Kevin Kent McNish

I'll research this attorney before drafting.

Kevin Kent McNish — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Focus areas. McNish's practice is centered on post-grant practice at the USPTO rather than traditional district court trial work: inter partes reviews, covered business method reviews, post-grant reviews, ex parte reexaminations, and related Federal Circuit appeals, with district court litigation strategy (stays, parallel proceedings) as an adjunct. His technology exposure is broad rather than narrowly siloed — electronics, software, and e-commerce (petitions and defenses for IBM, Cisco, Nokia, and against Groupon-asserted patents), medical devices (Avanos Medical's '755 patent in Medtronic v. Avanos), Orange Book pharmaceuticals (the Pharmacyclics Imbruvica® patent), and materials/ceramics (Kingsford Products, CeraMedic). His undergraduate training is in physics and mathematics, which is consistent with the hardware-and-materials docket.

Side preference — both, with a patent-owner lean. The tracked data shows one plaintiff-side and one defendant-side appearance, both as lead counsel, and web sources confirm a genuinely two-sided practice. Firm biographies describe a substantial patent-owner defense practice (defending IBM's patents, Pharmacyclics) alongside petitioner-side work for challengers including Cisco, IBM, and Nokia. Independent rankings support the owner-side emphasis: Patexia's 2018 IPR Intelligence Report ranked him the No. 12 most effective PTAB attorney for patent owners (87.1% performance rate) and No. 9 overall (78.3%).

Firm context. All tracked appearances are at Desmarais LLP (New York), where he was an associate from 2013 and a partner from January 1, 2020. A September 2020 PTAB order granting his withdrawal in Medtronic v. Avanos records that he was "no longer with" Desmarais, and by early 2021 he had launched McNish PLLC, a Maine-based, cloud-based firm where he is managing member and which describes its practice as representing petitioners and patent owners in PTAB proceedings and Federal Circuit appeals. Before Desmarais he was an associate at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear in Orange County, California (2011–2013).

Notable matters and PTAB/appellate experience. His most prominent tracked matter is Unified Patents v. Intellectual Ventures II LLC, in which he was lead counsel for Intellectual Ventures II as appellant at the Federal Circuit (No. 2018-2373, appeal from IPR2017-00787); the court affirmed the Board by Rule 36 judgment on December 10, 2019 — a loss for his client, but one of several PTAB appeals he personally argued. He also argued Federal Circuit appeals in Kingsford Products (No. 2018-1957) and was part of the Desmarais team, with John Desmarais, that secured two IPR wins for IBM before the Federal Circuit. His signature PTAB result is the IBM/Priceline line of challenges: complete denials of institution on six petitions against three IBM patents, including Kayak Software Corp. v. IBM, CBM2016-00075 (PTAB Dec. 15, 2016), which was designated informative. He was also on the team that defeated institution of a hedge fund's IPR against Pharmacyclics' Imbruvica® patent. Firm and third-party sources describe first-chair experience in 60+ (later 90+) PTAB proceedings, including oral hearings; he is a regular in IPR/CBM/PGR work rather than an occasional participant, and is active on the PTAB Bar Association board (Technology Committee Chair; District Court/ITC Desk Editor of the PTAB Roundup).

Bar and education. USPTO registered patent attorney (Reg. No. 65,047, 2009); admitted in California (2011) and New York (2014); J.D., University of Virginia School of Law (2011); B.A. in physics and mathematics, Vanderbilt University (2008, magna cum laude).

Caveats: The tracked case list contains one untitled plaintiff-side matter that cannot be identified from the available data, so it is not characterized above. Firm-history dates and the 2020 departure/2021 firm launch are drawn from firm and USPTO/PTAB documents rather than a single authoritative biography; the specific month of his Desmarais departure is not publicly confirmed.