Bowles Rice

I'll research Bowles Rice's IP litigation practice before drafting.

Bowles Rice LLP — Patent Litigation Profile (prepared 2026-09-30)

Firm overview. Bowles Rice LLP is a full-service regional firm founded in 1920, headquartered at 600 Quarrier Street, Charleston, West Virginia. Its footprint is Appalachian and mid-Atlantic — West Virginia offices in Charleston, Morgantown, Parkersburg and Martinsburg, plus Southpointe/Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (earlier firm materials also reference Lexington, Kentucky and Winchester, Virginia). Firm communications from 2023 describe "more than 100 attorneys" across six offices, down from the 130–140 attorneys/eight offices cited in mid-2010s releases, so it is a regional commercial firm, not BigLaw or an IP boutique. Chambers USA ranks Bowles Rice in Litigation: General Commercial — West Virginia (Band 2, 22 years ranked), a general commercial litigation ranking rather than an IP-specific one. I found no AmLaw 100/200 or national IP ranking for the firm.

IP litigation specialty. The firm's own IP practice page describes infringement prosecution and defense in federal courts in "telecommunications, electronics, pharmaceuticals, mining equipment, highway and bridge construction materials," plus a U.S. International Trade Commission defense involving allegedly infringing imported raw materials. Two caveats matter: the page expressly states the firm does not perform patent drafting or prosecution (it refers clients to Washington, D.C. correspondent counsel), and the page appears dated — it names Andrew G. Fusco as IP team lead and its most recent listed items are from 2017. The technology profile suggested by the practice description is adjacency-driven (energy, mining, construction materials, electronics) rather than a Wi-Fi/standards or semiconductor patent boutique.

Side preference. The tracked record is one case, on the defendant side (0 plaintiff / 1 defendant), in a local-counsel role. That is consistent with the firm's broader profile as a defense-oriented commercial litigator working for national corporate clients, not an NPE/PAE plaintiffs' shop. The single data point should not be over-read — it establishes defense-side local-counsel capability, not a firmwide patent-plaintiff or patent-defense specialty.

Notable tracked case. The appearance is Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Amgen Inc. in the Northern District of West Virginia, part of In re Aflibercept Patent Litigation, MDL No. 1:24-md-3103 (N.D. W. Va.), the BPCIA dispute over Regeneron's EYLEA and Amgen's aflibercept biosimilar ABP 938/Pavblu. Bowles Rice attorneys (Stuart A. McMillan and Kaitlyn N. McKitrick) appear on filings for Amgen; lead national counsel is Proskauer Rose with Marshall, Gerstein & Borun and Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck. Publicly verifiable outcomes in that matter: the district court denied Regeneron's preliminary injunction on October 1, 2024, and the Federal Circuit affirmed on March 14, 2025, holding that under Becton, Dickinson v. Tyco the asserted '865 patent claims require a separate "buffer" component that Amgen's product lacks. The MDL remains active, with claim narrowing through 2025–26. These results belong to the Amgen trial team; Bowles Rice's contribution was in-state/local-counsel support.

PTAB/IPR practice and key personnel. I found no verifiable evidence of a standalone IPR/PGR filing or defense practice at Bowles Rice — no firm PTAB filings located, and the firm's IP page does not mention post-grant proceedings (Regeneron's aflibercept patents were challenged at the PTAB, but those petitions were handled by other firms). Reliably sourced names: Stuart A. McMillan (Charleston; chairs/formerly chaired the firm's litigation department, firm General Counsel, Chambers Band 2 for West Virginia litigation, 11 years ranked, ranked in Super Lawyers 2012–2026) and Kaitlyn N. McKitrick (Morgantown), both on the Amgen filings; Andrew G. Fusco (Morgantown) is identified on the firm's IP page as IP team leader and was named to Managing IP's "IP Stars" list in 2013–2017, with the firm listed as a "Notable Firm" in West Virginia — though I could not independently confirm he currently leads the IP group.