Kenneth Brothers is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice of Dickstein Shapiro. Mr. Brothers focuses his practice on intellectual property trial and appellate litigation. He also counsels clients with respect to claims of and defenses to patent infringement and patent licensing, as well as trademark, trade dress, copyright, e-commerce, trade secret, unfair competition, and related antitrust matters. He has acted as trial or appellate counsel in federal and state courts in more than a dozen states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia.
AREAS OF CONCENTRATION
Mr. Brothers is a trial attorney who has represented clients in more than 100 cases. He has participated in numerous jury and bench trials, Markman hearings, and other hearings in federal courts, as well as in state courts throughout the United States at both the trial and appellate levels. He has litigated patent infringement cases involving electrical, mechanical, and pharmaceutical patents concerning inventions in a wide variety of fields, including semiconductors, consumer electronics, security cameras, medical devices, optics, radio frequency identification products, ink formulations, in-line skates, and floor coverings. In addition, he has litigated cases in the areas of trademark, copyright, and trade secrets in a wide range of industries, including software, media, apparel, hair care, mailing lists, and pet food. He also has represented clients in arbitrations and mediations. He has written numerous amicus briefs on behalf of various clients in cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Representative cases include the following:
Merit Industries v. JVL Corp. Mr. Brothers successfully enforced three patents against his client’s principal competitor in the countertop video game industry, winning a jury verdict, including a finding of willful infringement.
Jennings v. Auto Meter, Inc. After a frustrated patent applicant sued his client alleging fraud on the Patent Office, Mr. Brothers persuaded the District Court to dismiss the case. The dismissal recently was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
Lectrolarm v. Pelco. Mr. Brothers successfully represented Lectrolarm in this patent and trademark infringement action enforcing Lectrolarm’s rights in the security camera industry. The action settled favorably for the client after a favorable Markman decision.
Lectrolarm v. Vicon. Following the successful resolution of the Lectrolarm v. Pelco matter, the client authorized Mr. Brothers to enforce its patent rights against the rest of the security camera industry. Lectrolarm has subsequently obtained many additional licensees and substantial royalty revenue.
Ricoh Company, Ltd v. Aeroflex et al./Synopsys v. Ricoh. Mr. Brothers represents Ricoh in a patent infringement action enforcing a patent relating to the automated electronic design of application-specific integrated circuits, and defending against a parallel declaratory judgment action brought by the software vendor and indemnitor.
Arthrex v. dj Orthopedics. Mr. Brothers represented Arthrex in this patent litigation involving a medical device. The case was settled and the defendant agreed to discontinue the product at issue and pay back damages.
Soundview v. EIA and CEMA et al. Mr. Brothers defended the Electronic Industry Alliance/Consumer Electronics Manufacturing Association in this patent infringement and antitrust action brought by Soundview. The defendants’ motion for summary judgment was granted and affirmed on appeal.
Belrose v. AEC. Mr. Brothers is defending a manufacturer against breach of contract claims by a former agent. The litigation was dismissed in favor of binding arbitration.
Procter & Gamble v. Stoneham. Mr. Brothers successfully represented Procter & Gamble in this theft of trade secrets and enforcement of employee agreement action in Ohio state trial and appellate court.
Hugo Boss v. Brookhurst. Mr. Brothers successfully represented Hugo Boss in a complex trademark infringement action in the Southern District of New York, as well as several follow-up actions before other federal courts and the U.S. Customs Service.
Mr. Brothers also has extensive experience negotiating and drafting license agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and other business agreements. He has prepared Supreme Court and Federal Circuit amicus briefs on behalf of the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association.
In pro bono matters, Mr. Brothers provides ongoing counsel to the Save Darfur coalition, ACLU, and other legal aid organizations. He was appointed lead counsel by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of a group of Hispanic inmates, and at trial showed that the inmates had suffered pervasive discrimination by the D.C. Department of Corrections. He also prepared an amicus brief on behalf of a group of historians and scholars with respect to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was subsequently republished in a scholarly journal. Mr. Brothers also regularly supervises and mentors other firm attorneys in pro bono cases involving landlord-tenant disputes, asylum applications, and civil rights issues.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Prior to joining Dickstein Shapiro in September 2001, Mr. Brothers was a partner in the Washington, DC office of Howrey LLP. He began his legal career in the Denver, Colorado office of Kirkland & Ellis before that office was closed in the early 1990s. In 1986, he served as an intern for the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the following year he held a full-time clerkship at the United States Department of Justice with the Office of the Solicitor General. From 1978 to 1995, Mr. Brothers held various positions with Beehive Telephone Company in Salt Lake City, Utah, including Chairman of the Board, Vice President, and electrical engineer.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Mr. Brothers is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia; Colorado (inactive); the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado; the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; the Court of Appeals for the Third, Seventh, Tenth, DC, and Federal Circuits; and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Brothers also is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association, where he currently chairs a subcommittee on Markman hearing procedures. He is an adjunct professor at The George Washington University Law School, where he teaches Legal Writing.
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Mr. Brothers has served as a Scoutmaster, Assistant Scoutmaster, and various other positions in the Boy Scouts of America from 1995 to the present. He also has coordinated the construction of two houses for Habitat for Humanity. He currently serves as the president of a Civic Association and director of a Homeowner’s Association.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Mr. Brothers has been a guest lecturer, speaker, panelist, and moderator at more than 100 conferences, bar association meetings, and professional organizations, as well as client seminars and in-house presentations. While the subject matters of Mr. Brothers’ lectures widely vary, the majority of his presentations relate to pretrial and trial strategies, tactics and techniques, legal writing, and electronic discovery.
PUBLICATIONS
Mr. Brothers has written or edited dozens of articles, columns, book chapters, and white papers on intellectual property, legal writing, and pretrial and trial strategy. Most recently, he authored the chapter “Keys to the Effective Management of Patent Litigation,” in Inside the Minds: Navigating Intellectual Property Disputes, published by Aspatore Books in 2009. His articles have been featured in Bloomberg Corporate Law Journal, International Litigation News, IPLaw360, The New Jersey Lawyer, and The George Washington University Law Review. He is the editor of three editions of “Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights and Trade Secrets: An Introduction To Intellectual Property For In-House Counsel,” prepared for the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), which has been one of the most popular downloads from the ACC’s website since 2003.
EDUCATION
While working as an electrical engineer for a telephone company, Mr. Brothers received his B.S. with dual majors in communications and sociology from the University of Utah (1985). He earned his J.D., with high honors, from The George Washington University, National Law Center (1988). While attending law school, Mr. Brothers held membership in The George Washington University Law Review, the Order of the Coif, and the Moot Court Board. He served as editor-in-chief of The Advocate, was the chapter head of The Federalist Society, and was a recipient of the Trustees Scholarship.