Publication highlights firm’s across-the-board strength in intellectual property law
IRVINE, Calif., September 24, 2026 – Knobbe Martens is proud to announce that it has been named among Law360’s 2026 California Powerhouses. The firm was honored for its across-the-board strength in IP law and a series of high-profile successes for clients over the past year.
Read the full profile from Law360 directly below.
Law360 profile piece
California Powerhouse: Knobbe Martens
California is where, for many, ideas become reality, and Knobbe Martens has built its reputation on protecting such innovation, securing more than $1 billion in jury awards this past year for its clients in the state, including $634 million in damages in litigation against Apple and $381 million from medical device behemoth Medtronic.
Those wins, among other recent accomplishments, landed the firm a spot as one of the Law360 2026 Regional Powerhouses.
The intellectual property and technology firm has more than 180 lawyers in offices up and down the state representing clients in a broad span of industries, technologies and practice areas, including with an artificial intelligence-focused IP team.
“We do everything from filing a patent application for someone who just invented something in their garage through taking it to trial and enforcing those patents and portfolios against multibillion-dollar corporations,” managing partner Steven Nataupsky told Law360 over a Zoom interview.
Founded in 1962 in Southern California, Knobbe Martens focused on intellectual property from the start — Louis Knobbe and Don Martens were both engineers before launching their law careers.
“We’ve always been exclusively in intellectual property and competition law, and never given real serious thought to going outside of that area,” Nataupsky said. “We’ve really focused on being the best there is in those areas, and that’s worked very well for us.”
The firm currently has about 240 attorneys, and more than 90% also have technical degrees, according to Nataupsky.
“I was an engineer,” he said. “Almost all of us had engineering or hard science degrees before joining the firm.”
The firm also has patent agents who have technical degrees, but have not gone to law school.
California’s technology boom has fueled the firm’s ambitions.
“The technology revolution over the course of the last 50 years, and really over the course of the last 20 years, has been largely focused in California,” Nataupsky said. “Everything from medical devices in Southern California to AI development in Northern California, California has been the place to be for intellectual property and competition firms.”
The firm’s mechanical and medical device practice makes up a significant portion of its work, including a large and thriving biotech group, Nataupsky said.
Knobbe Martens said it secured one of the largest patent infringement verdicts in the medical device sector when a California federal jury awarded client Masimo Corp. $634 million from Apple Inc., finding that certain Apple Watches infringed one of Masimo’s pulse oximetry patents with a feature that warns users if they have an abnormal heart rate.
The highly watched, 6-year-old case initiated by Masimo and its spinoff entity, Cercacor Laboratories Inc., claimed Apple poached their employees to swipe trade secrets related to the health-sensing features in the Apple Watch Series 6 launched in 2020.
The judge overseeing the case in July rejected Apple’s request for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial in the multipronged litigation.
Masimo has been a Knobbe Martens client for more than three decades.
The size disparity between the two companies was one of the biggest challenges to winning the case, said Knobbe Martens partner Brian Claassen, who co-led the team that obtained the $634 million jury verdict.
“You have a company that has nearly unlimited resources to throw at litigation,” Claassen said, so keeping a laser focus on the law and facts throughout the litigation made all the difference.
The other thing that differentiates Knobbe Martens is the firm’s ability to present at trial with people who actually understand the technology, he said.
“Our trial presenters actually know the technology cold,” Claassen said. “Sometimes, something an inventor or an expert says is critically important, but it may not seem that significant to a normal person. So really drawing that out for the jury is important.”
Knobbe Martens also secured an import ban from the U.S. International Trade Commission related to another patent covering the Apple Watch Series 6 and later. In March, the Federal Circuit affirmed the ITC decision and the full Federal Circuit in July declined to reconsider the panel’s determination.
Knobbe Martens’ representation of California‑based Applied Medical Resources Corp. against global leader Medtronic Inc. also showcased the firm’s ability to win on behalf of its clients.
A California federal jury in February ordered Medtronic to pay nearly $381 million to Applied Medical for antitrust violations, finding the medical device giant illegally used its monopoly power to crush competition in the market for a device used to seal blood vessels during surgery.
In July, the California federal judge overseeing the case rejected Medtronic’s bid to undo the trial loss.
The antitrust case involved bundling and exclusive dealing practices Medtronic used to foreclose competition, said Knobbe Martens partner Stephen Jensen. He has represented Applied Medical for more than two decades.
Jensen said he believed not just in his client’s case, but in his client.
“I find it an honor that they have put these kind of high stakes in my hands and feel an obligation to pursue opening up the healthcare market,” Jensen said.
In addition to offensive enforcement, Knobbe Martens takes pride in its defense of California innovators against high‑risk patent and trade secret claims.
In March, a Delaware federal judge granted client Edwards Lifesciences Corp.’s motion for summary judgment in patent infringement litigation brought by rival Aortic Innovations LLC. Aortic sued in February 2023, claiming Edwards’ transcatheter aortic valve replacement products infringed four patents.
Knobbe Martens also delivered a victory for California‑based Sigray Inc. in litigation from rival Carl Zeiss X-Ray Microscopy Inc. over X-ray imaging patents. In fall 2025, a California jury found Sigray was on the hook for $785,000 in damages, significantly less than the $12.3 million in damages and lost profits Zeiss said it was owed. The jury declined to award any lost profits, instead awarding a “reasonable royalty” in the case, and rejecting Zeiss’ claims of trade secret misappropriation.
The result also eliminated the injunction Zeiss sought and preserved Sigray’s ability to compete, according to Knobbe Martens.
A team from Knobbe Martens also delivered a win for client Veros Credit LLC and two of its employees in a trade secret misappropriation case brought by United Auto Credit Corp. in early 2025.
“We were defendants in all three of those cases and resoundingly won all three,” Nataupsky said.
With a strong legal market in California and AI expected to be a significant growth area for every firm, Knobbe Martens believes its future is bright.
“We’re uniquely situated to take advantage of that growth based on our technology backgrounds,” said Nataupsky.
Among clients in the AI space, Knobbe Martens is representing iRhythm Technologies Inc., a digital healthcare company specializing in AI-enabled cardiac monitoring and diagnostics, and Payscale Inc., which uses AI on its compensation intelligence platform.
“There are many clients who are working furiously on being leaders in the AI space,” Nataupsky said.
Nataupsky also credits California with helping the firm attract top talent.
“I think our location helps draw lawyers because we’re in California,” said Nataupsky. “They’re drawn for the standard of living, for the weather, for the people we have at the firm, and they like the culture that we have.”
Reprinted with permission from Law360. All rights reserved. Terms available here.
About Knobbe Martens
Knobbe Martens protects the ideas that drive innovation and propel our world forward. As a leading intellectual property and technology law firm, clients worldwide rely on us to safeguard their products, brands, and technologies through strategic counsel and high-impact litigation. With offices across the U.S., our lawyers and technology specialists collaborate to deliver tailored solutions for clients ranging from multinational corporations to start-ups and emerging companies at every stage. Discover more at www.knobbe.com.
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