Sarah J. Guske

As the department chair of Baker Botts L.L.P.'s San Francisco intellectual property group, Sarah J. Guske leads high-profile, high-stakes litigation for clients such as Twilio Inc., Infinera Corp., Cisco Systems, Inc., Tile, Inc., T-Mobile US, Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and Lyft, Inc.

Guske's background includes summa cum laude undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and physics; she is among the few women lawyers with such degrees.

She got the degrees 21 years ago, but they still come in handy--as in a current case in which she's defending co-defendant Qualcomm Inc. against patent infringement claims by a Florida-based company over 5G wireless transceiver technology. Red Rock Analytics LLC v. Apple Inc. et al., 6:21-cv-00346 (W.D. Texas, filed April 8, 2021).

The complaint alleges that several of Qualcomm's 5G wireless products willfully infringe Red Rock's patent for the calibration of a transceiver function.

"It's a case that reminds me of some similar design features shared way back when by Bluetooth hardware," she said. She is currently petitioning the court to transfer the case to California, where both Apple and Qualcomm are headquartered.

That would remove the matter from the docket of U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright of Waco, Texas. "Judge Albright became the hot docket for patent cases," Guske said. "For a while he was hanging on to a lot of cases," despite venue change petitions. "But since the Federal Circuit started reversing him on transfer requests, he's been more open to them."

Guske leads the team defending San Mateo-based tracking device maker Tile against patent infringement claims in a one-person Canadian company's first patent suit. "The plaintiff was not on the radar," she said. "They don't appear to be in a competitive situation, and we didn't know about them until they knocked on the door." The claim involves location tag technology; U.S. District Judge James Donato of San Francisco granted Guske's dismissal motion late last year. Linquet Technologies Inc. v. Tile Inc., 3:20-cv-05153 (N.D. Cal., filed July 27, 2020).

"The judge allowed them to replead, but we don't think any amount of repleading can fix their case," Guske said.

She's also representing Tile after Baker Botts took over its defense in a patent infringement case that is currently stayed pending appeal of Tile's IPR, in which Guske is lead appellate counsel. Cellwitch Inc. v. Tile Inc., 4:19-cv- 01315 (N.D. Cal., filed March 12, 2019).

"And we just got pulled into an ITC case," Guske said. "We're busy and I really like the work."

- John Roemer