Jeannine Y. Sano

In October, as lead trial attorney, Sano secured a complete defense jury verdict on behalf of Autodesk Inc. in a patent infringement lawsuit in Texas.

At issue were Autodesk's computer-aided design products, AutoCAD and its variants, which are used by architects and engineers. American Imaging Services Inc. v. Autodesk Inc., 09-733 (N.D. Texas, filed April 22, 2009).

"With a jury trial, it's always challenging to convey so much information about the technology, in addition to the legal issues, in patent cases," Sano said. "The lawyers have been living and breathing this case for years and know the details."

She tackled this, in part, by having the engineering director of AutoCAD explain how the products were developed.

"It's a matter of story-telling and putting things in context so the jurors can understand all of the different pieces as they make decisions," she said.

Evaluating the legal landscape these days, Sano recalled the earlier times, when parties went to court to address disputes that could not be otherwise resolved.

"It seems now that patent litigation is almost a business model," she added. "This is how plaintiffs make money, by filing patent lawsuits, knowing how much it costs to defend these lawsuits, instead of to address genuine rights and disputes."

Sano added, "This is costing companies a lot of time, money and resources to defend against these lawsuits and overloading the court system. This is resulting in everything become more expensive, including the technology and electronic devices that consumers want."

At the end of the day, she added, "Our job as litigators is to roll with the punches. We don't set the rules. We follow them and try to protect our client's interests."

- Pat Broderick