Elissa Sanford

Elissa Sanford is a patent litigation attorney with a practice focused on defending operating companies in complex intellectual property disputes. She is a Senior Associate at Duane Morris LLP, where she specializes in patent litigation across a diverse range of technologies.

Ms. Sanford's technical expertise spans biotechnology, genetic engineering, telecommunications, consumer electronics, software solutions, and cloud networking solutions. Her experience includes handling cases involving video coding, wireless content distribution, and device provisioning, as demonstrated in her defense of clients in the streaming and connected-device ecosystem. Her tracked case appearances, as well as publicly reported results, indicate a primary focus on the defendant side in patent infringement matters.

At Duane Morris, Ms. Sanford counsels clients on various aspects of patent law, including infringement and validity opinions, pre-suit counseling, licensing, patent prosecution, and portfolio review. Prior to joining Duane Morris, she was an Associate at Oblon, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt LLP from 2020 to 2023. Her experience includes a notable outcome where she secured a complete non-infringement jury verdict on behalf of Roku in IOENGINE, LLC v. Roku, Inc., a case where the plaintiff sought $318 million. Additionally, she was involved in VideoLabs, Inc. v. Roku, Inc., which concluded with a patent licensing agreement and a joint stipulation of voluntary dismissal with prejudice. The litigation in this case involved multiple Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings and an appeal to the Federal Circuit, indicating her experience in PTAB and appellate matters related to patent litigation.

Ms. Sanford is admitted to practice in Washington, D.C. and Virginia, and is also registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She earned her J.D. in 2020 from the College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, and holds a B.S. in Biology, cum laude, from Old Dominion University.