Seven McAndrews Attorneys Named to the World’s Leading Patent Professionals Annual Listing
06.12.18
CHICAGO, IL – June 12, 2018 – McAndrews, Held & Malloy announced today that firm president Robert A. Surrette, and shareholders Thomas Wimbiscus, Sharon Hwang, Christopher V. Carani, Herbert D. Hart III, Edward A. Mas II, and Wilhelm L. Rao, were featured in IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals 2018 – a unique guide that identifies the top patent professionals in key jurisdictions around the globe. The seven attorneys were recommended in the guide’s litigation and prosecution categories.
“It is in the firm’s DNA to fit the legal issues into the client’s larger business context and objectives. This provides clients with the kind of focused and strategic IP management with budget certainty that clients regularly demand, across a range of contentious and non-contentious matters relating to patents, trademarks, trade secrets, due diligence in acquisitions, licensing efforts and unfair competition,” according to the firm’s profile in the 2018 IAM Patent 1000 guide.
The IAM Patent 1000 has become the definitive directory exclusively dedicated to identifying the world’s leading patent services providers. The extensive research process for this guide was conducted over several months by a team of full-time analysts, and involved more than 1,700 interviews with patent specialists across the globe. Legal and attorney firms and individual practitioners qualify for inclusion in the IAM Patent 1000 upon receiving sufficient positive feedback from market sources.
While McAndrews itself is consistently ranked year after year on the IAM Patent 1000, the individual attorneys recommended in this year’s guide include:
- Robert A. Surrette, an integral part of the team serving Stryker, for which the firm earned a Supreme Court victory that helped shape the law on enhanced damages and willfulness. Surrette “is entering the prime of his career and his practice is skyrocketing on both the litigation and transactional fronts.”
- Thomas Wimbiscus, an experience first chair trial attorney who has secured numerous multi-million dollar victories and settlements, brings “more than three decades of frontline litigation experience and limitless post-grant expertise.”
- Sharon Hwang, an experienced and versatile trial lawyer who currently leads the Stryker team in the long-running battle of Stryker against Zimmer that earned a Supreme Court victory on a pivotal issue on enhanced damages and a district court finding of treble damages and attorney fees. Not only has Hwang secured record-setting trial victories, but Hwang’s technical and legal acumen have enabled her to win numerous important victories before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
- Christopher V. Carani, an international “thought leader on design patents” who works for one of the world’s premier consumer electronics companies. Carani is currently serving as the editor in chief for a first-of-its-kind book that addresses the complex and critical issue of functionality and scope of protection in the context of design rights.
- Herbert D. Hart III, a “post-grant genius” who is primarily responsible for growing the firm’s post-grant practice. He recently authored the amicus brief for the American Intellectual Property Law Association in Cuozzo Speed Technologies v Lee.
- Edward A. Mas II, a “veteran trial and appellate lawyer who stands in the shoes of clients in order to drive business resolutions to their disputes.” Mas has been at the forefront of the firm’s relationship with Abbott Labs for nearly 20 years.
- Wilhelm L. Rao, “an attorney you can rely on in difficult situations.” Rao is known and respected for taking into account his client’s business goals when discussing or recommending an approach to a dispute, which may or may not include litigation.
About McAndrews, Held & Malloy
The IAM Patent 1000 is a standalone publication that identifies individual and firm expertise in all major areas of patent law and practice. Through an extensive research process conducted by a team of highly qualified, full-time analysts, the publication identifies the top patent practitioners, as well as leading patent law and attorney firms, in 48 of the world’s most important jurisdictions and 18 US states.
About the IAM Patent 1000
McAndrews, Held & Malloy boasts one of the most highly regarded teams of intellectual property attorneys, agents and technology specialists in the United States. Founded in 1988, the firm offers deep bench strength in matters relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and unfair competition. McAndrews attorneys have underlying scientific-based degrees and extensive prior experience in technology and IP-focused professions, and they routinely handle cases that involve innovative and cutting-edge technologies in specialized industries. While best known for their record of litigation successes, the firm also offers services in IP procurement, patent interferences, trademark oppositions and cancellations, IP/technology opinions and investigations, global portfolio management, development and licensing, M&A support, due diligence, design rights and joint ventures. Clients include multi-national corporations, Fortune 500 companies, startups and world-renowned universities. For more information, visit www.mcandrews-ip.com.