Bio

Matthew Bresnahan is a partner in the San Diego and Los Angeles offices of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he has focused his practice for the past fifteen years on establishing and building biotech companies. Matt’s training is in all aspects of intellectual property, including strategic patent counseling, patent prosecution, licensing, and litigation. Matt is primary outside IP counsel to more than 50 life sciences companies within the biotechnology, therapeutic, genomics, and medical device fields in Southern California. Matt leads a team of more than 30 patent attorneys and patent agents based in the San Diego office. A significant number of Matt’s clients are life science spin-outs from, or collaborators with, the one or more of the major universities, hospitals, and research institutions in Southern California. Matt prosecutes patent applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and manages and oversees national and international patent portfolios for his clients. Matt has analyzed intellectual property portfolios and performed IP due diligence for venture capital firms and other investors and businesses in a variety of investment environments, including dozens of financings, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings (IPOs). Matt also leads his team in conducting freedom to operate (FTO) analyses, drafting opinion letters of counsel, negotiating and drafting transactional agreements (including university spin-out license agreements), performing IP audits, and formulating and implementing IP strategies for both established and emerging growth companies. Matt also draws upon his strong patent trial experience, including deep experience in federal courts and at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the USPTO, when advising and counseling clients on intellectual property and related business matters on a day-to-day basis. Prior to joining the firm in 2007, Matt was an extern to the Honorable Rudi M. Brewster, a patent specialist judge, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Matt assisted Judge Brewster with resolving several high-profile and precedent setting patent trials and other intellectual property proceedings, including patent, copyright, and trademark actions.