Overview
Deep technical know-how. A comprehensive understanding of the legal terrain. An appreciation for market intricacies and broad knowledge of consumer segments. And a proven ability to provide business-focused guidance. Taken together, these characteristics define our expertise in the area of opinions and counseling. Working in virtually all industries, markets, and technology sectors, we have vast experience developing robust patent and trademark portfolios with real value and helping our clients minimize or altogether avoid contentious infringement and validity disputes.
In addition, we have expertise in litigating IP-related matters with an extensive track record of successfully representing both plaintiffs and defendants. But we don’t just practice law. We help shape it. We serve as leaders of bar and trade organizations, and work with clients to effect changes to intellectual property laws through filings of legal briefs and legislative efforts at both state and federal levels. We also play active roles in guiding regulatory and rules changes at the courts, as well as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Copyright Office. This leadership gives us a unique perspective into both existing and developing legal matters, and allows us to help our clients utilize change as a competitive advantage.
Representative Experience
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.
Knobbe provided key counseling to Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., as it embarked on a worldwide challenge to Pfizer’s Lipitor® patent portfolio. Ranbaxy introduced its generic alternative to Lipitor® in many foreign markets and, in late 2011, culminating a decade-long odyssey of counseling and litigation in which Knobbe attorneys and Ranbaxy personnel worked closely together, Ranbaxy successfully launched its generic alternative to Lipitor® in the United States.
Masimo
For more than 15 years, Knobbe has helped Masimo Corporation acquire, manage, license, and enforce its patent and trademark portfolio. Knobbe also has assisted CEO Joe Kiani during his testimony before Congressional subcommittee hearings reviewing mechanisms hospitals use to select medical device technologies.
Masimo develops, manufactures and sells patient monitoring devices that combine proprietary signal processing algorithms with innovative sensor technologies to accurately report human physiology. By the late 1990s, the patient monitoring industry was adopting portions of Masimo’s proprietary technology without obtaining a license. Knobbe assisted Masimo in leveraging of its patents and trademarks in order to compete with an entrenched market leading competitor. In addition, Knobbe also assisted Masimo in its efforts to maintain control over the quality of sensors available for its install base. Knobbe provided these and other services through strategic portfolio management combined with complex patent litigation.