Pillsbury announced today the arrival of intellectual property partners Howard Wisnia and James Conley in the firm’s San Diego office. Both have significant experience in patent litigation, adding to one of Pillsbury’s most active practices and one of its busiest offices. They come to the firm from Mintz Levin in San Diego.
“Howard and Jim bring more depth to our already substantial IP section,” said Callie Bjurstrom, co-leader of the Intellectual Property practice and a fellow San Diego partner. “Howard supplements our deep bench of trial lawyers and, in addition to his patent litigation experience, Jim’s counseling and prosecution skills are a complement to the legal services we offer.”
Wisnia has successfully led litigation teams in a variety of patent infringement and other IP matters for clients in the medical device, financial, telecommunications, semiconductor and software industries. He has been trial counsel in various IP disputes before varied district courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC) and private arbitrators. Wisnia also counsels clients on multinational IP disputes and provides strategic litigation avoidance and IP valuation advice.
“I have been impressed with the growth of Pillsbury’s patent litigation practice over the years, as well as the depth of litigation talent throughout the firm’s offices,” Wisnia said. “I look forward to jumping right in to enhance our client offerings.”
Conley has more than 15 years’ experience litigating IP disputes, which he uses to provide expert counsel to companies on competitive IP strategies, and to help build global patent portfolios that will stand up to scrutiny in court and under financing or acquisition due diligence. He designed space flight hardware and low-emission engines as an engineer for six years prior to joining the legal profession, and his patent practice now covers a broad range of technical disciplines, with a focus on medical devices.
“My practice is a mix of patent prosecution and intellectual property litigation,” Conley said. “That mix fits perfectly within Pillsbury, which has strong practices in both areas. I also was attracted by Pillsbury’s well-established and growing presence in San Diego, Silicon Valley and Asia, where many of my clients are located.”
Firm Chair David Dekker added: “It gives me great satisfaction that we are continuing to build our IP practice, particularly as we keep racking up wins in trials, at arbitration and on appeal. Jim and Howard join a truly vibrant and active group, and I anticipate more growth will follow as the market increasingly becomes aware of our track record of success.”
The San Diego additions come on the heels of the office’s recent victory for digital agency Cuker Interactive, LLC against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. After three years of litigation, Bjurstrom led a team that secured a unanimous jury verdict in favor of Cuker on numerous trade secret claims. The jury awarded Cuker $12.4 million in damages and made a finding that the misappropriation was willful and malicious, permitting the recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs.
Source: www.pillsburylaw.com
