Andrew D. Weiss is an attorney at Russ August & Kabat, where he practices in the Patent Litigation and Litigation & Trial departments.
Mr. Weiss has represented a variety of clients, including technology, internet, semiconductor, MRI and manufacturing companies. Mr. Weiss has deep experience in all aspects of litigation, from pre-filing evaluation and strategy to trial and appeal.
Prior to joining Russ August & Kabat, Mr. Weiss was an associate at Irell & Manella LLP for four years, where his practice focused primarily on intellectual property litigation.
Mr. Weiss is a graduate of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science. He was chosen to the 2010 and 2011 “Rising Stars” list by the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine.
Ben Wang is a partner at Russ August & Kabat. His practice focuses on representing clients in business and intellectual property disputes, particularly in patent and trade secret trials and appeals.
Ben clerked for Chief Judge George H. King of the United States District Court for the Central District of California and then Judge Ferdinand Fernandez of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Ben earned his J.D. from the University of Southern California where he graduated order of the coif, served as Executive Notes Editor for the U.S.C. Law Review, received the James Tam Award for academic excellence, and served as a teaching assistant for Professor George Lefcoe’s Real Estate Transactions and Finance classes. During that time, he also worked for the U.S. Trustee Program for the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a legal writing instructor.
Ben served a three-year term on the Committee on Federal Courts for the California State Bar. He has been designated as a Rising Star, Super Lawyer and Top 100 Super Lawyer, by Super Lawyers magazine. In 2018, Los Angeles Daily Journal named him one of the Leading Intellectual Property Lawyers in California. In 2018 – 2024, the Los Angeles Business Journal named him one of the Most Influential Minority Lawyers in Los Angeles. He is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell.
EXPERIENCE
- Pavo v. Kingston – $13.7M judgment based on jury verdict of patent infringement, willful infringement, enhanced damages, and interest in favor of client Pavo. All issues affirmed in a precedential opinion by Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Memory device patent.
- SPEX v. Apricorn – $4M damages award after jury verdict of patent infringement. Encryption patent.
- Nanology Alpha v. WITec – 5% royalty damages award after jury verdict of patent infringement. Scanning probe/optical microscope patent.
- Mirror Worlds v. Facebook – Reversal of district court’s summary judgment of non-infringement by Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
- LG v. Conversant – Published opinion by Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, affirming claim construction by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in inter partes review proceedings, and that none of the claims was invalid under the prior art.
- Core Wireless v. LG – Precedential opinion by Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, affirming all issues in favor of client Core Wireless, including claim constructions, no invalidity despite no rebuttal testimony about prior art, and eligibility of the patents under Section 101.
- VIA Technologies v. ASUS – Favorable settlement for client VIA in USB circuit design trade secret misappropriation case.
- Neurovision Medical Products v. Medtronic – Favorable settlement for client Neurovision in nerve monitoring electrode patent infringement case.
- Core Wireless v. Apple – $7.3M jury verdict. Cellular communications patents.
- TQP v. Newegg – $2.3M jury verdict. Encryption patent.
- Clear with Computers v. Hyundai – $19M judgment based on jury verdict of infringement and no invalidity, ongoing royalty, and interest. Marketing patent.
- St. Jude Medical v. Access Closure Inc. – $27.1M jury verdict. Medical device patent.
- MTH v. FATTOC, LLC – Favorable settlement for client MTH in high frequency trading trade secret misappropriation case.
- Santarus v. Par Pharmaceutical – Favorable settlement for client Santarus in omeprazole/sodium bicarbonate patent infringement case.
- Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation v. Intel – $110M settlement for client WARF. Data speculation circuit patent.
- Peer Communications v. Skype – Judgment of invalidity in favor of client Peer Communications. Network communications patent.
- Zenith Electronics Corp. v. Thomson, Inc. – Favorable settlement for client Thomson in set-top box patent infringement case.
- Knowles Electronics v. AAC Acoustic Technologies – Trial judgment of no trade secret misappropriation in favor of client AAC. MEMS technology.
- Ben has also advised clients in cases brought by the FTC, claims involving well-known social networking websites, and antitrust, securities fraud, copyright infringement, and breach of contract claims.
Larry Russ is a founding partner and co-head of the litigation department of Russ August & Kabat.
As an active trial attorney, Mr. Russ has focused on trademark, copyright, patent, business torts, trade regulation and advertising law and complex litigation. Mr. Russ has also worked extensively on antitrust and unfair competition matters.
Directly after being admitted to the California Bar in 1978, Mr. Russ launched his career by successfully challenging Levi-Strauss & Co’s resale price maintenance program related to men’s jeanswear in Levi Strauss & Co. v. Federated Pants, et al., 1979-2 Trade Cases #62,727 (C.D. Cal. 1979). In 1981, as co-lead trial counsel, Mr. Russ achieved a multi-million dollar jury verdict in one of the first private Section 7 Clayton Act cases that directed Pillsbury Flour Co. to divest itself of Wilton, Inc., a dominant cake decorating equipment specialty firm.
Throughout his career, Mr. Russ has successfully represented clients in the direct marketing industry and the apparel industry. Mr. Russ also has extensive experience representing clients in the home entertainment, technology and communications sectors, including video game hardware manufacturers, computer software developers, electronic toy makers and wireless communications companies.
In 1985, Mr. Russ obtained the highest Superior Court sanctions award in California history in connection with his representation of plaintiffs in a complex Malibu real estate fraud matter in which the trial judge delivered a seven-figure verdict and awarded punitive damages.
In 2002, Mr. Russ negotiated a highly publicized settlement on behalf of Yodeler Wylie Gustafson against Yahoo. Gustafson, who had recorded a single yodel for a Yahoo radio commercial, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Yahoo after the company began using Gustafson’s distinctive and unique yodel as the company’s audible signature on a myriad of company products and releases.
Mr. Russ represented the prevailing parties in several major apparel cases. In 2010, Mr. Russ successfully defended Forever 21 in a copyright and trade dress infringement action filed by Express. Mr. Russ obtained Summary Judgment in Forever 21’s favor, as well as an award of attorney fees.
In 2016, Mr. Russ was lead Class counsel in Perkins, et al, v LinkedIn, a privacy class action challenging LinkedIn’s ubiquitous ad- connection emails. The Class was approved and LinkedIn agreed to modify its practices and pay the Class $13,000,000+.
More recently, Mr. Russ has been re-focusing his attention on consulting with established and emerging companies in connection with e-commerce, financing, expansion, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, strategic alliances and intellectual property issues. Along with the new chair of the Mergers & Acquisition Department, Christine Shin, Mr. Russ is tasked with the mission of building a pre-eminent M&A team rivaling the talent and depth of knowledge of big law M&A departments.
In addition to his law practice, Mr. Russ is the past President and a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish National Fund Los Angeles zone. Mr. Russ is also involved as a principal of several well-known Los Angeles apparel companies including world renowned retailer, American Rag Cie. In 2014, Mr. Russ/ American Rag Cie was selected as a finalist by the Los Angeles Business Journal at the prestigious Southern California Apparel Awards, and WeAr Magazine, a world-renowned international magazine focusing on the apparel industry, announced that American Rag Cie was voted as the best retail denim store in the world.
Mr. Russ is also active in helping emerging and troubled companies raise funds. For a number of years, Mr. Russ served as an associate editor of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers quarterly publication. He is an active member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Litigation, Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law Sections as well as an active member of the American Bar Association Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law Sections. Mr. Russ was recognized as a Super Lawyer by the Publishers of Los Angeles Magazine from 2008-2024. From 2013-2024, Mr. Russ was recognized as a Southern California Top 100 Super Lawyer. Mr. Russ was also selected to The American Lawyer’s Top Rated IP Lawyers list in 2015 and to The Best Lawyers In America list for Patent Litigation from 2012-2024.
Admitted
- State Bar of California (1978)
- U.S. Supreme Court (1989)
- Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1978)
Neil Rubin is a partner at Russ August & Kabat, where he practices in the intellectual property and litigation departments. Mr. Rubin focuses on patent, trade secret and other intellectual property litigation, for clients in the computer security, networking, electronics, software and financial industries. Prior to joining Russ August & Kabat, Mr. Rubin was a lawyer at Latham & Watkins from 2006 to 2016, where he was a member of the Litigation & Trial Department’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice group.
Mr. Rubin has litigated patent, trade secret, copyright and antitrust matters in the district courts, International Trade Commission and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, from the pre-suit investigation stage through appeal. He has helped his clients recover more than $1.7 billion in judgments and settlements.
Mr. Rubin also holds physics degrees from Stanford, Cambridge and Case Western Reserve Universities. He was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and attended Cambridge University as a Churchill Scholar. As a PhD student at Stanford, his area of research was solid state physics. Mr. Rubin was an award-winning teaching assistant, and his PhD advisor was 1998 Nobel Prize winner Robert Laughlin.
Mr. Rubin is active in community organizations and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of Mental Health Advocacy Services, a non-profit organization that provides direct legal services to protect and advance the legal rights of children and adults with mental disabilities in the Los Angeles area.
Mr. Rubin was selected for inclusion in Los Angeles Magazine’s Southern California “Super Lawyers” from 2022-2024 and SuperLawyers “Rising Stars” in 2017.
Admitted
- State Bar of California (2007)
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (2010)
Recent Matters
- Intellectual Ventures v. Symantec – jury trial representing Symantec in four-patent suit brought by Intellectual Ventures; plaintiff obtained judgment of approximately 3% of the damages it had sought*
- AU Optronics v. Samsung – represented AU Optronics in series of cases before the International Trade Commission and the district courts involving a total of 20 patents covering display technology*
- AMD v. Intel – represented Advanced Micro Devices in patent and contract dispute*
- OpinionLab v. Qualtrics – represented Qualtrics in patent, copyright, and trade secret case brought by OpinionLab; brought Inter Partes Review and Covered Business Method actions that resulted in invalidating all challenged claims of four OpinionLab patents*
- Veritas v. Microsoft – represented Vertias Software in trade secret, patent, copyright and contract suit filed against Microsoft; obtained favorable settlement*
- Intellectual Ventures v. Capital One – represented Capital One in five-patent suit brought by Intellectual Ventures; all five patents dismissed or held to be unpatentable*
- Letsrun.com v. WCSN – represented World Championship Sports Network in breach of contract case concerning sports-related website; won on summary judgment*
*Represents experience from a previous law firm.
Jean Rhee is a partner at Russ August & Kabat, where she specializes in complex business, employment, and intellectual property litigation, and employment law counseling. Ms. Rhee has represented numerous Fortune 100 and 500 clients in a variety of matters, ranging from complex civil to white-collar criminal and regulatory matters. She has successfully litigated in both federal and state court, as well as in various domestic and international arbitral forums.
Prior to joining Russ August & Kabat, Ms. Rhee was an attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and Bird Marella. Before entering private practice, she clerked for the Honorable Ronald M. Gould on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ms. Rhee was recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyer from 2022-2024. Prior to that, she was recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2013-2019, and both a Southern California Top 100 Rising Star and a Southern California Top 50 Women Rising Star from 2015-2020.
In her free time, Ms. Rhee stays active by rock climbing, surfing, running, and traveling. She is also focused on giving back to the local and legal community. From 2005 to 2007 she served as a director of the non-profit, Project by Project. From 2008 to 2014, she served as a director and acting General Counsel for the non-profit, Asian Professional Exchange, which was then the largest Asian American young professional organization in the US. In 2012, she co-chaired the Young Lawyers Subcommittee of the ABA White Collar Crime Committee. Currently, she serves on the Internet Committee for the International Trademark Association (INTA), and volunteers with Bet Tzedek.
Recent Matters
- First-chaired jury trial in California state court, and obtained unanimous verdict for client on all contract and quasi-contract claims.
- Obtained favorable resolutions for Brotman Medical Center, Inc. in a variety of civil matters, ranging from employment discrimination lawsuits (sexual orientation, race and age), to successfully preventing shareholders from obtaining a preliminary injunction to bar a time-sensitive going-private transaction.
- Counseled and represented numerous clients, including 99 Cents Only Stores, Battaglia Shops, Heathco, Brighton Collectibles, Centerplate, and Midnight Mission, regarding state and federal employment issues and termination decisions.
- Counseled and represented numerous clients, including deadmau5, The Honest Company, and Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt, the world’s largest self-serve frozen yogurt brand, in trademark matters in district court and before the USPTO.
- Defended Merrill Lynch and Fidelity against nationwide wage-and-hour class actions brought by financial advisors.
- Second-chaired seven felony count healthcare fraud jury trial in federal court and obtained purely probationary sentence for client. Briefed appeal of judgment, including issue of first impression in the Ninth Circuit under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
- Represented President and CEO of premium denim manufacturer in sentencing for a $15M workers’ compensation fraud case, and succeeded in obtaining sentence of only 1 month and reducing restitution amount to under $6M following a contested restitution hearing.
- Represented individual client in abating $33M IRS jeopardy assessment.Conducted internal investigation for and counseled international defense contractor regarding Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues relating to multi-million dollar defense contracts with Indonesian military.
- Represented President of foreign subsidiary of Fortune 500 computer manufacturing company in connection with global federal government investigation into alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.
- Represented Global Head of Luxury & Lifestyle Brands for Hilton Hotels Corporation in civil litigation and parallel federal criminal investigation initiated by his former employer, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Starwood had alleged that the client had breached his non-solicitation, confidentiality and intellectual property agreements and misappropriated trade secrets relating to the W Hotels. The civil matter was resolved via confidential settlement, and the United States Attorney’s Office ultimately declined to bring charges.
- Represented Milberg LLP, lead plaintiffs’ counsel in a securities class action proceeding, in a sanctions hearing in federal court in San Diego where the defendant corporation alleged that Milberg knowingly received documents misappropriated by its former employee, and used them in the underlying class action. After a full-blown evidentiary hearing, the Court found that no misconduct had occurred.
- Successfully demurred to claims against publicly-traded bank holding company, Hanmi Financial Corporation, its subsidiary bank and its directors and officers in shareholder derivative action.Represented largest PVC pipe manufacturer in the world, J-M Manufacturing, Inc., in $1B+, bet-the-company qui tam case involving federal and state False Claims Act statutes through the pre-trial phase.
- Successfully moved to compel arbitration of breach of contract claims against international pop and film star, Rain a.k.a. Jung Ji Hoon.
- Represented CEO of major US airline in making an SEC proffer in connection with an insider trading inquiry.
- Conducted stock options backdating investigation for the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of a Fortune 500 company.Second-chaired multi-week international arbitration in insurance coverage dispute for Shell Oil.
Reza’s practice focuses on patent litigation and licensing. Frequently called upon to develop worldwide litigation and licensing strategies, Reza has obtained more than $600 million for his clients in the past five years alone. Having never lost a jury trial, Reza uses his significant trial experience and success to drive successful outcomes for his clients.
Reza is also a registered patent attorney licensed to practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office. Complementing his litigation expertise, he has worked on numerous successful post-grant matters before the USPTO.
Reza was recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyer in 2022 and 2024. Prior to that, he was recognized numerous times as a Super Lawyers Rising Star. And from 2015-2022, Reza was recognized as a Southern California Top 100 Rising Star.
Prior to joining Russ August & Kabat, Reza was an equity partner at Knobbe Martens LLP.
Recent Matters
- In Ecofactor, Inc. v. Google, (W.D. Tex. 2022), Reza and Marc Fenster co-led the RAK team that won a $20 Million jury verdict of infringement, and no invalidity against Google related to smart thermostat and energy saving HVAC controllers.
- In Solas OLED v. Samsung, (E.D. Tex 2021), Reza second-chaired a RAK team that secured a $62.7 Million jury verdict of willful infringement against Samsung Display, Samsung Electronics Corporation and Samsung Electronics America on patents related to OLED and touchscreen technology in Samsung’s mobile phones.
- Core Wireless Licensing S.A.R.L. v. LG Electronics (E.D. Tex. 2019). Reza was lead counsel for a RAJK team that won a jury verdict for damages the full damages model sought by their client, Conversant Wireless (formerly Core Wireless) against LG.
- In Realtime Data v. Riverbed, (EDTX 2017), Reza second-chaired a RAK team that obtained a jury verdict of infringement in a trial against Riverbed for patent infringement related to data compression and data acceleration.
- In Core Wireless v. Apple, 5-15-cv-05008 (N.D. Cal. 2016), Reza second-chaired a RAK team that secured a verdict of infringement and no invalidity on both patents against Apple for infringement of two standards essential patents involving cellular technology. This appears to be the first time Apple has lost a patent case in NDCA.
- Core Wireless Licensing S.A.R.L. v. LG Electronics (E.D. Tex. 2015). Reza second-chaired a RAK team on behalf of Core Wireless in two matters against LG with respect to fundamental telecommunications and graphical user interface patents. Obtained verdict of willful infringement with respect to U.S. Patents 7,804,850 and 6,633,536.
- Inventio AG v. Otis Elevator Co. (S.D.N.Y. 2011). Represented Plaintiff Inventio in a patent infringement lawsuit involving destination dispatch elevator systems. Obtained jury verdict that Otis infringed all asserted claims and that all infringed claims were valid.
- In the Matter of Certain Notebook and Components Thereof (I.T.C. 2011). Represented Toshiba in a patent infringement investigation involving notebook computer products. Just before trial and after defeating each summary judgment motion brought by Wistron, the case settled with Wistron paying for a license.
- iRise v. Axure Software Solutions, Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2009). Represented Plaintiff iRise in a patent infringement lawsuit involving prototyping products for software visualization. Obtained summary judgment that Axure infringed asserted claims and successfully defended against summary judgment of invalidity and non-infringement.
