Samuel Brenner
Partner
Samuel Brenner, Ph.D., is an accomplished trial, arbitration, and appellate lawyer who has litigated intellectual property and complex commercial cases on behalf of a variety of high-tech and life sciences companies. Sam regularly represents clients in the federal district and appellate courts, as well as in front of the United States International Trade Commission, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and multiple international arbitration bodies. Honored by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in 2020 for “excellence in the law,” Sam counsels clients in matters involving litigation and licensing strategy, and is also experienced with patent damages, Standard Essential Patents and RAND/FRAND issues.
Sam maintains a robust pro bono practice, including recently representing clients before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Before joining Ropes & Gray, Sam served as a law clerk for Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge David McKeague of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and worked for Fidelity Investments in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Sam received graduate degrees in history and political science from Brown University, has taught at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, the University of Michigan, Brown University, and the University of Rhode Island, and is a frequent author and commentator concerning intellectual property issues.
Experience
- Imperium IP Holdings (Cayman), Ltd. v. Samsung Electronics (Nos. 17-1570, 17-1571, 17-2107, 17-2133, 18-1923.): Second-chaired multiple appeals at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of Samsung resulting from merits and fees decisions from the Eastern District of Texas and two inter partes review proceedings, all involving patents directed to functionality of image sensors and camera modules.
- Samsung Electronics v. Imperium IP Holdings (Cayman)(No. 17-3445): Representing Samsung at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in breach-of-contract appeal.
- Representing the world’s leading consumer electronics company in multiple appeals (Nos. 18-1987, 18-1988, 18-2092, 18-2114, 18-2115, 18-1529, 18-1531) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit resulting from inter partes review proceedings involving four patents directed towards methods and systems for transferring data between computers/host devices and data transmitting/receiving devices.
- Certain Wireless Mesh Networking Products and Related Components Thereof (337-TA-1131): Representing Emerson Electric and Tadiran Batteries in a Section 337 investigation brought by non-practicing entity SIPCO LLC, involving four patents asserted against WirelessHART-compatible industrial wireless technology and infrastructure products.
- Solar Junction Corporation v. IQE plc: Representing a semiconductor wafer manufacturer and its employees in a series of lawsuits, an international arbitration, and a PTAB derivation proceeding concerning whether the client’s patents incorporate the plaintiff company’s trade secrets.
- Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 v. TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited et al. (1:15-cv-00634, D. Del.): Representing IP Bridge at jury trial in asserting standards-essential patents related to the 4G/LTE telecommunications standard. After seven-day trial, the jury found all four asserted claims valid and infringed and awarded FRAND damages.
- Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC (U.S. Sup. Ct. 2018): Co-authored Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of the world’s leading consumer electronics company, supporting the respondent, in a case addressing the authority of the USPTO’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) to rule on the patentability of issued patents in inter partes review proceedings.
- Wavetamer Gyros, LLC v. Seakeeper, Inc. (IPR2017-1931, IPR2017-01996): On behalf of patent owner Seakeeper, forced petitioner to dismiss petitions pre-institution in IPRs on two patents directed to cooling heat generating components in gyroscopic roll stabilizers for small boats.
- Paul L. Ollis v. David J. Shulkin: Represented U.S. veteran at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (No. 14-1680) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (2016-1315) in successful precedential appeal regarding rights to disability benefits.
- Novitaz, Inc. v. Gimbal, Inc. (3:16-cv-01553, D. Conn.): Defended client in a patent infringement suit relating to mobile presence marketing technology.
- Allure Energy, Inc. v. Honeywell International, Inc. (15-cv-00079, W.D. Tex.): Representing Honeywell in case involving two patents relating to apparatuses for home energy management.
- Imperium IP Holdings (Cayman), Ltd. v. Samsung Electronics (4:14-cv-00371, E.D. Tex.): Defending Samsung in a case relating to three patents directed to functionality of image sensors and camera modules. The case involved a six-day trial in the Eastern District of Texas.
- Samsung Electronics (IPR2015-01232). Represented Samsung in an IPR for a patent relating to imaging technology; all instituted claims were found invalid.
- Arvest Bank v. RSA Security, Inc. (1:15-cv-11798, D. Mass.): Defending EMC and RSA in breach-of-contract action concerning indemnification for an underlying patent infringement suit.
- Novitaz, Inc. v. A Leading Marketing Innovation Company (3:16-cv-00546, D. Conn.): Defended client in a patent infringement suit relating to mobile presence marketing technology.
- In the Matter of Certain Devices Containing Non-Volatile Memory and Products Containing the Same (No. 337-TA-922, U.S.I.T.C.): Represented Spansion LLC in International Trade Commission Investigations involving patents related to semiconductor devices.
- In the Matter of Certain Non-Volatile Memory Devices and Products Containing Same (No. 337-TA-909, U.S.I.T.C.): Represented Spansion LLC in International Trade Commission Investigations involving patents related to semiconductor devices.
- Certain Wireless Devices with 3G and 4G Capabilities (No. 337-TA-868): Represented Samsung Electronics in an ITC investigation, including an eight-day trial, brought by InterDigital relating to seven patents directed to 3G and 4G standards.
- Parallel Iron, LLC v. EMC Corporation (C.A. No. 12-764, D. Del.): Represented EMC in patent infringement lawsuit concerning three patents concerning data storage systems.
- Motorola Mobility, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. (No. 2:10-cv-01823, W.D. Wash.): Represented Motorola Mobility in a patent and FRAND rate lawsuit against Microsoft concerning features and functionality of computers and mobile communication devices.
- Micro Motion, Inc. v. Krohne, Inc., et al. (C.A. No. 09-CV-10319, D. Mass.): Represented Micro Motion in patent infringement litigation concerning intrinsically safe meter electronics for Coriolis mass flowmeters.
Publications
- Co-author, “Beware Arbitration Clauses That May Bar Inter Partes Review,” Law360 (June 24, 2022)
- Quoted, “Patent infringement claim against Fitbit to proceed,” Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (September 30, 2021
- Co-author, “Supreme Court Limits Assignor Estoppel, Making Some Patents Easier to Challenge in Court,” IP Litigator (July-August 2021)
- Cited, “Fed. Circ. Says Thryv Bars Appeals Of CBM Determinations,” Law360 (November 17, 2020)
- Cited, “SCOTUS ruling changes Fed. Circuit’s view of CBM appeals in Sipco, Emerson patent fight,” Reuters (November 17, 2020)
- Cited, “Supreme Court PTAB Ruling Applies to Business Method Review (1),” Bloomberg Law (November 17, 2020)
- Co-author, “U.K. Supreme Court Permits SEP Holders to Require Worldwide FRAND Licenses,” IP Litigator (September-October 2020)
- Co-author, “Court Rejects Willfulness Requirement for Recovery of Defendant’s Profits in Trademark Cases,” IP Litigator (July-August 2020)
- Co-author, “Challenges in Quantifying 5G Benefits and SEP Value,” Bloomberg Law (April 8, 2020)
- Co-author, “What To Expect From An Appeal Of FTC V. Qualcomm,” Law360 (June 5, 2019)
- Co-author, “FRAND: Beginning With a Three-Pronged Approach,” World IP Review (September 10, 2018)
- Cited, “Samsung Gets Damages Cut To $11Million In Bluetooth Patent Suit,” Law360 (March 29, 2018)
- Co-author, “Shielded by Sovereignty,” American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal (Fall 2017)
- Cited, “Federal Circuit Revives Veteran’s Suit Over Benefits After Non-VA Care,” Law360 (May 26, 2017)
- Matthew Rizzolo, Samuel Brenner, Andrew Sutton, and Michael Gershoni, “Shielded by Sovereignty: The Implications for Patentees ofCovidien v. University of Florida Research Foundation,” 45 AIPLA Q.J. ---- (2017)
- Steven Pepe and Samuel Brenner, “Implications of a Revitalized 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b): Identifying the 'Regular and Established Place of Business' for Patent Venue in the Internet Age,” 33 TOURO L. REV. --- (2017)
- Co-author, “Settlement Evidence and Patent Damages,” American Bar Association Section of Litigation Trial Evidence Committee Newsletter (2013)
- Samuel Brenner, “Context and Trivia,” 110 Michigan Law Review ---- (reviewing James C. Foster, BONG HiTS 4 JESUS: A Perfect Constitutional Storm in Alaska’s Capital (2010))
- Samuel Brenner, “‘WikiLeaks Documents Explosive’”: The Perverse Effects of Scholars Being Forced to Look to Third Parties Rather than State Institutions for Classified Material,” Canadian Journal of Law & Society (forthcoming)
- Samuel Brenner, “Fellow Travelers: The ‘Mainstream’ Conservative Ideological Concerns of ‘Extremist’ Americanist Anti-Communists in the Early 1960s,” in In Decade of Transformation: Contesting the Future of Conservatism in the 1960s (Daniel Williams and Laura Gifford eds.)
- Samuel Brenner, “‘I Am a Bit Sickened’: Examining Archetypes of Congressional War Crimes Oversight after My Lai and Abu Ghraib,” 205 Military Law Review 1 (2010)
- Samuel Brenner, “‘Negro Blood in His Veins’: The Development and Disappearance of the Doctrine of Defamation Per Se by Racial Misidentification in the American South,” 50 Santa Clara Law Review 388 (2010)
- Samuel Brenner, Note, “‘Airbrushed Out of the Constitutional Canon’: The Evolving Understanding of Giles v. Harris, 1903-1925,” 107 Michigan Law Review 853 (2009)
- Samuel Brenner, Book Review, 26 Disability Studies Quarterly (Summer 2006) (reviewing John Tayman, The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai (2006))
- Samuel Brenner, “Protecting Colleges and Universities in the Age of Global Terror,” in 2 Homeland Security: Protecting America’s Targets (Public Places and Perception) (James J.F. Forest ed., 2006)
Edited Books
- The Death Penalty (Issues on Trial) (Samuel Brenner ed., 2006)
- Vietnam War Crimes (At Issue In History) (Samuel Brenner ed., 2005)
- Living Through the Vietnam War (Living Through The Cold War) (Samuel Brenner ed., 2005)
- Dwight David Eisenhower (Presidents and Their Decisions) (Samuel Brenner ed., 2002)
Presentations
- Speaker, “Cross-Border IP Protection and Enforcement in a Changing Landscape,” 3rd Annual International IP Summit (October 20-23, 2020)
- Speaker, “Satisfying the Intricacies of the Domestic Industry Prongs,” 11th Annual Expert Forum on ITC Innovation & Litigation (June 26-27, 2019)
- Speaker, “How the PTAB’s Phillips Claim Construction Will Drive Patent Litigation Strategy in 2019,” Ropes & Gray Webinar (February 21, 2019)
Education
- JD, magna cum laude, University of Michigan Law School, 2009; Michigan Law Review ; Dean’s Scholar; Order of the Coif
- PhD (United States History), Brown University, 2009
- AM (Political Science), Brown University, 2003
- AM (History), Brown University, 2001
- BA (History and Philosophy), High Honors, High Distinction, University of Michigan, 2000; Phi Beta Kappa
Admissions / Qualifications
Qualifications
- California, 2009
- Massachusetts, 2010
Court Admissions
- Supreme Court of the United States
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Awards
- Managing Intellectual Property "Rising Star" (2021-2022)
- Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly “Excellence in the Law” (2020)