Brett Sandford represents clients in high-stakes intellectual property cases, with a focus on trial.
Brett draws on experience — in more than a dozen trials and at every stage of the litigation process — to help clients pursue and defend a range of intellectual property claims, including patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation.
Brett has had success representing both plaintiffs and defendants in all of the patent-heavy districts. He has a highly developed team ethos, informed by a prior career in professional baseball, and an ability to play the long game to achieve success for his clients. Brett has developed expertise in the trial phase and handling intellectual property damages. He has successfully led damages cases for clients on the plaintiff and defense side, including achieving a unique result of zero damages for established direct infringement that was affirmed by the Federal Circuit on appeal.
Brett represents clients in every forum, including in district court and before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the International Trade Commission (ITC), and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). He also maintains an active pro bono practice, with a focus on helping clients win at trial.
Prior to joining Latham, Brett was a judicial extern for Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Corley of the Northern District of California. He also served as a judicial intern for Judge Thomas P. Anderle and Judge Brian E. Hill in the Santa Barbara Superior Court.
During law school, Brett was a member of the Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition and an executive editor of the Berkeley Business Law Journal. He received the Prosser Award for trial advocacy.
Experience
Brett's exemplary matters include representing:
SMR in a nine-patent case on blind spot mirror technology; after stipulation of direct infringement, obtained summary judgment of no convoyed sales and a complete defense jury verdict invalidating all asserted patents and finding no induced infringement (Magna Mirrors of America v. SMRAutomotive Sys. (W.D. Mich.; PTAB))
Philip Morris & Altriain a multi-jurisdictional dispute on innovative “heat-not-burn” and e-vapor technologies; secured a jury verdict (i) finding that Reynolds’ e-vapor products infringed both asserted patents and (ii) awarding the full amount of requested damages (RJ Reynolds Vapor Co. v. Philip Morris & Altria(E.D. Va.; ITC))
Adobe in a case that Latham took over following summary judgment and stipulation of direct infringement only four months before jury trial; obtained jury verdict of no induced infringement and judgment of zero damages (TecSec v. Adobe (E.D. Va.), affirmed by Federal Circuit)
Velodyne LiDAR in a competitor case that resulted in a favorable settlement after the PTAB and Federal Circuit upheld the validity of Velodyne’s patent on its foundational rotating LiDAR technology (Velodyne LiDAR Inc. v. Quanergy Systems, Inc. (N.D. Cal.; PTAB))
Velodyne LiDAR in a competitor case that resulted in a favorable settlement and business resolution for client on the eve of the ITC hearing (Velodyne LiDAR Inc. v. Suteng Innovation (ITC))
NVIDIA in a six-patent case regarding DRAM and cache memory; obtained jury verdict of non-infringement and invalidity, leading to settlement on favorable terms (Samsung Elecs. Co. v. NVIDIACorp. (E.D. Va.; ITC; PTAB))
BBB in a trade secret case between competing automotive part remanufacturers, successfully took over and defended case until it settled on favorable terms after arbitration (Cardone Indus. Inc. v. BBB Indus. Inc. (Texas state court))
Arista Networks in various disputes with competitor Cisco Systems, defeated Cisco’s claims of patent infringement at the ITC, thwarting Cisco’s efforts to shut down all US sales of Arista’s switches and avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars of penalties; led Arista’s successful efforts to twice obtain approval from Customs that Arista’s switches did not infringe Cisco’s patents and so could be imported into the country (Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Arista Networks, Inc. (N.D. Cal.; ITC; PTAB))
Symantec in a multi-patent jury trial; obtained a jury verdict of non-infringement on the key patent at trial (eliminating 96% of the damages risk to the client), and invalidated the remaining two patents on post-trial motions and on appeal (Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp.)
Free Flow Packaging Int’l in multi-patent case regarding packaging technology, successfully invalidated competitor’s patent as indefinite and helped lead offensive case resulting in a favorable settlement for client after claim construction (Automated Packaging Sys. v. FPI, Inc. (N.D. Cal.; N.D. Ill.))
Johnny Morgan as court appointed pro bono counsel in four-day bench trial representing a formerly pro se prisoner in a Federal Torts Claims Act case against the US Attorney's Office for SDNY; obtained judgment of full liability and statutory maximum damages award. US$130,000, the highest pro bono award in the court's recent history (Morgan v. United States (S.D.N.Y.))
Two Latham litigation teams were recognized for winning a US$2.3 million jury verdict for a victim of revenge porn in a pro bono case, as well as a victory for the Atlantic Coast Conference in a case involving major athletic conferences and Name, Image, and Likeness claims.
Latham honored for securing a US$10.75 million damages verdict for client Philip Morris International in a patent infringement trial over vaping technology against R.J. Reynolds Vapor.
You know those air-filled plastic pouches that pad the contents of just about every box you get in the mail? They’re called dunnage. And two companies that make them are involved in a big patent fight, including Latham client Free-Flow Packaging International Inc.
Latham’s client GlobalFoundries nabbed a major win when a Delaware federal magistrate judge granted the semiconductor makers' summary judgment bids in a patent infringement case.
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