Knobbe Martens is pleased to announce that partners Salima Merani, Ph.D., Susan Natland, Joseph Re, John Sganga, and Sheila Swaroop have been selected by the Daily Journal for inclusion in its annual ranking of the “Top IP Lawyers in California.” This year, only 78 IP attorneys statewide were selected for this prestigious honor.
Salima Merani, Ph.D. with her doctorate in Neuroscience, has been widely recognized in the legal and tech community for her exceptional skills and unique ability to not only build impressive global patent and trademark portfolios in the medtech, pharma, and biotech fields, but also in negotiating high-stakes deals for her clients. In just the last three years, she has been lead IP counsel in tech deals valued at well over $1 billion and also has led her clients to victory in litigious proceedings.
Susan Natland has earned a reputation as a professional yet fierce advocate for her clients. For almost 20 years, she has represented high-profile clients to protect their brand assets. She has an outstanding success rate in winning on the merits or favorable settlement. Susan handles all areas of brand protection, copyright and rights of publicity protection and enforcement, as well as emerging data protection and privacy issues.
Joseph Re is a nationally recognized trial attorney and appellate specialist and recipient of numerous awards for winning high-stakes patent cases before juries throughout the United States. Recently, he served as lead trial counsel for firm client Masimo Corp in a jury trial and obtained a $466 million jury award against Philips, the largest IP jury verdict of 2014. In 2016, Masimo settled all outstanding litigation with Philips, resulting in a $300 million payment to Masimo and a business partnership where Philips incorporates Masimo technology in its products.
John Sganga has practiced IP litigation for over 30 years, and as Chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group, he oversees a wide variety of IP suits. In 2015, he successfully led a trial team at the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) resulting in an exclusion order under both of his client’s asserted patents, first-chaired a trade secret misappropriation case to a $70 million jury verdict in Boston, and won all three of his Federal Circuit appeals.
Sheila Swaroop has litigated complex IP cases to achieve success for her clients for over 16 years. She has helped clients successfully enforce and defend high-stakes patent cases at the International Trade Commission, including an exclusion order in 2016 blocking the importation of foreign-made dental implants. She also helped to secure a multi-million dollar jury verdict of copyright and trademark infringement, and has worked with clients to navigate parallel litigation before the International Trade Commission (ITC), district court, and Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
The Daily Journal names attorneys to the lists based on a number of criteria including hundreds of nominations and staff selections, along with consideration of each nominee’s major intellectual property successes over the last year.
About Knobbe Martens
Consistently ranked among the top intellectual property firms in the nation and worldwide, Knobbe Martens has over 275 lawyers and scientists nationwide and dedicates its practice to all aspects of intellectual property and technology law, including litigation. Knobbe Martens serves a diverse group of clients from multinational corporations to emerging businesses of all stages. The firm is headquartered in Orange County, California, with offices in Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., and enjoys an international reputation for excellence. More information about the firm can be found at www.knobbe.com.
