such materials.
Represented LEO Pharma in its reacquisition of Warner Chilcott's exclusive product licensing rights in the United States, as well as rights to all products in LEO Pharma's development pipeline.

Education

Temple University, Beasley School of Law, 2002, J.D.
University of Illinois, 1982, Ph.D.
University of Kansas, 1977, B.S.

Admissions

Pennsylvania
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Awards and Affiliations

Member, Practice Group of the Year, Intellectual Property, Law360 (2019)

Member, Litigation Department of the Year–Intellectual Property, The American Lawyer (2019)

Member, Phi Beta Kappa

Associate Editor, Temple Law Review

Recipient, Honorable Delores K. Sloviter Award, Temple University's Beasley School of Law

Honoree, 2007 American Chemical Society's Heroes of Chemistry Program