Melody Drummond Hansen is an Intellectual Property and Technology Partner in O’Melveny’s Silicon Valley office. An experienced litigator, Melody has tried cases in federal and state courts, the US International Trade Commission, and the US Patent & Trademark Office. With over a decade of experience in technologies from cameras and streaming video to voice recognition and autonomous vehicles, she thrives at the frontiers of technology and law. Melody guides established market leaders and emerging companies alike through patent, data security, trade secret, privacy, copyright, trademark, contract, and unfair competition matters, and helps them overcome regulatory hurdles. Melody has litigated and advised clients in matters involving diverse technologies including avionics, mobile telecommunications standards, networked devices, internet content delivery architectures, semiconductors, secure payment processing, and consumer products, with experience in both hardware and software.
As Chair of the firm’s Automated & Connected Vehicles Industry Group, Melody is a thought leader in the developing law for autonomous vehicles, and she advises companies on litigation risk, data security and privacy, regulatory compliance, and state and federal agency investigations. Melody has been quoted on autonomous vehicles in publications including CNN, The Recorder, and Law360. She also is a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law.
Honors & Awards
- Recommended by Legal 500 for her work in Intellectual property - Trade secrets (2017)
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- California
- District of Columbia
- Illinois
Education
- University of Chicago, J.D.: cum laude; Order of the Coif
- Oxford University, MSc, Comparative and International Education: with distinction
- Georgetown University, A.B., American Studies: summa cum laude; John Carroll Scholar; Phi Beta Kappa
Professional Activities
Member
- Co-Chair, Bar Association of San Francisco Intellectual Property Executive Committee
- American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law
- International Bar Association Intellectual Property Communications and Technology Section
Co-Author
- “Litigating Under the First-to-File rule,” American Intellectual Property Law Association conference (2006)
