Intellectual Property Superior and Federal Court Litigation

Joanna Mendoza has experience with several different types of intellectual property litigation matters over the past many years. Examples include:

Fraud and Conversion of Trade Secrets: brought an action on behalf of a former research veterinarian for an animal biologics firm relating to a lucrative vaccine for dairy cows. After a ten-week jury trial, the jury came back with a unanimous verdict in our client's favor for $2.9 million in damages and $500,000 in punitive damages. (Yolo County Superior Court, Woodland, California)

Trademark and Trade Dress Infringement: brought action against a computer software/hardware company for marketing a product that competed with the client's market dominating product, using a similar sounding product name and similar type packaging graphics. Early and persuasive negotiations after the lawsuit and discovery were both initiated resulted in the opposing party's early agreement to remove all existing products from the market, rename its product and change its packaging. (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento, California)

Copyright Infringement: brought a copyright infringement action in federal court on behalf of a nationally known photographer whose work appeared on posters. Despite the poster company's filing of bankruptcy during the litigation, the client was the only known photographer (out of many whose copyrights were held by the company) who had all the materials returned to him by the bankruptcy court and to whom ownership of the copyright reverted as a result of active intervention during the bankruptcy proceedings. (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento, California)

Patent Licensing Dispute: defended an action on behalf of a biotechnology firm regarding a claim that the company had entered into an exclusive license with the plaintiff regarding use of the technology. The case settled favorably for the client after arguing on behalf of the client that conditions required for the license to go into effect had never taken place. (Nevada County Superior Court, Nevada City, California)

Patent Ownership Dispute and Infringement: prosecuted a federal court action on behalf of an inventor and his biotechnology firm, regarding a claim related to ownership of the patented technology and whether a former employee was an inventor/owner of the patents or was, instead, infringing upon the patented technology. The case settled with the company and the client retaining ownership and the competing ex-employee agreeing to not use the technology in his business. (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento, California)

Trade Secret Misappropriation: defended a federal court action brought against our client, an animal vaccine manufacturer, by a major pharmaceutical company for trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition. After contentious litigation practices initiated by the opposing party, we were able to settle the matter with no payment of money by the client. Rather, the client was allowed access to otherwise confidential data owned by the pharmaceutical company. (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento, California)

Trade Secret Misappropriation and Unfair Competition: prosecuted a state court trade secret misappropriation case involving a former employee who had allegedly stolen a customer list containing proprietary information gathered over the course of the company's business relationships. The case settled through voluntary mediation with the former employee divesting himself of the information and paying damages to the company owners. (El Dorado County Superior Court, Placerville, California)

For an appointment to discuss any intellectual property litigation or transactional matter, contact Joanna Mendoza at (916) 974-8600.

Our Attorneys