Hon. Gregory M. Sleet (Ret.) joined JAMS after serving 20 years on the bench of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, including seven years as Chief Judge. During his tenure on the District Court, he gained deep experience in a number of areas of complex commercial litigation, especially patent litigation involving pharmaceuticals and a wide variety of other technologies. Judge Sleet presided over and resolved by pretrial ruling, trial, or settlement thousands of cases involving a wide variety of subject matters, including those in the intellectual property, antitrust, bankruptcy, class action, business/commercial, pharmaceuticals/medical devices, products liability, securities and tax realms. 

Judge Sleet focuses his national practice on arbitrations, mediations, and neutral analyses (case evaluations and mock trials).

Before taking the federal bench in 1998, Judge Sleet acquired varied experience in civil and criminal litigation and corporate legal work. He served as the United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, as in-house counsel in the legal department of Hercules Incorporated, and as Deputy Attorney General handling major civil cases for the State of Delaware. Prior to that, he practiced law in Philadelphia for fourteen years, six of those as an Assistant Public Defender with the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

Judge Sleet is a frequent speaker on patent litigation. Select examples of his speaking engagements include: the Harvard Law School Conference on Intellectual Property, the Stanford University Conference on IP Law and Biosciences, the Rocky Mountain Intellectual Property and Technology Institute, the Sedona Conference, the USC Gould School of Law, the New York Intellectual Property Law Association’s (NYIPLA) symposium on patent litigation, the Practising Law Institute (PLI), and the American Conference Institute (ACI). 

ADR Experience

• Judge Sleet has served as an adjunct professor, teaching patent litigation, at Rutgers Law School, Widener University Delaware Law School and, most recently, Duke University School of Law. 
• He is a sought-after neutral evaluator and has handled many neutral analyses and mock trials or hearings in patent matters as well as complex business/commercial matters. 
• Judge Sleet’s deep knowledge of intellectual property combined with his years of experience on the federal bench has given him a national reputation for being able to resolve challenging, multifaceted cases.
• While on the bench, he often identified cases that would be ripe for settlement and worked with the permission and agreement of parties and counsel on a parallel settlement track to attempt to resolve matters before, and sometimes during, trial.

Representative Matters

• Antitrust & Competition
• Served as Neutral Evaluator in matter relating to digital advertising technology (adtech) market
• Mediated alleged Lanham Act, defamation, tortious interference, unfair competition and computer fraud and abuse claims involving competing companies providing services to retailers 
• Mediated action involving alleged violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the testing and supply of blood platelets 
• While on the bench, presided over multi-week jury trial, with extensive post-trial practice, involving allegations of various Sherman Act violations by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP); also presided over numerous matters involving claims of monopolization by the misuse of patent rights
• While on the bench, presided over patent infringement and antitrust violations dispute between global coffee maker companies resulting in dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of the foreign-incorporated defendants
• While on the bench, presided over jury trial involving dispute among international sports organizations and domestic sports association regarding the alleged improper reorganization of professional sports tournaments, including antitrust claims for violations of the Sherman Act, as well as state law claims for breach of fiduciary duty and tortious interference
• Business & Commercial
• Has served as arbitrator, mediator, and neutral evaluator in many different breach of contract disputes involving issues such as royalties, payment distribution, implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, rescission and restitution, and breach of previous settlement agreements
• Served as Neutral Evaluator on breach of contract matter involving transportation of crude oil from rail cars onto barges for shipment to refineries 
• Served as Neutral Evaluator in action involving allegations of fraud and corruption between companies involved in overseas oil reserve project 
• Mediated dispute over stock purchase agreement under which two companies were acquired from multiple sellers 
• Mediated matter against multiple parties for alleged civil contempt under Michigan law and negligence for failure to comply with subpoenas for records related to a vehicle rental
• Mediated breach of contract matter involving alleged failure to test new engine design for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval 
• Mediated breach of contract and tortious interference and related claims between medical technology company and skin care company
• Mediated fee dispute involving law firms who were parties to joint prosecution agreement pertaining to high profile class action that settled for several hundred million dollars
• Mediated breach of contract dispute between foreign and U.S. gaming companies
• Class Action & Mass Tort
• Mediated putative class action dispute concerning the alleged false advertising of milk products 
• Mediated putative class action dispute involving alleged violations of New York State’s General Business Law Sections 349 (deceptive trade practices) and 350 (false advertising) involving the production of a sauce product 
• While on the bench, presided over numerous class action disputes in a variety of areas, such as securities fraud, and actions brought on behalf of consumers and others; frequently presided over approval of final settlement of these matters
• Employment Law
• Arbitrated matter involving claims of race and age discrimination and retaliation against global commercial real estate and investment company 
• Served as Neutral Evaluator for matter involving allegations that partner of global financial services firm violated terms of non-solicitation agreement
• Served as Neutral Evaluator in matter involving allegations that banks terminated employee in retaliation for reporting bank employees’ violations of federal rules and regulations
• Mediated dispute arising out of engineer-inventor’s claims regarding shares of hi-tech company’s stock to which he was allegedly entitled after leaving company
• Mediated case involving allegations of race discrimination by Black employee against pharmaceutical company 
• Mediated matter involving allegations that multinational retail corporation sexually harassed employee because employee was involved in an inter-racial relationship with the father of her children
• Mediated class and collective action involving allegations of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations by provider of school bus services
• Governmental & Public Agency
• Mediated dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a trucking company that allegedly violated the Clean Air Act (CAA)
• Mediated dispute between county in Pennsylvania and private company with a government contract to run an early childhood education program; issues included the renewal of the contract as well as the effectiveness of the program 
• While on the bench, presided over claims by Delaware corporation challenging state’s unclaimed property audit methodologies used in calculating uncashed accounts payable and payroll checks for a 22-year period. Involved alleged violations of substantive due process, the takings clause, and the ex post facto clause for improper assessment of more than $1.3 million owed under the state’s Escheat Act. Though never formally confirmed, the ruling is believed to have provided the impetus for changes in Delaware’s escheat practices
• Intellectual Property
Copyright
• Mediated dispute between actors, authors and publishers against software company that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) in certain voice and speech applications; involved allegations of misappropriation of likenesses, publicity rights and alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
Patent 
• Has handled many mock trials and neutral evaluations in Hatch-Waxman cases and is well-versed in handling patent infringement and validity disputes involving pharmaceuticals
• Arbitrated matter involving the alleged infringement of several patents covering an acne medication
• Arbitrated patent matter involving alleged breach of contract’s tolling provisions
• As a Neutral Evaluator, has handled matters involving the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), as well as the Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Served as Neutral Evaluator in matter involving patent inventorship
• Served as Neutral Evaluator for patent infringement case involving microprocessors and computing technologies
• Mediated numerous alleged patent infringement disputes
• Mediated case involving allegations that company breached the terms of the parties’ licensing agreement by refusing to pay royalties from sale of drug
• While on the bench, presided over numerous, frequently multi-week, Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) trials involving a wide variety of pharmaceuticals, including: Copaxone (glatiramer acetate), the top-selling treatment for multiple sclerosis; Hemlibra, an important drug for the treatment of hemophilia; a drug for the treatment of schizophrenia; and many others
• While on the bench, presided over many jury trials involving a wide variety of technologies, including: mechanical devices such as in-door refrigerator ice makers; auxiliary power units (small jet engines that power an airliner while it’s docked at the gate); a dispute between major manufacturers of vacuum cleaners over suction power claims; medical devices such as transcatheter heart valves; a seminal invention in the area of knee replacement; electronic devices, computer technology, software design, and machines used in the television and film industry that enable the remote creation of content for television news and entertainment and theatrical films; the design of safety features involving products used by babies and toddlers; and the design of feminine napkins
• While on the bench, presided over patent infringement dispute under the BPCIA between two large biotechnology companies involving claims of improper attempts to commercialize biosimilar versions of the branded biologic cancer treatment drugs Avastin and Herceptin
• While on the bench, presided over patent dispute between major pharmaceutical company and generic drug manufacturer involving claims of infringement and counterclaims of noninfringement and invalidity of an erectile dysfunction medication
• While on the bench, handled patent dispute involving alleged infringement of a patent for a method and system for processing payments for remotely purchased goods including detailed consideration and analyses of “abstract idea,” “inventive concept or contribution” and “machine-or-transformation test” concepts, and applicability of pre- and post-Alice caselaw
• While on the bench, presided over patent claim alleging infringement of vacuum seed metering technology by an agricultural equipment manufacturer, including arguments related to obviousness and anticipation, indefiniteness, lack of written description and enablement
• While on the bench, handled patent infringement action involving post-consumer glass recycling methods, including analysis of patentability, various infringement issues including willfulness, as well as defenses such as anticipation and obviousness
Trademark & Trade Secrets
• Mediated alleged trademark infringement dispute
• Mediated dispute involving real estate company’s claims, among others, that individual misappropriated its trade secrets, infringed its trademark, and violated the Federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA)
• Mediated alleged breach of contract and trade secret dispute involving companies in dental software and technology industry
• While on the bench, presided over jury trial in a false and misleading advertising and unfair competition action which resulted in a large award of compensatory and punitive damages; also presided over many other Lanham Act disputes
• While on the bench, handled international trademark infringement matter involving Russian distiller claiming false advertising, false association, and trademark cancellation, including alleged violations of the Lanham Act and unfair competition laws against large American purveyor of alcohol spirits
• Life Sciences
• Arbitrated, as Chair of arbitral panel, dispute over contract interpretation pertaining to an intellectual property, development, and manufacturing agreement between the parties related to subcutaneous enzyme technology
• Arbitrated, as member of arbitral panel, demand seeking redress for wrongful withholding of millions of dollars in payments allegedly owed under a settlement agreement involving the termination of a license for the development and commercialization of a heart failure medication 
• Served as Neutral Evaluator for commercial dispute between pharmaceutical collaboration partners in which one party claimed it was entitled to payment under the language of the governing agreement
• Mediated action for trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract between two pharmaceutical companies related to, among other things, chemistry designs, chemical synthesis, purification methods, quality control methods, encoding designs, and proprietary software
• Mediated claim of fraudulent misrepresentation and omissions that allegedly induced one party to enter into a licensing agreement with regard to patented compounds related to opioid side effects
• Mediated action for trade secret appropriation and breach of contract between biotechnology companies engaged in research and development of compounds related to the targeting of proteins
• Mediated dispute between biotechnology company and a contract research organization (CRO), parties to a research-collaboration and license agreement, seeking to avoid litigation over freedom-to-operate (FTO) agreement interpretation differences
Multi-District Litigation (MDL)

• Mediated MDL action involving individual and putative class member claims for personal injury, economic losses and other measures due to the use of certain medications allegedly contaminated with cancer causing chemicals
• While on the bench, presided over at least six MDL actions involving a variety of ANDA and other patent claims
• Personal Injury & Tort
• Serving as Special Discovery Master with respect to public matter involving alleged theft of trade secrets
• Appointed as Special Settlement Master in high profile public matter involving consumer data breach action filed against cybersecurity company that manages personal data for numerous companies 
• Mediated highly publicized actions involving allegations that governmental agency failed to investigate and mishandled over one hundred sexual assault allegations against physician thereby allowing him to continue to prey on child and adolescent (including Olympic) athletes
• Securities
• While on the bench, handled a shareholder derivative action brought by corporation against its directors, alleging insider trading violations in violation of the prohibition of short-swing profits under the Securities Exchange Act, including claims of exempt transactions and retroactive applicability

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Arthur Armitage Sr. Distinguished Alumni Award, Rutgers University, 2005 
• Named one of the “Fifty of the Finest” graduates of Rutgers University in its first fifty years, 2000
• Inducted into the Rutgers African American Alumni Alliance (RAAA) Hall of Fame, 2019
• NJIPLA Jefferson Medal, 2019 (for exceptional contribution to the field of Intellectual Property)
• New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA) Outstanding Public Service Award, 2014
• Philadelphia IP Law Association Outstanding Achievement Award in the Area of IP, 2014

• Member, Board of Directors, Delaware Community Foundation
• Member, BluePrints, Highmark Delaware Grants Committee
• Ombudsman, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware
• Member, New York Intellectual Property Association (NYIPLA)
• Member, CPR Judicial and Technology Panels
• Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS

Background and Education

• Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware 1998-2018
• Judge, 2014-2018
• Chief Judge, 2007-2014
• Judge, 1998-2007
• U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, 1994-1998
• Counsel, Hercules, Inc., 1992-1994
• Deputy Attorney General, State of Delaware, 1990-1992
• Private practice, Philadelphia, PA, 1983-1990
• Assistant Public Defender, Philadelphia, PA, 1976-1983
• J.D.; Rutgers School of Law; Camden, NJ; 1976
• Earl Warren Scholar
• B.A.; Hampton University; Hampton, VA; 1973