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Bruce Sunstein is a patent attorney in Merchant’s Boston office, where he brings decades of experience in building and enforcing high-value patent portfolios. He is a trusted strategist to startups, market leaders, and research institutions across a range of industries, including artificial intelligence, software, electronics, life sciences, and medical devices. Bruce’s patent work has contributed to enforcement outcomes resulting in eight- and nine-figure recoveries, and his strategic counsel has helped clients secure dominant IP positions in competitive markets.

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Bruce regularly advises on the development, enforcement, and monetization of intellectual property, with deep experience in inter partes review proceedings, reexaminations, and appeals before the PTAB and Federal Circuit. His background includes obtaining patents across a wide array of innovations, from neuromedical devices and gene expression assays to data compression software, financial systems, and x-ray inspection technologies. He also counsels clients on technology-based transactions and compliance strategies involving federally funded research.

A recognized thought leader in IP law, Bruce is frequently engaged as an expert witness and arbitrator in complex intellectual property disputes. He has provided expert analysis in patent litigation, trade secret matters, antitrust disputes, and malpractice claims in both federal court and arbitration settings. His testimony and reports have played a key role in matters involving cutting-edge technologies, high-stakes enforcement, and industry-shaping legal issues.

Bruce is a longtime mentor with the MIT Venture Mentoring Service and an active member of numerous professional organizations, including AIPLA, LES, and IEEE. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, IAM Patent 1000, IAM Strategy 300 Global Leaders, Massachusetts Super Lawyers®, and was recently named to the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame. Prior to joining Merchant, Bruce was a founding partner at Sunstein LLP.

University of California at Berkeley School of Law, J.D.

Indiana University, M.A., English Literature, 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S., 

Boston

Merchant &amp; Gould, a premier intellectual property law firm, has opened an office in Boston, expanding the firm’s depth and breadth of experience into an important technology hub. This expansion brings a team of 13 highly regarded attorneys from the Sunstein law firm, a decades-old, well-known Boston IP boutique. The group brings substantial experience in Boston’s innovation ecosystem and further strengthens Merchant’s litigation, patent prosecution, and trademark practices.



“Boston is a natural fit for Merchant, as our strengths in life sciences and advanced technology and our 125-year history of protecting innovation are well-suited to the area’s technology, research, and venture capital communities,” said Heather Kliebenstein, Merchant’s Managing Partner. “Merchant’s presence in Boston enables closer collaboration with innovators across the region, supporting them at the earliest stages of development with a large bench of attorneys having deep technical and trial capabilities, a high degree of responsiveness, and close strategic coordination.”



The Boston office will be led by Office Managing Partner Kerry Timbers, an accomplished first-chair trial lawyer whose experience includes jury trials and arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The team also includes widely respected IP leader Bruce Sunstein and first-chair trial lawyer Lisa Tittemore. “Joining Merchant strengthens our client service by improving the breadth and depth of resources available to them,” said Sunstein. “Merchant’s deep technical bench and long history as a premier intellectual property and trial firm allow us to deliver even stronger outcomes.”



“Our decision to join Merchant was driven by a shared vision of attentive service and the opportunity to provide clients broader support,” said Timbers. “The firm’s national platform, combined with our team’s strengths, particularly in high-growth sectors such as biotechnology and software, creates a powerful synergy that benefits clients at every stage of the innovation lifecycle.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Merchant has experienced rapid growth in the last two years, adding over 50 attorneys and professionals, doubling the size of its Washington, D.C. office, and opening an office in Los Angeles. As one of the largest law firms in the nation dedicated exclusively to intellectual property, Merchant has a deep bench of attorneys, patent agents, scientists, and other professionals who handle some of the most complex IP challenges facing companies worldwide.

Merchant & Gould Opens Boston Office, Strengthening Its Depth and Breadth

Electrical & Software

Dorothy Real

Partner

Bruce D. Sunstein

American Bar Association
American Intellectual Property Law Association
Massachusetts Bar Association
Boston Bar Association
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Licensing Executives Society

Professional Affiliations

Best Lawyers in America
IAM Patent 1000
IAM Strategy 300 Global Leaders
Massachusetts Super Lawyers
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame

Awards & Recognition

<h5>Publications and Lectures</h5>
“NIH Edict Slashing Funding of All Grant Awards Halted Nationwide for Now by Massachusetts Federal Court,” Sunstein Insights, March 31, 2025; “Trial Court Ruling Threatens Patent Portfolio Development,” Sunstein Insights, April 1, 2024; “Building An IP Portfolio For Competitive Advantage,” Presentation February 21, 2024 (and prior years from 2017) to MIT Venture Mentoring Service; “The Unified Patent Court and Unitary Patent Come to the European Patent Office” (with Kate Noll), Sunstein Insights, March 20, 2023; “Supreme Court Won’t Fix the Patentability Mess It Created A Decade Ago,” Sunstein Insights, August 4, 2022; “Federal Circuit Jumps to Step Two To Rescue Authentication Patent,” Sunstein Insights, December 8, 2021; “Google v. Oracle: Supreme Court Holds Copying of Key Part of Java Software, its API, is Fair Use,” Sunstein Insights, April 22, 2021
<h5>Book</h5>
Networking for Business Development: A Guide for Attorneys and Consultants (Iedp Ideas for Leaders Ltd, 2025).
&nbsp;

Bruce D. Sunstein

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