Ideas are assets, and Russ August & Kabat helps clients protect, license, and enforce them across the full intellectual-property spectrum: patents, trademarks and trade dress, copyrights, and trade secrets. We are best known for high-stakes patent litigation, but the practice runs from licensing and strategic counseling through bet-the-company trials, and we represent both the companies asserting their rights and the companies defending against overbroad claims.
Technology is the advantage
What sets the practice apart is the bench. Many of our IP lawyers hold advanced degrees in fields like electrical engineering, computer science, physics, bioengineering, and biochemistry, and several are former patent examiners and federal law clerks. That depth lets us understand the technology as well as the engineers who built it, and field a trial team as large and as technical as any defendant’s.
What we do
- Patent litigation and trials — plaintiff and defense, in district courts nationwide, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the PTAB.
- Trademark and trade dress — protecting brands and product identity, and defending against infringement and dilution claims.
- Copyright — enforcement and defense, including in the software and entertainment contexts.
- Trade secrets — misappropriation claims and defense, including disputes involving departing employees and competitors.
- Licensing and technology transactions — structuring, negotiating, and enforcing IP licenses and technology agreements.
- Post-grant proceedings and appeals — inter partes and post-grant review at the PTAB, and appeals to the Federal Circuit.
Representative results
- A copyright jury verdict holding Ye (Kanye West) and his Yeezy companies liable for the unauthorized use of an artist’s instrumental track.
- A $262M jury verdict for MR Technologies against Western Digital on magnetic-recording-media patents.
- Standard-essential-patent and FRAND litigation taken through trial, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the Federal Circuit.
- Trademark and trade-dress defense for a major apparel company, resolved on summary judgment.
Recognition
Russ August & Kabat’s IP lawyers are recognized nationally. Irene Y. Lee is ranked among Managing IP’s leading practitioners and listed in the WTR 1000; firm partners appear in The Best Lawyers in America and the Daily Journal’s Top Intellectual Property Lawyers in California.
Protecting or enforcing your IP? Tell us about your matter.