Christopher P. Stretch

I'll research this attorney's professional background before drafting.

Let me verify the tracked case and probe for PTAB/IPR and notable outcomes.

Let me confirm Stretch's actual role in the tracked case and check for any additional verifiable details.

Christopher P. Stretch — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Note on identification: The tracked appearance is recorded as "Christopher P. Stretch." Public records for the Pillsbury/Benesch San Francisco IP litigator — State Bar No. 166752, the attorney who dissociated from the Apple v. Samsung docket in 2018 — identify him as Christopher E. Stretch. The middle initial differs, but firm, office, timeframe, and practice area all match. I've treated them as the same person; the discrepancy is worth confirming before any filing or bio is finalized.

Focus areas and firm context. Stretch is a San Francisco–based complex commercial and IP litigator whose practice spans patent infringement, inventorship disputes, trade secret misappropriation, false advertising, and antitrust, with sector experience in software, electronics, semiconductors, consumer products, and life sciences/biotech. His stated background includes district court and ITC patent cases and appellate work. Career path: clerk for Justice Edward A. Panelli (California Supreme Court) → Cooley Godward Kronish → partner, Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder → Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan (2007) → Special Counsel, Keller Sloan Roman (2013) → Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (Special Counsel/counsel, 2017) → Benesch partner, Litigation Practice Group, San Francisco (announced April 2025). Per Benesch and trade-press announcements, clients have included Samsung, Meta/Facebook, Oracle, Qualcomm, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, and Hyundai.

Side preference. Predominantly defense-side. The tracked count is 0 plaintiff appearances and 1 defendant appearance, and the named client roster (Samsung, Meta, Oracle, Hyundai, Qualcomm, J&J) is consistent with defending operating companies rather than prosecuting for NPEs/PAEs. His bio also lists plaintiff-side patent work for Amgen and inventorship/ownership arbitration work, so the practice is a defense-weighted mix rather than exclusively one-sided.

Tracked case and outcomes. The one tracked matter is Samesurf, Inc. v. Intuit Inc. (S.D. Cal., No. 3:22-cv-00412), a co-browsing/synchronized-web-browsing patent suit asserting the '448, '145, and '591 patents against TurboTax/QuickBooks co-browsing features; Stretch appears as defense counsel for Intuit. The case was stayed pending Intuit's IPRs (IPR2023-00339/-00341/-00342). Reported outcome: the PTAB's June 2024 final written decisions held all claims of the '145 and '591 patents unpatentable and upheld claims 1–16 of the '448 patent; Samesurf withdrew the '145 and '591 patents from the district case, and the '448 claims proceeded through claim construction and summary judgment briefing. On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB's obviousness holdings as to the '145 patent (May 21, 2026, nonprecedential) and issued a Rule 36 affirmance in IPR2023-00341 (April 7, 2026). I could not independently verify Stretch's individual role in the PTAB proceedings — the IPR counsel of record was Fenwick & West (Sacksteder et al.) on Intuit's side.

Other representative matters (from firm bios). Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics (N.D. Cal.) — represented Samsung in the iPhone/iPad patent and trade dress litigation; Evolutionary Intelligence v. Facebook (N.D. Cal. and Fed. Cir.) — defense of containerized data-structure patents; Verizon v. Cablevision (ITC) — set-top box patents; DiscLink v. Oracle (E.D. Tex.); Affymax v. Johnson & Johnson and Amgen v. Johnson & Johnson (AAA arbitrations) — inventorship/ownership disputes.

PTAB/IPR experience. Firm bios list inter partes reviews among his experience, but I found no verifiable record of him as lead or backup counsel in specific IPR/PGR proceedings. Treat sustained PTAB practice as unconfirmed rather than a distinguishing specialty.

Bar and education. Admitted in California; U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; Ninth Circuit; Federal Circuit. J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law (1993, cum laude); B.S., UC Berkeley (1990).