Roberto J. Fernandez

I'll research this attorney before drafting the summary.

Let me verify the tracked case and PTAB work.

Let me check the disposition of the tracked case and confirm PTAB lead counsel results.

Roberto J. Fernandez is Senior Counsel at Foley & Lardner LLP in the firm's Chicago office, where his practice centers on patent prosecution and portfolio development rather than front-line trial litigation. His technical focus is mechanical and electromechanical subject matter — manufacturing systems, robotics and automation, medical devices, automotive and mobility applications, engines and power generation, energy systems, lighting, refrigeration, and consumer/industrial products, particularly where hardware, electronics, and software-enabled systems intersect. Firm and third-party bio material does not describe Wi-Fi/standards-essential patent or pharmaceutical/life-sciences work, so his practice should be read as mechanical/electromechanical and automotive-oriented.

Side preference. The single tracked district court appearance places him on the defense side — back-up counsel for Nissan — and that is consistent with his broader profile as an operating-company patent owner's/prosecution-side and defense-side attorney rather than a NPE/PAE plaintiff's lawyer. His IPR work is genuinely mixed: he has represented both petitioners and patent owners, so his PTAB docket is not tied to one side of the "v.".

Notable matters. The tracked case, Longhorn Automotive Group LLC v. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., No. 2:24-cv-00397-JRG (E.D. Tex., Judge Rodney Gilstrap), is an NPE assertion of multiple patents (including the '803, '002, '238, '353, and '666 patents) against Nissan over vehicle technologies such as LED headlights, driver-assistance systems, and engine systems. Fernandez served as back-up counsel to Nissan. In the parallel PTAB proceeding he filed on Nissan's behalf, IPR2025-01089, the Board declined to institute on discretionary § 314(a) grounds in October 2025. Elsewhere he has appeared as petitioner's counsel in IPR2023-00861 (including a request for Director Review) and as back-up counsel for the patent owner in IPR2022-00788 (Peloton v. iFit). I could not verify any jury verdicts, Federal Circuit appeals, or public settlements attributable to him.

PTAB/IPR experience. This is a stated core of his practice. He is a member of Foley's PTAB Trials Practice, has conducted oral hearings before the Board and served as lead counsel in that setting, and has handled both inter partes review and ex parte reexamination matters. He publishes and speaks on PTAB practice (including Fintiv discretionary denial and the USPTO's LEAP oral-argument program) and was a panelist on "Practice Before the PTAB" at the 2022 PTAB Bar Association meeting.

Bar/education. Admitted in Illinois (2020) and registered with the USPTO (Reg. No. 73,761); J.D., Chicago-Kent College of Law (2019); M.S., University of Notre Dame (2015); B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering (2014). Named an Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Star (2022–2024).

Caveat: the tracked litigation record for this attorney is a single appearance, so the side-preference characterization rests on that data point plus firm bios and PTAB filings; it should not be read as a comprehensive litigation history.