Douglas R. Nemec

Specialty / focus. Douglas R. Nemec is a New York-based partner and head of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom's Intellectual Property Litigation Group. His practice spans patent, trade secret, and licensing disputes across a broad technology range, with a particular emphasis on life sciences (Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA/biosimilar litigation) plus electronics/software, industrial chemicals, and mechanical technologies. The tracked matters reflect that breadth: defense of refined-coal companies in a mercury-emissions patent case (Midwest Energy Emissions v. CERT Operations, D. Del.) and plaintiff-side BPCIA litigation for Regeneron against Samsung Bioepis over the EYLEA (aflibercept) biosimilar.

Side preference and firm context. His tracked appearances are split evenly (one plaintiff-side, one defendant-side), but his broader, well-documented practice skews toward defending operating companies — including Fortinet, JPMorgan Chase, Dell, Caterpillar, Universal Alloy, and Middleby — against NPE and competitor claims, with selective plaintiff-side enforcement in life sciences. Public profiles (Skadden, Chambers, IAM) place him at Skadden throughout his career; the "Goodwin Procter" attribution on the Regeneron matter appears to track the firm's Big Molecule Watch coverage of that litigation rather than a Goodwin affiliation, though the case record lists him as counsel of record.

Notable cases and outcomes. In Midwest Energy Emissions v. CERT Operations II LLC (No. 19-1334-CJB), Nemec served as lead defense counsel for the CERT-affiliated coal refiners; a Delaware jury returned a $57 million willful-infringement verdict against his clients in March 2024, which survived JMOL and new-trial motions (November 2025), although the court declined enhanced damages while awarding interest (December 2025). On the plaintiff side, he worked on the Regeneron–Samsung Bioepis aflibercept BPCIA litigation in the Northern District of West Virginia, where a preliminary injunction issued against Samsung and the case settled in February 2026 with a January 2027 launch date. Other reported wins include Federal Circuit affirmance of an Alice-based §101 dismissal for Fortinet, a defense jury verdict for Universal Alloy against Arconic, and non-infringement/invalidity results for JPMorgan Chase.

PTAB/IPR and credentials. A registered patent attorney, Nemec regularly advises on inter partes reviews (including in life sciences) and has spoken on PTAB trial strategy and the Oil States decision; his practice is nonetheless anchored in district court and Federal Circuit litigation. Education: B.S.E. in bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania (1993); J.D., University of Minnesota Law School (1996). He is admitted in New York, before the USPTO, the Second, Third and Federal Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court.