Mr. Kramer lectures frequently on patent law and litigation. He was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Temple University School of Law, teaching a comparative course contrasting patent litigation and strategy in the U.S. and Japanese court systems. He has also as been a guest lecturer at Waseda University in Tokyo, teaching U.S. intellectual property law, and he serves as a judge in the University of California, Hastings College of Law, Trial Advocacy/Moot Court program in San Francisco. Rob is also a contributing author to Edison In The Boardroom Revisited: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Property, Appendix C ("A Closer Look at IP Damages") (John Wiley & Sons 2011). Rob gained valuable experience around the courthouse early in his career as a judicial law clerk for Judge Richard D. Simons at the New York Court of Appeals upon graduating law school in 1989.
Mr. Kramer joined Novak Druce + Quigg in 2010, a national intellectual property boutique having approximately 80 attorneys and professionals, ninety percent holding technical degrees, in six offices, including Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Houston, to build its patent litigation practice group. NDQ’s Litigation Practice Group consists of more than 25 attorneys and IP professionals, and Mr. Kramer is one of the firm’s leading and most experienced patent litigators.
Mr. Kramer’s practice has focused on patent litigation, adversarial patent and technology cross-licensing negotiations, trademark and trade secret misappropriation and breach of nondisclosure (NDA) disputes, and international arbitration involving complex intellectual property rights. He has represented clients in a broad range of industries and technologies, including electronics, biotechnology, semiconductors, life sciences, medical devices, biometric authentication, networking, wireless telecommunications, and light emitting diodes (LED). He also has extensive experience representing Japanese and other Asian companies, as well as U.S. companies, in patent and licensing disputes. In Japan, he was a registered gaikokuho-jimubengoshi and a member of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association while practicing law for three years as a partner in MoFo’s Tokyo office from 1998 to 2001. Rob has served as an ICC arbitrator in international arbitration, and is experienced representing clients in ITC § 337 proceedings in the U.S. International Trade Commission. Mr. Kramer is recognized in Strathmore's Who's Who Worldwide.
Publications and Speeches
Contributing Author, Edison In The Boardroom Revisited: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Property, Appendix C ("A Closer Look at IP Damages") (pub. John Wiley & Sons 2011).
Speaker, Intellectual Property Owners Association (“IPO”), U.S. Patent Office Inter Partes Proceedings Committee, “The International Trade Commission (“ITC”) § 337 Patent Cases, NPEs, and Post-Grant Proceedings” (Nov. 8, 2011)
Speaker, Corporate Counsel 7th Annual IP Counsel Forum, Recent Developments in ITC Patent Litigation: Nonpracticing Entities (NPEs) in § 337 Patent Cases in the ITC, San Jose, CA (March 2011)
Speaker, The Recorder Roundtable, In Practice: Patents and Patent Law, The Rising Implications of Patent Pools, ITC Litigation, Patent Reform Legislation, Menlo Park, CA (Nov. 14, 2011 (upcoming)).
“Patent Reexamination Strategies In U.S. Patent Litigation,” Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), San Francisco, CA (November 2009).
“The Essential Skills And What You Need to Know About Business Development,” Association of Business Trial Lawyers, San Francisco, CA (October 2009).
“Working With An Expert Witness at Trial: Strategies and Tips for Intellectual Property and Business Litigators,” Association of Business Trial Lawyers (ABTL), LDC, San Francisco, CA (September 2008).
“The Federal Circuit’s En Banc Consideration of Claim Construction In Phillips v. AWH Corp.” Patent Strategy & Management, (ALM March 2005) 5, No. 11 (March 2005). Co-authored with M. Pernick.
Highlights
BigBand Networks, Inc. v. Imagine Communications, Inc. (Dist. Delaware). Represent defendant, an innovator in video compression and encoding systems, in a multi-patent infringement lawsuit in the district court in Delaware against a publicly traded competitor, BigBand Networks. The patents at issue in this case relate to digital broadcast over cable telecommunications networks.
EON IP Holdings, LLC v. Landis+Gyr, Inc. et al. (E.D. Texas - Tyler). Represent Silver Spring Networks, Inc., a leading Silicon Valley “smart grid” networking company, in multi-patent infringement litigation in Eastern District of Texas concerning mesh network data communication systems.
Road Science, LLC v. Telfer Oil Company et al. (E.D.Cal.) and Road Science, LLC v. Shilling, Inc. (N.D. Oklahoma). Represent defendants, innovative emulsion and surfacing companies, in patent infringement lawsuits in the district court in Northern California and Oklahoma relating to Novachip road surfacing technologies.
BridgeLux, Inc. v. Cree, Inc. (E.D. Texas) and Cree, Inc. and Trustees of Boston University v. BridgeLux, Inc. (N.D. Cal. And E.D. North Carolina) Successfully represented BridgeLux, Inc., a leading Silicon Valley high power light emitting diode (LED) company, in a series of patent infringement cases against competitor Cree, Inc. involving five LED patents. Obtained favorable confidential settlement as a result of successful strategy involving declaratory judgment actions and Markman claim construction of patents-in-suit.
Intellitech Corp. v. Xilinx, Lattice Semiconductor Corp. (Dist. Delaware) Represented plaintiff, a leading developer of field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, in competitor patent infringement litigation in the district court in Delaware relating to electronic test equipment. Xilinx Semiconductor Corp. v. Intellitech Corp. (N.D. Cal.) Represented defendant, a leading developer of field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, in a patent infringement litigation initiated by a competitor and leading FPGA company in a district court in California relating to electronic test equipment. Cases resolved on confidential favorable terms.
Sinclair International, Inc. v. FMC Corp. (N.D. Cal.). Successfully represented Sinclair International against a competitor, FMC Corp., in a patent litigation involving Sinclair’s pioneering patents covering automatic high speed labeling systems. Sinclair obtained a preliminary injunction, a remedy rarely granted in patent infringement cases, barring FMC from making and selling competing equipment covered by Sinclair’s patents.
Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Eli Lilly & Company, 598 F.3d 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2010). Lead counsel for digital entertainment networking company in an amicus appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a significant en banc case in which the Federal Circuit modified the scope and meaning of the written description requirement under Section 112 of the patent statute.
Innovative Global Systems v. Volvo Construction Equipment, Caterpillar, Inc. et al. (E.D. Texas - Tyler) Represented Volvo companies in joint defense patent infringement litigation in Eastern District of Texas relating to communication systems for transmitting data for monitoring and controlling heavy machinery and other types of equipment.
Mitchell v. Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu America, Inc. (N.D. Cal.) Successfully represented Fujitsu in patent litigation regarding bi-memory controlled CPU architecture, microprocessor and switching technologies obtaining highly favorable settlement achieved in wake of motion for summary judgment of patent invalidity.
Patriot Scientific Corp. and Technology Properties Ltd. v. Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu America, Inc. (N.D. Cal.) Successfully defended Fujitsu in patent litigation directed at high-speed microprocessor technology involving the Moore microprocessor patent (MMP) portfolio asserted by Patriot Scientific and Technology Properties Ltd (TPL, now Alliacense).
Avago Technologies, Ltd. v. IPtronics, Inc. (N.D. Cal.) Represented Avago Technologies, a leading Silicon Valley technology company formerly part of Agilent Technologies, in patent infringement litigation enforcing client’s patents against competitor’s fiber optics and optoelectronics products, including VCSEL laser drivers.
SecuGen LLC v. NITGen Co., Ltd. (AAA arbitration; ND Cal.) Successfully represented SecuGen, a Korean developer of optical biometric authentication technology as lead IP trial counsel in a complex AAA arbitration against a competitor, NITGen, involving more than twenty five claims and counterclaims at issue, including patent infringement, copyright, trade secrets, trade libel, trademark and license-based claims. The matter was resolved following extensive four-week arbitration hearing and related district court proceedings.
Fujitsu Ltd. v. Samsung Electronics, Ltd. (U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)) successfully defended Fujitsu in ITC § 337 patent infringement litigation relating to DRAM and SRAM memory fabrication techniques and circuitry, obtaining favorable confidential settlement after completion of ITC hearing.
Gemstar-TV Guide International v. EchoStar et al. (ITC). Successfully represented EchoStar against Gemstar-TV Guide International in what has been called the biggest-ever patent case in the International Trade Commission. Gemstar claimed that EchoStar, Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., and Pioneer imported set-top boxes that infringed four United States patents. EchoStar won on multiple grounds, including noninfringement, no domestic industry, and as to the main patent, patent misuse and invalidity for failure to join a co-inventor.
TeleChem International, Inc. v. Apogent Technologies and BioRobotics Inc., and TeleChem International, Inc. v. Point Technologies, Inc. (N.D. Cal.) Represented patentee in patent infringement litigation between competitor companies relating to technologies and micro-research tools employed to fabricate microarrays of DNA and other chemical and biochemical substances. Achieved a favorable confidential settlement after obtaining a successful claim construction at a Markman hearing.
Greenville Communications LLC v. Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile et al. (Dist. NJ. and E.D. Mississippi) Represented T-Mobile in a patent infringement litigation involving ring back tone (RBT) technology implemented in CDMA and GSM wireless communication systems. Successfully achieved § 1404 transfer of litigation from Mississippi to New Jersey, followed by stay of district court litigation pending resolution of reexamination of patents-in-suit.
Katz v. WellPoint, Inc. (E.D. Texas and C.D. Cal.) Represented WellPoint, Inc., a leading Fortune 50 healthcare company, in a patent infringement suit filed by Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing LLC. WellPoint achieved a highly successful settlement after aggressively challenging the validity and demonstrating noninfringement of the multiple Katz patents-in-suit, including a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and transfer filed in E.D. Texas court.
LG Philips Ltd. v. Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd. (Dist. Del. and C.D. Cal.) Represented Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd. (CPT), a leading Taiwanese manufacturer of LCD flat panel displays, in patent infringement litigations involving multiple patents covering thin film transistor LCD flat panel display and notebook computer technologies. Achieved successful resolution aggressively defending CPT in multi-front patent litigations, including jury trials in the district courts in the Central District of California and in Delaware.
International Manufacturing & Engineering, Inc. v. Eastman Kodak Company. (S.D.N.Y. and N.D.N.Y.) Successfully represented Eastman Kodak in patent litigation relating to multiple organic light emitting diode (LED) patents. Kodak successfully won a motion to transfer the case to its home district in Rochester, NY, and then achieved a highly successful confidential settlement amidst Kodak’s pending summary judgment motion with the district court litigation dismissed, and thereafter litigating disputed inventorship and patent ownership issues in an interference proceeding in the U.S. Patent Office.
Intel, Inc. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (N.D.Cal.) Successfully represented AMD in multi-action microcode “chip wars” cases relating to Intel’s infringement allegations directed at AMD’s use of the 286/386 microcode, including trial and injunction motions in Northern District of California.
Practice Areas
Admissions
- New York
- California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York
Education
- Brooklyn Law School, J.D.; Editor, Law Review, Cardozo-Platzman Scholar; Dean's List (1989)
- New York University, B.A. cum laude; Rudin Scholar for Academic Achievement; New York University's Founder's Award for Academic Excellence and Dean's List (1986)
Professional Affiliations
- Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Northern California Division, Board of Governors, (2008 - 2010); Member, ABTL (1996-present)
- British American Business Council chapter in Northern California, Member (2011)
- San Francisco Bay Area Intellectual Property American Inn of Court, Member (2010-2011)
- ABA, Litigation Section, Member (1990-Present); Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law Section, Member (1996–present)
- American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), IP Practice in Japan Committee, Member (2008-present)
- Moot Court Judge, University of California, Hastings Law School (2010-2011)
- Daini Tokyo Bar Association, Member (2000-2001)
- Federal Circuit Bar Association, Member (2004 - present)
- Intellectual Property Owners Association, Member (2004 - present)
- International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association, Member (2005 - present)
- Japan Society of Northern California, Member (2002 - present)
- Licensing Executives Society, Northern California Chapter, Member (2004 - present)
- Public Education and Affairs Committee of the Barrister's Club of the San Francisco Bar Association, Co-Chair, (1998); Bar Association of the City of San Francisco Member (1996-present)