Sidley Austin

The IP group in Sidley Austin’s Chicago headquarters is highly recommended in the area of patent litigation, offering a team of trial specialists versed in life sciences and high-tech matters. The team also has a significant IP transactions offering, an are which the firm is nationally ranked.

The Chicago office is supported by Richard Cederoth, Mark Kaufmann, Stephanie Koh, Thomas Rein and Constantine Trela. Rein is an experienced trial lawyer who currently serves as head of the firm’s global IP litigation group. He specializes in patent litigation across many industry areas. Trela founded the firm’s appellate practice and is a go-to practitioner for Federal Circuit and Supreme Court matters. He is frequently involved in appeals related to patents and other IP rights. Kaufmann is a tech and IP transactions specialist, focusing his practice on outsourcing, licensing and other corporate matters.

Representative clients include Amgen, CalAmp and Huawei.

The firm recently took part in one of the earliest biosimilar disputes on behalf of Amgen. Following a two-week trial in the District of New Jersey, the asserted Amgen patent was upheld and three Sandoz subsidiaries were prevented from marketing their own biosimilar version of the drug Enbrel. The matter was recognized as one of Managing IP’s Impact Cases of the Year.

The group was also active for tech client CalAmp in a jury trial that resulted in a verdict of no willful infringement on all patents at suit. A previous award of $20 million that included attorneys’ fees and treble damages was then reduced to $4.6 million.

David Pritikin, one of the firm’s leading first-chair trial lawyers and a recognized IP Star, recently retired. This year he was awarded Outstanding Litigator in Illinois for his involvement in the high-profile biosimilar matter for Amgen.