Ashok Ramani

Ramani’s colleagues say he is adept at designing winning strategies and translating sophisticated concepts for juries and judges alike, including a recent $2.8 million patent jury trial win for TEK Global SRL.

In TEK Global SRL v. Sealant Systems International Inc., 3:11-CV-00774, (N.D. Cal. March 17, 2017), Ramani won a $2.8 million jury verdict for TEK in a long-running case against competitor Sealant Systems Inc. over patented tire repair technology. TEK obtained a patent over a portable tire-repair kit in 2010 and sued, using different counsel.

With that counsel, TEK lost its patent on summary judgment of invalidity and lost a jury verdict on a counterclaim patent, resulting in a permanent injunction against TEK’s U.S. sales. TEK then hired Ramani and his team, who revived TEK’s patent on appeal, vacated the injunction and invalidated the counterclaim patent. Ramani successfully fended off a last-ditch inter partes review last fall, and then persuaded the jury in March that TEK deserved nearly all of its claimed damages of $2.9 million.

The parties are currently briefing post-trial motions, including a permanent injunction and exceptional case requests by TEK.

“It’s been a long, difficult road for our client,” Ramani said. “They previously lost their patent, tagged for infringement and lost their injunction. This is a reversal of that. Hopefully, we get a favorable outcome on post-trial motion.”

Keker Van Nest & Peters has a wide intellectual property practice, Ramani said, representing the open patent holders, as well as practicing entities and handling significant competitor disputes. Currently, he is representing medical technology company ConforMIS Inc., which is suing Smith & Nephew, considered a medtech titan.

“We’ve been litigating in district court and we’ve asserted 18 patents,” Ramani said. “They’ve asserted two patents back. There’s been some interaction with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and a petition for IPR on patents. Two were denied. It’s pretty interesting.”

For those coming up in intellectual property litigation, Ramani said to “get in court as often as they can.”

“I’ve been fortunate to be at a firm where we get to court and to trial a lot,” he said. “I’ve tried 16 cases. To me, that’s the most important thing a young person can do.”

Ramani added, “I love my job and I love my firm. It’s still amazing to me that people pay me to learn about their technology and speak on their behalf in court. That’s the most fun in IP litigation. You learn about all this cutting-edge tech in a variety of fields.

— Matthew Sanderson