Khalfani Maatuka is an Associate at McAndrews, focusing on IP litigation. Khalfani has worked on various intellectual property matters, including patent litigation and prosecution, as well as trademark, copyright, and contract disputes.

Throughout his time at the firm, he has helped manage and oversee a number of matters, through which he has played key roles, including drafting the following:

• Notices of opposition against pending trademark applications
• Counterclaims in response to a declaratory judgment action, including various critical exhibits such as claim charts and digital evidence of infringing products
• An answer and affirmative defenses for a declaratory judgment action
• Discovery request and responses (interrogatories and RFPs), where he was tasked with ensuring that the discovery responses complied with Rule 34(b)(2)(B) and (C)
• Discovery motions; specifically a successful motion to compel, which resulted in the opposing party disclosing all information regarding sales and relationships with specific resellers, retailers, and customers in the United States that includes the identity of the reseller, retailer, or other customers
• A motion to show cause and other just orders under FRCP 37(b)(2) after the opposing party’s failure to comply with a motion to compel. This ultimately led to a favorable settlement position and award for his client
• Responses to various motions for summary judgment over a variety of issues, such as invalidity, infringement, and pre-marking damages
• An appellate opening brief addressing a novel administrative law issue regarding the jurisdictional constraints of an administrative court

Khalfani has also helped write articles for legal publications on a variety of topics, including Schedule A litigations and AI in the law. He has also generated a competitive analysis to better understand his client’s key competitors and what products they were moving toward, specifically examining potential markets they were likely to target. In addition, he drafted and sent successful cease and desist letters to prevent a party from cybersquatting on a client’s trademark.

Khalfani earned his J.D. from Washington University School of Law, where he received the Dean’s Leadership Award, the Judge John W. Calhoun Trial Practice Award, and the Richard Sher Award for Excellence in Mediation and Dispute Resolution. He also served as a teaching assistant and edited and researched architectural copyrights. During his time in law school, he worked at Abbott Laboratories’ Rapid Diagnostics Group, where he focused on U.S. and foreign patent prosecution.

Prior to law school, Khalfani graduated summa cum laude from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCATSU) with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. While there, he gained valuable construction and design industry experience and worked on nanotechnology research and development. Khalfani continues to serve on the Distinguished Scholarship Committee for the NCATSU Honors College.