Peter K. Stris

Peter K. Stris — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Specialty / focus areas. Stris is a founding partner of Stris & Maher LLP, a Los Angeles-based trial and appellate boutique, and is best known as a high-stakes business litigator and Supreme Court advocate (10 arguments) rather than as a patent specialist. Firm, Chambers, and Best Lawyers profiles list intellectual property litigation — patents, copyright, trademark, and trade secrets — as one of several practice areas, alongside ERISA, securities, and regulatory disputes. His one tracked patent matter, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. v. HEC Pharm Co., was pharmaceutical/Hatch-Waxman litigation over Novartis's Gilenya (fingolimod) patent; I found no indication of a practice centered on Wi-Fi/standard-essential, software, or mechanical patents.

Side preference. The tracked appearance is entirely defense-side: Stris served as lead counsel for HEC Pharm, a generic drug manufacturer (an operating company), against brand-name plaintiff Novartis — not NPE prosecution. Firm materials say Stris & Maher's trial practice is roughly evenly split between plaintiffs and defendants (with its Supreme Court docket skewing plaintiff-side), so the defense posture in this patent case is consistent with, but not necessarily representative of, his broader practice.

Notable cases / outcomes. In Novartis v. HEC Pharm, the Federal Circuit held Novartis's Gilenya patent invalid for lack of written description. After Novartis obtained a temporary restraining order from Chief Justice Roberts staying the mandate, HEC brought in Stris as lead Supreme Court counsel; he defeated both the stay application and Novartis's certiorari petition, clearing the way for HEC to launch the first generic fingolimod (Law360; Daily Journal; Supreme Court docket Nos. 22A272, 22-671). His other notable IP/appellate results include the unanimous Supreme Court win in Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com (Copyright Act registration). He co-counseled the HEC matter with Skiermont Derby, a patent trial firm.

Firm context / PTAB / bar. Before co-founding Stris & Maher (launched 2007) with Brendan Maher, he was a partner at a small Los Angeles business-litigation firm, which sources do not name. I found no evidence of IPR/PGR practice; his patent work appears in district court and Federal Circuit/Supreme Court appeals, not before the PTAB. Education: Harvard Law School, J.D. 2000 (Harvard Law Review editor); University of Pennsylvania, B.A. 1997; admitted in New York and California in 2001 (Martindale; firm bio).