Brett M. Sandford

I'll research this attorney's professional background and the tracked case.

Brett M. Sandford — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Brett M. Sandford is an intellectual property litigation partner in the Litigation & Trial Department and IP Litigation Practice at Latham & Watkins LLP, based in the firm's San Francisco (Bay Area) office. He joined Latham as an associate in 2014 and was elected partner effective January 2024. His practice centers on high-stakes patent infringement and trade secret disputes, with secondary work in trademark and copyright, and spans district courts, the Federal Circuit, the ITC, and the PTAB. He co-chairs Latham's AI committee for the IP group. Practice descriptions emphasize trial work and IP damages/valuation; he is described as handling technology and life-sciences-adjacent litigation rather than any single technical field, with disclosed matters spanning semiconductors, lidar/autonomous vehicle sensors, consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals, solar roofing, and tobacco/vapor products.

Side preference. The tracked data show only one appearance — as counsel for the defendant in Nokia Technologies Oy v. Paramount — so the structured record reflects a defense-side posture. Firm/press materials, however, describe him as representing both plaintiffs and defendants, including plaintiff-side damages wins. His role in Nokia v. Paramount fits the defense pattern: Nokia asserted thirteen video-encoding and authentication patents (tied largely to the AVC/H.264 standard) against Paramount's streaming services, and Paramount moved to dismiss four of the patents as patent-ineligible under § 101.

Notable matters. Reported results include: TecSec v. Adobe (E.D. Va.), where he obtained a jury verdict of no induced infringement and a judgment of zero damages for established direct infringement, affirmed by the Federal Circuit; Oasis Tooling v. Siemens/GlobalFoundries, a § 101 summary-judgment win affirmed by the Federal Circuit (Feb. 26, 2026); GlobalFoundries v. IBM, a multibillion-dollar semiconductor trade secret dispute resolved by stipulation of dismissal; a representation of GlobalFoundries that reduced a patent owner's damages claim by more than $300 million; Nanoco Technologies v. LG Electronics (E.D. Tex.), settled favorably; Medline Industries v. C.R. Bard; Magna Mirrors v. SMR Automotive (complete defense verdict invalidating all asserted patents); RJ Reynolds Vapor v. Philip Morris/Altria (jury verdict of infringement plus full requested damages, E.D. Va./ITC); and CertainTeed v. GAF Energy (defeat of a preliminary injunction motion). He was named to the Daily Journal's 40 Under 40 list in 2026.

PTAB / IPR experience. He appears regularly in AIA proceedings as backup counsel, including IPR2015-01062, -01065, and -01068 for NVIDIA against Samsung, and IPR2018-00255 and -00256 for patent owner Velodyne against Quanergy; he has also been involved in PTAB proceedings in the Medline and Magna Mirrors matters.

Bar / education. Admitted in California (Bar No. 302072), the Federal Circuit, N.D. Cal., and E.D. Tex.; BA in Philosophy (University of Redlands, 2009), MBA (Redlands), and JD (UC Berkeley School of Law, 2014). Note: PTAB filings state the MBA year inconsistently (2010 vs. 2011). No credible source was found indicating he is registered to practice before the USPTO as a patent attorney; his PTAB appearances have been pro hac vice.

Caveat: The tracked case list contains only one appearance, so the side-preference and volume observations above rest on that single data point plus publicly reported matters; they may not reflect the full docket history.