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Meredith Martin "Mimi" Addy (b. Feb. 21, 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American intellectual property attorney who has argued numerous patent infringement and related patent cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). To date, Addy has served as first- or second-chair trial counsel in nearly 30 federal district court cases. She also has handled more than 40 appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and has been lead counsel or argued 25 of them.

Addy is a member of the Federal Circuit Advisory Committee, appointed at the request of current Chief Judge Randall Ray Rader. She is the Chicago office managing partner of the Chicago office international law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP, and is also the author of the legal blog www.fedcirbiz.com, which addresses the business of the Federal Circuit and the impact of its rulings on business and innovation.

Education and early career
Addy attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, receiving both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1990. During college, Addy worked at a specialty IP law firm Arnold, White & Durkee (which later merged with now-defunct Howrey) analyzing circuit diagrams for a contingency fee case, Kearns v. Ford Motor Co., which involved patent infringement for a design for intermittent windshield wipers. This case later became the basis for the 2008 feature film Flash of Genius. Following this experience, Addy completed her electrical engineering degree and attended law school at the University of Georgia.

During law school, Addy completed summer associate programs at specialty law firms Arnold, White & Durkee in Houston in 1991, and at Willian Brinks Olds Hofer Gilson & Lione (later Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione) in Chicago in 1992. She graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1993, Later that year she joined Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione as an associate. In the late 1990s, Addy began attending evening classes in intellectual property (IP) law at The John Marshall Law School and eventually enrolled in its LL.M. program in IP law. Addy graduated with honors in 1997.

Career
During 1997-1998, Addy left Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione to complete a judicial clerkship under Circuit Judge Paul Redmond Michel of the U.S. CAFC in Washington, D.C. Addy returned to Brinks Hofer in Chicago in 1998 and was promoted to shareholder in 2000.

Since 2005, Addy has served as a member of the Federal Circuit Advisory Council, appointed by the chief judge to advise the court on procedure and operations. Addy also has testified before the U.S. Congress, on the state of the Federal Circuit and Patent Appeals. As former chair of the Amicus Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), she has represented it on several occasions before the Federal Circuit.

In 2007, Addy helped found the IP-focused Richard Linn American Inn of Court and served as the group’s first president. Named after Richard Linn, a senior Circuit Judge on the U.S. CAFC, the group is part of the American Inns of Court, a national movement of organizations that mentor young intellectual property lawyers and focus on promoting ethics, civility, and professionalism. In 2011, Addy joined the Washington, D.C.-based firm Steptoe & Johnson as managing partner of its Chicago office.

Addy has served on the editorial board of the American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal, and been an editor of Claim Construction in the Federal Circuit, published by West LegalWorks. She has also been active with veterans’ organizations preparing cases at the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States. In 2012 and 2013, "Intellectual Asset Management" (IAM) ranked Addy as one of the top five patent litigators before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She is currently ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA, where she also was shortlisted for its Intellectual Property “Woman of the Year” award for 2011.

Notable cases
Addy has successfully represented well-known software, high-technology, pharmaceutical, and biotech companies in cases involving genetic engineering, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, software, and personal care products. She has won Federal Circuit appeals on joint infringement, on vacating an infringement finding, and an "en banc" Federal Circuit ruling resolving conflict over interpretation of product-by-process claims. Addy has also won several other notable decisions:
 * A Federal Circuit appeal on the Cabilly patents for polymerase-chain-reaction
 * A Federal Circuit appeal on Herceptin®
 * A Federal Circuit appeal on human growth hormone

Publications

 * "Essays on the Honorable Paul R. Michel," Foreword in "The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law", 10.2 (Winter 2010-2011)
 * "High Court Jurist - Time for Real-World IP Focus," "Law360", May 29, 2009
 * "The Patent Law Fun House, What Next?" September-October 2008, Landslide, Co-author with J. Pioli
 * "Who is 'OOSITA'?" "Patent World", July/August 2006, Co-author with Artem N. Solokov
 * "Federal Circuit...'Renegade Court'?" "Managing Intellectual Property", Americas IP Focus 2006, co-author with C. Noel Kaman

Personal life
Addy grew up an only child in Atlanta. Her father, a patent lawyer for The Coca-Cola Company, was her inspiration for pursuing a career in intellectual property law. Her mother and father divorced, and she has two half-brothers. Divorced, Addy is the mother of two daughters.