Overview

Corrin Drakulich is a first-chair trial lawyer for complex patent and intellectual property disputes and an elected member of the firm’s Management Committee. As the firm's litigation practice group leader, she serves as the global head of litigation for Fish & Richardson's more than 200-lawyer Litigation Practice Group.

Corrin focuses her practice on complex IP cases and has particular experience in patent litigation involving pharmaceuticals (including Hatch-Waxman cases), medical devices, and biotechnology.

Corrin’s recent successes include a Hatch-Waxman trial win for Exela Pharma Sciences in the District of Delaware related to Exela’s parenteral nutrition product Elcys®. Following a March 2022 bench trial, the court found all of Exela’s asserted patent claims infringed and valid. (Exela Pharma Sciences v. Eton Pharmaceuticals). In parallel proceedings, Corrin’s team also defeated three post-grant review petitions seeking to invalidate the patents.

Corrin also secured a complete summary judgment victory on behalf of payroll and workforce solutions provider Proliant, Inc., in a case involving copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and breach of contract claims related to payroll processing software, wiping out the plaintiff’s $270 million damages request and resulting in dismissal of Proliant from the case. In December 2022, Corrin’s team won its motion for attorneys’ fees, and the District of Minnesota judge awarded Proliant the highest fee award of record for a copyright case in that district.    

In addition, Corrin represented The Johns Hopkins University against Alcon Laboratories in the first patent case the university independently instituted and litigated on its own behalf. The case, which involved surgical methods for vitreoretinal eye surgery, settled on the eve of trial in a settlement highly favorable to the university.

In 2024, Corrin was named to Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s Top 200 Lawyers.  She has also been repeatedly recognized as a “Leading Patent Professional” by IAM Patent 1000 and in 2023 was named “General Patent Litigator of the Year – South” by LMG Life Sciences.

Corrin has also successfully represented clients in trademark and product liability litigations, and she counsels clients regularly on due diligence considerations and freedom-to-operate studies. 

Corrin earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she served as the editor-in-chief of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, earned a certificate of specialization in law and technology, and was awarded the Boalt moot court advocacy award. She also served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Ronald D. Thom of the Fifth Judicial District of Oregon.

Corrin graduated first in her class from the University of Georgia, receiving a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and a Bachelor of Arts in comparative religion. She was awarded Academic All-American honors as a pole vaulter on the University of Georgia track and field team and, upon graduating, was the 2004 recipient of the NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship (awarded to the top collegiate scholar-athlete in the country). Prior to attending law school, she held research positions at the Adang Laboratory and ViaGen, Inc., a swine and cattle cloning company in Athens, Georgia.

Experience

Exela Pharma Sciences, LLC v. Eton Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No 1:20-cv-365 (D. Del.) Fish filed a high-profile Hatch-Waxman lawsuit for client Exela Pharma Sciences against Eton Pharmaceuticals over its intent to produce a generic version of Exela’s patented Elcys® drug. Elcys® is the only FDA-approved cysteine hydrochloride injection on the market for use as an additive to amino acid solutions to meet the nutritional requirements of newborn infants requiring total parenteral nutrition (TPN). The Fish team successfully stopped the institution of three PGRs at the Patent Trial and Appeals Board. Then, following a March 2022 bench trial, the court found all of Exela’s asserted patent claims infringed and valid, and ordered FDA to withhold final approval of Eton’s ANDA until expiration of Exela’s patents. 

MPAY Inc. v.  Erie Custom Computer Applications, Inc., PayDay USA, Inc. Payroll World, Inc., Proliant, Inc., Proliant Technologies, Inc., & Kevin Clayton, No. 19-cv-00704 (D. Minn.) - Fish secured a complete summary judgment victory on behalf of payroll and workforce solutions provider Proliant, Inc. in a complex copyright infringement and trade secrets misappropriation dispute with MPAY. MPAY sued Proliant in 2019, seeking nearly $270 million in damages for claims relating to payroll processing software. After oral arguments, the court issued an order fully granting Proliant’s summary judgement motion and dismissing the Proliant defendants from the case. In December 2022, a District of Minnesota judge awarded attorneys’ fees to Proliant.

Exela Pharma Sciences, LLC v. Sandoz, Inc. (D. Del., D. Colo.): Lead counsel for Exela Pharma Sciences in a Hatch-Waxman suit against Sandoz, Inc., related to Exela’s L-cysteine hydrochloride injection product ELCYS®, a component of parenteral nutrition solutions administered intravenously to preterm and underweight infants. ELCYS® is the first stable low-aluminum L-cysteine product of its kind, and the first to receive FDA approval since FDA passed stringent aluminum guidelines for parenteral drug products in 2004. The case was successfully resolved for Exela in August 2020.

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., et al. v. Piramal Healthcare UK, Ltd.(D.N.J.): Fish represented Sumitomo in this case, which is a follow-up to two prior Sumitomo matters that Fish settled favorably on the morning of trial. After receiving notice that yet another competitor intended to launch a generic version of the client’s blockbuster drug Latuda®, Fish filed a patent infringement suit in September 2018 settled the matter favorably in November 2019.

The John Hopkins University v. Alcon Laboratories and Alcon Research, Ltd., (District of Delaware, 1:15-cv-00525) Fish represented The Johns Hopkins University against Alcon Laboratories, a subsidiary of Novartis, throughout a hard-fought four-year-long litigation presided over by four district court judges. The lawsuit alleged that Alcon infringed the University’s patented surgical method for vitreoretinal surgery on the eye. The case settled very favorably for JHU mere hours before trial was scheduled to begin.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals LLC et al. v. Gilead Sciences Inc. (D. Del.): In what has been hailed as one of the biggest litigation comebacks of all time, Fish won a motion for JMOL that invalidated the asserted patent on § 112 grounds and reversed a $2.5 billion jury verdict – at that time, the largest patent damages award in history – against client Gilead Sciences. The matter was part of a global dispute between Gilead and Merck & Co. Idenix over Gilead’s blockbuster cures for hepatitis C, Sovaldi®, Harvoni®, and Epclusa®.

Medigus Ltd. v. EndoChoice, Inc.(D. Del.) – Fish defended EndoChoice against Medigus’ assertion of a patent related to endoscopes. The case resulted in a settlement favorable to the client on the eve of the claim construction hearing.

EndoChoice, Inc. v. Medigus Ltd. and Medigus USA LLC(D. Del.) – Fish represented EndoChoice in enforcement of trademark rights related to endoscopy products. The case resulted in a settlement favorable to the client.

In re Fresenius GranuFlo/NaturaLyte Dialysate Products Liability Litigation (MDL and various state court actions). Fish defended Fresenius in products liability mass tort litigation relating to the use of acid concentrate products during dialysis, which the plaintiffs alleged resulted in sudden cardiac arrest. Fish obtained a defense verdict of no causation at the first bellwether trial (Ogburn-Sisneros v. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. (Mass. Sup. Ct.), which resulted in a favorable global settlement of the remaining thousands of cases.

Baxter International, Inc. v. Fresenius Medical Care (N.D. Ill.) – Fish defended Fresenius against Baxter’s assertion of patents related to peritoneal dialysis systems. The case resulted in a settlement favorable to the client.

Case Name Confidential (E.D. Tex.): Fish successfully settled litigation for a branded pharmaceutical company with three generic sellers regarding its anti-inflammatory ophthalmic solution.

St. Jude Medical v. Volcano Corp. (D. Del.) – Fish defended Volcano in patent litigation related to pressure sensing guide wires used to diagnose heart problems. At trial, the jury found two of St. Jude’s asserted patents invalid, and the other two asserted patents not infringed, resulting in an across-the-board win for Fish’s client.

BorgWarner, Inc. v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc. (W.D.N.C.) – Fish represented BorgWarner in the assertion of patents relating to the design and manufacture of turbocharger components. The case resulted in a settlement for $32.5 million to Fish’s client. 

Baxter Healthcare Corp. v. Fresenius Medical Care (N.D. Cal.) – Fish defended Fresenius against Baxter’s assertion of patents related to peritoneal dialysis systems. At trial, the jury found Fresenius did not infringe Baxter’s patents.

Corbett Life Sciences v. Applied Biosystems, Inc. (N.D. Cal.) – Represented Applied Biosystems in the assertion of a real-time PCR instrument patent. The case resulted in a settlement favorable to the client.

Fluidigm Corporation v. Applied Biosystems, Inc. (S.D. N.Y.) – Represented Applied Biosystems in the assertion of a real-time PCR instrument patent. The case resulted in a settlement favorable to the client. 

Professional associations

  • Atlanta IP Inn of Court
  • Former Co-Chair, Legal & Regulatory Affairs Committee, Georgia Bio
  • ChIPs

Pro bono activities

  • Corrin volunteers with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF), representing survivors of domestic violence in hearings to obtain protective orders to shield their families from future violence.
  • She also volunteers with Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), an organization fighting to ensure equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal justice in the legal landscape relating to reproductive healthcare.