Intellectual Property

Monty Agarwal is senior counsel in the firm's intellectual property group and is based in the San Francisco office. Mr. Agarwal specializes in representing technology, consumer product and other businesses, in commercial and intellectual property litigation, including patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright litigation. Mr. Agarwal also provides strategic counseling to businesses on a broad range of intellectual property and commercial issues, including IP portfolio evaluation and license compliance audits and arbitrations. Mr. Agarwal has tried cases before judges and juries in federal and state courts, and has also presented to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Agarwal also has substantial experience in the use of alternative dispute procedures, including arbitration and mediation. He has worked particularly with clients in the IT, electronics, semiconductor, medical device, and food and drug industries.

Mr. Agarwal is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco and a Commissioner on the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission of the State Bar of California. He has served as the president of the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California, as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Asian Law Caucus, and has been honored for his pro bono asylum work by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2008, he was presented a Unity Award by the Minority Bar Coalition and also recognized by the National Asian Pacific Bar Association as one of its “Best Lawyers Under 40.”  Before law school, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in the mountain villages of Lesotho, Southern Africa.

Intellectual Property Representative Matters

• Prevailed in stopping use of infringing trademark for dietary supplement manufacturer.
• Oversaw royalty audit of drug manufacture to ensure compliance with patent licenses.
• Defended light emitting diode manufacturer against claims of design patent infringement.
• Secured multimillion dollar recovery in arbitration relating to patent licenses for medical laser systems.
• Defended plastics manufacturer from product liability claims arising out of use of polymer packaging.
• Defended designer of programmable gate arrays from masks works infringement claims.
• Prosecuted trademark infringement claims on behalf of manufacturer of encryption hardware and software.
• Prosecuted patent, copyright and trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition claims relating to high capacity disk drives.
• Prosecuted actions for copyright and trademark infringement against counterfeit software distributors.
• Prosecuted commercial dispute involving disposable medical systems for intravenous therapies.