Sarah S. Brooks

Sarah S. Brooks has been with Venable LLP for five years, currently working as part of the firm’s intellectual property litigation technology group. She also serves as the firm’s hiring partner for its Los Angeles office, recruiting law students and associates.

She splits her time between trademark and patent litigation, including disputes in federal courts and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Her recent notable litigation wins include Microchip Technology Inc. v. HD Silicon Solutions LLC, IPR2021-01089, (PTAB, filed June 25, 2021). Brooks was able to defend HD Silicon against five out of the nine petitions Microchip filed against it, a high defense rate compared to the usual 70 to 75 percent of petitions the Patent and Trademark Office reviews. She said in an interview that Microchip challenged 25 of HD Silicon’s claims but was only able to successfully cancel four of those claims.

Brooks attributed her victory to how deep she dove into the technical aspect of the case, leading to fruitful depositions of the opposition’s experts and strong challenges against Microchip’s assertions.

Another win Brooks is proud of is Arrowood Capital Inc. dba Tree House Recovery v. Freedom Healthcare of America LLC dba Addiction Campuses et al., 8:21-cv-00364, (C.D. Cal., filed Feb. 24, 2021). She represented the plaintiff in this case, which provided facilities to help people recover from substance abuse. The dispute between the parties was that both companies ran recovery centers using the name Tree House.

Brooks said one difficult challenge she had to overcome was successfully conducting a survey showing consumers were likely to be confused about which facility was affiliated with which party because it is hard to get people to acknowledge they are in the market for substance abuse recovery services. Despite the difficulty, the case was mediated and settled mid-fact discovery, and Brooks believes the strong results in her client’s favor from the survey played a big part.

Brooks asserted her philosophy as an attorney is to be frank and straightforward with her clients about the merits of the case. She prioritizes a cleaner case that will meet her clients’ goals and best interests as opposed to an extensive, costly advantage-seeking battle. “I am honest, not only with my clients, but with the other side, and I think that helps settle matters before going to trial,” Brooks said.

—Jonathan Lo