Dr. Fatih Mercan is a patent attorney who advises clients ranging from multinational corporations to startups on a broad range of technologies to align their intellectual property (IP) strategy with their business goals. He is based in the firm’s New York office, where he is a member of the Chemical, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practice.

In addition to drafting and prosecuting patent applications, Fatih assists clients in patent portfolio management, freedom-to-operate, patent invalidity, non-infringement, and IP due diligence matters. He has a deep familiarity with patent law issues specific to life sciences-based technologies, including biochemistry, cell signaling, diagnostics, therapeutics, genetics, immunology, microbiome, and nucleic acids.

Beyond his patent practice at Foley, Fatih is dedicated to supporting pro bono legal opportunities, with a special focus on representing clients seeking asylum under the Violence Against Women Act and those with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.

Prior to joining Foley, Fatih served as a patent agent at a boutique intellectual property firm in New York, where he drafted and prosecuted patent applications, evaluated the patentability of innovations, conducted prior art database searches for patentability and freedom-to-operate analyses, and analyzed patent and scientific papers and documents.

Before pursuing his legal career, Fatih spent several years working as a postdoctoral fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) conducting research on cancer epigenetics, specifically related to prostate cancer and leukemia. While at CSHL, Fatih also interned within the lab’s Office of Technology Transfer. Before CSHL, Fatih conducted doctoral research on cell signaling at Yale University, aiming to understand how normal cells sense and respond to nutrients.