Jacob T. Spencer

Jacob T. Spencer — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Jacob T. Spencer is an appellate and constitutional litigator at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Washington, D.C.), where he is a partner in the Appellate and Constitutional Law, Transnational Litigation, and Administrative Law and Regulatory practice groups (Gibson Dunn bio). His two tracked appearances — Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. v. Accord Healthcare, Inc. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. v. HEC Pharm Co. — are both Federal Circuit Hatch-Waxman appeals, in each case as appellate counsel for plaintiff Novartis. The cases share one underlying District of Delaware ANDA suit over U.S. Patent No. 9,187,405 covering Gilenya® (fingolimod 0.5 mg daily for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis), consolidated as Fed. Cir. No. 2021-1070. Patent work thus appears to be a narrow slice of a broader appellate practice spanning technology, telecommunications, securities, and administrative law; his technology exposure is primarily pharma (via Novartis) and telecom/tech (e.g., Meta, Slack, DraftKings, Lingo Telecom) (Law360 Rising Star profile, 2022).

Side preference. Both tracked appearances are plaintiff-side, for brand pharmaceutical company Novartis enforcing Orange Book patents against ANDA filers — not for generic defendants or NPEs. The sample is small (2 cases), and his broader practice is not side-specific: he has represented both plaintiffs and defendants (e.g., Meta, PwC, Nestlé) in non-patent matters. No in-house role; all appearances are at Gibson Dunn.

Notable cases and outcomes. In the tracked Novartis appeal, Spencer's team initially won a January 2022 Federal Circuit affirmance of infringement and validity (written description of the "no-loading-dose" negative limitation), but on rehearing in June 2022 the panel reversed and held the claims invalid; Novartis's certiorari petition was denied, and a later attempt by HEC to recover on the vacated $50M preliminary-injunction bond was rejected (Oblon/Foley summaries; Troutman, July 2024). His marquee non-patent results include unanimous Supreme Court wins in Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh (for Meta), Slack Technologies v. Pirani, and NAB v. Prometheus Radio Project (Gibson Dunn bio). He was a Law360 2022 "Rising Star" (Telecommunications) and Benchmark Litigation "Future Star."

PTAB / IPR experience. None identified: no evidence of regular IPR/PGR appearances, and his tracked matters are Federal Circuit appeals, not Board proceedings. Education/bar. Harvard Law School, J.D. magna cum laude (2012); clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (2016–17) and for Judges O'Scannlain (9th Cir.) and Jerry E. Smith (5th Cir.); admitted in D.C. and Virginia (Gibson Dunn bio).