Sean M. McCarthy

I'll research this attorney before writing the summary.

Sean M. McCarthy — patent litigation practice summary

Focus areas. McCarthy is a patent litigator whose practice spans U.S. district courts, the ITC, and the USPTO, with a technical foundation in mechanical engineering. His firm biography lists work across consumer products, industrial equipment, laser toner cartridges, LED lighting, medical devices and imaging systems, and smartphones. That is broadly consistent with the tracked docket, which clusters around data-center cooling hardware (the Valtrus Innovations / Key Patent Innovations campaigns and the related Vertiv declaratory-judgment actions), video-coding and mobile-device patents (Malikie Innovations v. Core Scientific), toner-cartridge and LED technology (Canon, Signify), and remote safety-control systems (the Amtrak matter). Earlier representations included teleorthodontics software and medical/health-monitoring devices. He also advises on freedom-to-operate and non-infringement/invalidity opinions.

Side preference. The tracked appearances skew plaintiff-side (5 plaintiff, 2 defendant), but that split reflects his current firm more than a fixed practice posture. At Venable he spent more than a decade on the defense side, representing operating companies such as Candid Care, Prudential, Tristar Products, and Amtrak, while also enforcing patents for owner-side clients like Philips and Canon. Since joining Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg, his caseload is predominantly patent-owner/plaintiff-side assertion — Valtrus, Key Patent Innovations, and Malikie are licensing/assertion entities, with Valtrus described in briefing as the successor in interest to a Hewlett Packard Enterprise patent portfolio. In the Vertiv declaratory-judgment action he appears for the patent-owner defendant. So: both sides historically, currently weighted toward plaintiff/NPE-side assertion work.

Firm context. He is Counsel in RJLF's New York office. Before joining RJLF he spent over a decade at Venable LLP, which acquired Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto (a declaration in the Philips N.D. Cal. multidistrict lists him as a Fitzpatrick associate as of 2018). There is no indication he has been in-house.

Notable matters. Published results include: SmileDirectClub v. Candid Care — a Rule 12(b) win invalidating a teleorthodontics patent under § 101 in D. Del., affirmed by the Federal Circuit in August 2021 (Venable/Law360 coverage names him on the team); a Federal Circuit affirmance defending a PTAB obviousness decision for Koninklijke Philips on a health-monitoring/alert-system patent, on which he drafted the brief and argued; Canon laser-toner-cartridge enforcement at the ITC resulting in three General Exclusion Orders; Signify (f/k/a Philips Lighting) v. CAO Lighting, resolved by settlement and release for no payment; and Tristar Products, settled on the eve of trial. On the current RJLF docket, the Valtrus/KPI data-center-cooling matters against Lumen, EvoDC, Netrality, Iron Mountain, and others (he is identified as counsel on a 2026 MDL 3190 consolidation motion and appears as trial counsel in the EvoDC case), and Malikie v. Core Scientific (now with CoreWeave added as a defendant; Markman set for late 2026) are the most prominent active matters. Outcomes in those newer cases are not yet determinable from public filings.

PTAB / IPR experience. Yes — his firm biography states he has represented both patent owners and petitioners in inter partes review proceedings before the PTAB, and he has argued before the Federal Circuit. The Valtrus data-center patents, the Malikie portfolio, and the Philips matter all involve PTAB proceedings, though I did not verify him as counsel of record in a specific IPR from the sources reviewed.

Bar / education. J.D., magna cum laude, Brooklyn Law School (2013); M.S. (valedictorian) and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Manhattan College (2010, 2009). Admitted in New York, registered before the USPTO, and admitted to the Federal Circuit and the E.D.N.Y./S.D.N.Y. He also teaches "Legal Aspects of Engineering" as an adjunct in Manhattan University's mechanical engineering department. One tracked appearance (an untitled case) could not be characterized from available sources.