Katherine K. Vidal

I'll research this attorney's background and verify the tracked cases.

Let me verify the two tracked cases and check for PTAB/IPR activity.

I have strong verification. Let me check her PTAB/IPR counsel appearances and ITC record.

Note on identification: The tracked name "Katherine K. Vidal" is the same person widely known as Kathi Vidal (Kathleen/"Kathi" Kelly Vidal), who appears in Federal Circuit opinions and firm materials under both forms. The two tracked appearances are both Winston & Strawn matters.

Specialty / focus. Vidal's practice centers on high-stakes patent and trade-secret litigation in software, electronics, semiconductors, and AI, with heavy Federal Circuit and PTAB involvement and additional ITC and Section 337 experience. Her engineering background (electrical engineering; early work on aircraft/AI systems at GE Aerospace before law) tracks directly with the technology in her tracked cases: both Valtrus matters concern enterprise computing and data-infrastructure patents — distributed storage, fault-tolerant messaging, cluster licensing, and database replication — asserted against commercial software platforms (SAP HANA, SAP Service Cloud, SAP Integration Suite) and against open-source infrastructure stacks (Kubernetes, Hadoop/HDFS, Kafka Streams, Cassandra, HBase) allegedly used in FedEx's internal systems.

Side preference. Historically she has worked both sides, but the tracked record shows a clear defendant-side posture: 0 plaintiff appearances and 2 defendant appearances. Both matters are non-practicing-entity suits — Valtrus Innovations and Key Patent Innovations asserting patents acquired from Hewlett-Packard — in which she represents the operating-company defendants (SAP America/SAP SE; and, in the consolidated Valtrus v. FedEx action in the E.D. Tex., she entered an appearance on behalf of co-defendant NetApp, Inc.). Court filings in the parallel FedEx IPRs characterize Valtrus as a patent-assertion entity, a party characterization rather than a finding.

Firm context and notable matters. She is a litigation partner at Winston & Strawn (Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley; Redwood City address of record), a member of the firm's Executive Committee, and previously managing partner of its Silicon Valley office (from 2017). Before Winston she spent roughly two decades at Fish & Richardson, where she led the IP litigation group, and from 2022 to December 2024 she served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, rejoining Winston on December 16, 2024. Some current materials refer to the firm as Winston Taylor, reflecting a combination with Taylor Wessing effective June 1, 2026; the tracked case data lists Winston & Strawn. In the tracked cases: in Valtrus v. SAP she is counsel of record and argued (or signed) SAP's unsuccessful Federal Circuit mandamus petition seeking intra-district transfer — In re SAP America, Inc., No. 25-118 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 10, 2025) (per curiam) (petition denied). Her broader, independently documented track record includes a 2017 jury verdict and permanent injunction for Chamberlain Group against Ryobi/Technotric, the § 101 win for SAP in SAP America v. InvestPic (Fed. Cir. 2018), and defeating institution of three IPRs for Cambria (per firm bio; several of these pre-date the tracked window).

PTAB / IPR. She appears regularly in PTAB-adjacent work and Federal Circuit advocacy under the AIA, including representing SAP in the Valtrus dispute and filing an amicus brief in 2025 (for the Public Interest Patent Law Institute) in the Cambridge Industries mandamus over USPTO discretionary-denial practice. Note that her most distinctive PTAB connection is as the author of the USPTO's 2022 Vidal discretionary-denial guidance memo, later rescinded — a role as policy-maker, not advocate. Her signature on the specific IPR petitions in the Valtrus matters is not confirmed in the sources reviewed.

Bar / education. B.S. Electrical Engineering, Binghamton University (1990); M.S. Electrical Engineering, Syracuse University (1992); J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School (1996), Editor-in-Chief of the Penn Law Review; law clerk to Judge Alvin A. Schall, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; admitted in D.C., California, and Arizona, and registered before the USPTO.