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Bronze - Individuals: litigation
Skiermont Derby is a redoubtable trial boutique and an agile strike force for patent infringement litigation – one that has netted success time and again in Texas and in many courts across the country. The ensemble is equally comfortable handling high-technology and life sciences cases, and understands what it takes to win in federal district courts, the PTAB and the Federal Circuit. Its professionals are highly results and business focused, the tone being set in this regard by Paul Skiermont, a compelling presenter in court and a creative and deep-thinking strategist behind the scenes. Mieke Malmberg and Sarah Spires continue to distinguish themselves as high-stakes trial lawyers; Spires is a top contact in the firm for post-grant proceedings.
Mieke K Malmberg is a patent trial and appellate lawyer with expertise in all areas of patent disputes, including:
- patent litigation and Section 337 investigations before the International Trade Commission;
- patent appeals before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit;
- inter partes review proceedings; and
- advising on IP monetisation and strategy.
Ms Malmberg regularly represents parties in all varieties of complex patent disputes including pharmaceutical companies in Hatch-Waxman disputes (both generic and brand), as well as entities involved in standard-essential patent disputes. Her experience covers a wide range of technologies, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, software, consumer electronics and telecommunications.
Ms Malmberg has extensive experience practising before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, from briefing to oral argument, and has had particular success in winning Federal Circuit appeals on cases taken over post-trial.
Prior to joining Skiermont Derby LLP, she worked in a medical research laboratory, practised at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and was a principal at McKool Smith LLP. She has been named a Super Lawyer for multiple years, placing her among the top 5% of all practising lawyers in Southern California.
Ms Malmberg speaks regularly on issues relating to recent developments in patent litigation and damages calculations in IP cases, and co-chairs the California Lawyers Association’s Patent Interest Group.
Ms Malmberg holds a BS in biochemistry and cell biology, as well as a BA in history, both from the University of California, San Diego. She received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where she also served as an articles editor for the Hastings Law Journal.
Skiermont Derby LLP is a litigation boutique of trial lawyers with offices in Dallas and Los Angeles. The firm practises in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has extensive experience litigating all types of IP claims, including those asserted in combination with related claims of antitrust, contract disputes, defamation and unfair business practices, as well as actions including copyright infringement, trademark and trade dress claims, trade secret misappropriation, rights of publicity and privacy, false advertisement and unfair competition.
The firm has achieved success in patent infringement jury trials in diverse venues such as Chicago and East Texas, including jury verdicts of wilful patent infringement.
The firm has a successful track record assisting companies that have been accused of patent infringement and supporting inventors and businesses enforce and monetise their patents. Our experience spans many technical fields, including aerospace, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, telecommunications, computers, consumer electronics, e-commerce, natural language processing and speech recognition.
The firm also has a thriving practice in pharmaceutical patent litigation both in federal district courts and before the PTAB. The firm has substantial experience litigating Hatch-Waxman patent cases on behalf of both brand and generic drug companies involving many different drugs, including Glienya, YAZ, Alimta, Treanda and ella. The firm also represents direct purchaser clients in pharmaceutical antitrust litigation arising from brand/generic settlements of Hatch-Waxman patent litigation, including In re Loestrin 24 FE Antitrust Litigation.
The firm has substantial inter partes review experience on behalf of both patent owners and petitioners that are challenging patents. With regard to patent owners, the firm has succeeded at the institution stage in all nine of its cases involving contested inter partes reviews in computer-related technology. With regard to petitions, the firm represented the Coalition for Affordable Drugs in several Orange Book patent challenges and represents Neptune Generics in its challenge to the sole Orange Book patent protecting Alimta from generic drug competition. The firm can carefully weigh the pros and cons of filing an inter partes review petition. We are equipped to handle every aspect of the inter partes review proceeding for both patent owners and petitioners.
Our firm philosophy is “complexity simplified” because we never forget that judges and juries who decide winners and losers in court can be persuaded only by facts and arguments they understand. From the moment we are retained as trial counsel, we start to visualise the complex aspects of the case and develop powerful trial demonstratives and graphics to make our trial themes accessible to the judge and jury. We begin each new case by envisioning its end: the closing argument, summary judgment motion and final appellate brief. Using this vision of how we expect to win, we develop and execute a focused roadmap to trial and beyond.
In addition to our role as trial lawyers, we understand that our clients need trusted advisers. While our objective is to provide the highest-calibre litigation and trial services, the only way to reach this goal is to understand and achieve our clients’ overarching business strategies and objectives. Working with our clients, we think creatively to develop strategic alternative solutions. Sometimes a ‘win’ means finding a creative way to avoid a dispute altogether, while other times it means turning a dispute into a new business opportunity or simply finding a way to control legal costs.
But for some commercial disputes, the only way to win is to succeed in court – and Skiermont Derby LLP was formed to be on the shortlist of law firms that clients call when they need experienced trial lawyers.