Nathan N. Lowenstein

Lowenstein & Weatherwax LLP

Century City

Inter partes patent litigation

As a litigator who specializes in defending the patent challenges known as inter partes reviews, Lowenstein has represented patent owners as lead counsel in more than 50 IPR cases, including nine that went to trial.

The firm he co-founded in 2012, Lowenstein & Weatherwax LLP, has defended clients against claims brought by Facebook Inc., Google LLC, Apple Inc., Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Verizon Communications Inc., Hyundai Group, Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Inc.

Last November, he made his first oral argument before a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit panel. Two days later, the judges unanimously granted his client summary affirmance of his IPR trial win on behalf of client Polaris Innovations Ltd. over a patent regarding how chips are arranged on a memory module. Kingston Technology Co. Inc. v. Polaris Innovations Ltd., 18-1778 (Fed. Cir., filed April 5, 2018).

"It was my first Federal Circuit argument, and I was concerned about how I was going to get all the necessary information into my 15 minutes before the panel," Lowenstein said. "But then I saw that things were going in my favor, so I managed to compress it all into about four minutes. I didn't want to say anything that would change anyone's mind."

Lowenstein is lead counsel for VLSI Technology LLC, whose patents for power management, fabrication techniques and other aspects of semiconductor technology have been under challenge by Intel Corp. He argued six IPR cases before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in November, winning five.

He's taking the lead in several of 12 remaining IPR cases for VLSI. Intel Corp. v. VLSI Technology LLC, IPR2018-01105 et al. (PTAB, filed June 15, 2018).

"I have this odd view that a smaller, focused team is more capable than a larger one," Lowenstein said. His firm of 14 lawyers has a far lower headcount than the patent litigation powerhouse where he and law partner Kenneth J. Weatherwax once worked, Irell & Manella LLP, and from which he continues to recruit staff. Appellate of counsel Gregory R. Smith joined Lowenstein & Weatherwax from Irell in January.

"It is concentrated experience that we offer," Lowenstein said. "We hire people with great pedigrees. As a firm, we have been lead counsel in more than 160 IPRs."

Complicating matters for Lowenstein last fall was the birth of a son just weeks before he was scheduled for four IPR sessions and the oral argument before the Federal Circuit. The combination of dealing with a new child and fulfilling his litigation duties required three separate trips to the East Coast over a matter of days.

"Everything was clustered into a short period," he said. "It was a lot of work."

-- John Roemer