Womble Adds PTAB Pro Brent Babcock From Knobbe Martens
After 26 years at a homegrown Orange County IP powerhouse, Babcock is taking his practice to a firm that didn't exist before last year.
November 05, 2018 at 07:48 PM
3 minute read
Twenty-six years after first joining Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, IP litigator Brent Babcock has left the firm to join Womble Bond Dickinson's Orange County office, Womble said Monday.
Babcock, who represented clients in more than 130 Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings at his former firm, will lead Womble's PTAB practice.
“Womble is making a big push on the West Coast right now,” said Babcock, noting that the newly trans-Atlantic firm has significantly expanded its presence in California after acquiring local IP boutique Blakely Sokoloff Taylor Zafman in January.
“It is a good time for me to get in on the ground for Womble's California expansion and make the push onto the West Coast, where I live, where I work, where I know a lot of the folks, a lot of clients,” he said.
Babcock started his legal career at Knobbe Martens' Orange County office as an associate in 1992, fresh from earning his law degree at Georgetown. Since then, in addition to PTAB matters and other post-grant proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, he's handled dozens of high-stakes cases in federal district court. He led the USPTO trials and post-grant proceedings practice group at Knobbe Martens.
“The [Leahy-Smith] America Invents Act, which was passed and began effective in 2012 and part of 2013, really changed the landscape of patent litigation, the ability to effectively challenge patents in the U.S. patent office,” Babcock said of the current IP litigation landscape.
Trained as a mechanical engineer at the University of California, Los Angeles, Babcock's cases have involved a wide array of technologies and products, including manufacturing equipment, medical devices and biotechnology.
“Being a patent lawyer is a great plan,” Babcock said. “It is a hybrid kind of career where you can use your technical specialty but also your writing and speaking, and analytical skills as well.”
In addition to handling federal court litigation and PTAB matters, Babcock's practice also includes pre-litigation counseling, pre-interference and post-grant proceeding consulting, as well as federal appeals and patent-related alternative dispute resolutions.
“There is no substitute for experience, and Brent has an impressive track record in patent litigation,” John Morrow, head of Womble's U.S. intellectual property litigation group, said in a statement. “He understands the business needs of clients, not just their legal needs, and works to ensure that litigation serves those clients' overall business goals.”
Womble Bond Dickinson was formed one year ago though a merger between North Carolina-based Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice and the U.K.'s Bond Dickinson. It has about 170 intellectual property attorneys and patent agents in the U.S. and U.K.
The firm's Orange County office, which it gained through its acquisition of Blakely Sokoloff at the start of 2018, now counts 13 attorneys, including lawyers working in IP and financial services litigation.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllHueston Hennigan Secures Dismissal of SEC Action Against Ex-PwC Auditor in Mattel-Linked Case
How Dana Rao Built a 'Yes' Culture at Adobe and Why He Walked Away
Trending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Election 2024: Nationwide Judicial Races and Ballot Measures to Watch
- 3Guarantees Are Back, Whether Law Firms Want to Talk About Them or Not
- 4How I Made Practice Group Chair: 'If You Love What You Do and Put the Time and Effort Into It, You Will Excel,' Says Lisa Saul of Forde & O'Meara
- 5Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250