More about the SDIPLA

If you have any questions about SDIPLA please contact one of our current officers.
If you have any concerns about this website, please contact Jo Dale Carothers.

Meet Our Current Officers

PRESIDENT

Douglas Clark | 213-243-4008 | douglas.clark@arnoldporter.com
Senior Associate, Arnold & Porter

Doug Clark is involved in many different aspects of civil litigation, with a focus on intellectual property litigation, primarily patents and trade secrets as well as copyrights and trademarks. During his career, he has brokered or has been integral to the favorable settlements in at least three dozen matters.

Doug also has successfully argued before the PTAB resulting in the invalidation of an opponent’s patent. He has represented clients in diverse categories of technology, including semiconductors, cell phone technology, digital content processing, MMS/SMS technology, wireless communications, memory card readers, thumb drives, electronic locks, RF technology, solar power, wire design, aircraft fire inerting systems, pharmaceutical cancer drugs, gene therapy, bovine vaccines, baby products, truck aerodynamics, exercise equipment, and aircraft seating.


VICE PRESIDENT

Ruthleen Uy, Councel Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP

Ruthleen Uy | 858.350.3870  | ruy@ktslaw.com
Counsel, Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP

Ruthleen E. Uy is Counsel in the Software and Electrical Engineering Team of Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP’s Intellectual Property Department. Ruthleen focuses her practice on the preparation and prosecution of patent applications in the computer, electrical, and mechanical arts including applications directed to computer architecture, computer hardware, financial technology, mobile communications, and telecommunications. Additionally, Ms. Uy has experience prosecuting applications directed to memory management including the restoration and recovery of memory data, data compression, data encryption/decryption, databases, and data storage. She also has experience in medical devices including medical image processing and radiation controls.

In 2021, Ruthleen was identified by IP Toolworks as being within the top 0.3% of patent prosecutors in the field of overcoming 35 USC 101 rejections.

Ruthleen is admitted to the State Bar of California and Illinois, the District of Columbia, and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  She received her law degree from DePaul University – Chicago, where she was on the Dean’s list and earned a certificate in Intellectual Property.  Ruthleen received her B.S. in computer science from Loyola University-Chicago.


SECRETARY

Adam Powell | 858.707.4000 | adam.powell@knobbe.com
Partner, Knobbe Martens LLP.

Adam Powell has a broad practice that involves litigating all types of intellectual property cases, including patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark matters. He also has extensive experience litigating antitrust matters, particularly those involving technologically complex issues. Adam works with various technologies, including medical devices, software, electronics, chemistry, biotechnology, solar energy, and commercial diving.

In one of his most successful cases, Adam represented Masimo Corporation in a three-week trial against Philips. The jury awarded $466 million to Masimo and rejected Philips’ infringement claims seeking $169 million. That verdict was featured in The National Law Journal‘s “Top Verdicts of 2014” as the top intellectual property verdict and number 5 verdict overall and was also listed as the “Top IP Award of 2014” by Law360. After the jury trial, Adam was responsible for defending against Philips’ antitrust counterclaims alleging patent misuse, monopolization, attempted monopolization, and technological tying. The litigation eventually settled with Philips paying Masimo $300 million and agreeing to a multi-year joint marketing and sales program in which Philips would integrate Masimo technologies in its patient monitors.


TREASURER

Sean Lynch | 949-829-2186 | sean@lynchllp.com
Partner, Lynch LLP.

Sean spent years in an intellectual property boutique prosecuting patents and trademarks, and working on intellectual property enforcement matters. Sean is a registered patent attorney that is also licensed to practice law in California. Before law school, Sean studied mechanical engineering with a BS from Georgia Tech and an MS from UCLA. Sean earned his JD from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

While he specializes in patent law, Sean also counsels clients in copyright and trademark matters to help them build their businesses and brands.

Sean is licensed to practice law in California, and he is admitted to practice in patent matters before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Specialties: Patent and trademark prosecution


IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

John R. Lanham | 858.314.7601 | jlanham@mofo.com
Partner, Morrison & Foerster’s Intellectual Property Group

John Lanham is a partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property Group. Mr. Lanham focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation and commercial litigation. Mr. Lanham brings his broad-based business litigation experience to bear on his clients’ most challenging disputes.

Mr. Lanham has worked in both the San Diego and Denver offices of Morrison Foerster. He has represented clients in the pharmaceutical, financial, communications, information technology, natural resources, and healthcare industries. Mr. Lanham regularly assists clients with all phases of litigation, including development of case strategy, dispositive motions, claim construction, fact discovery, expert discovery, trial preparation, alternative dispute resolution, and taking and defending the depositions of both fact and expert witnesses. Mr. Lanham frequently works with scientific and economic experts to develop accurate and persuasive case theories for his clients. He also maintains an active pro bono practice focused on children’s rights and constitutional issues.


The SDIPLA Past Presidents

Everett N. Curtis (1956-57)
Walter J. Jason (1957-58)
Egon W. Mueller (1958-59)
Warren H.F. Schmieding (1959-60)
George E Pearson (1960-61)
Roy L. Knox (1961-62)
Carl R. Brown (1962-63)
Earl F. Karts (1963-64)
Vincent E. Sullivan (1964-65)
George E. Pearson (1965-66)
Carl R. Brown (1966-67)
J. Peter Mohn (1967-68)
Nell F. Martin (1968-69)
Thomas G. Keough (1969-70)
Thomas D. Lane (1970-71)
John R. Duncan (1971-72)
George J. Rubens (1972-73)
Frank D. Gilliam (1973-74)
Patrick J. Schlesinger (1974-75)
Ralph S. Branscomb(1975-76)
Charles C. Logan (1976-77)
Nell F. Martin (1977-78)
Henri J.A Charmasson (1978-79)
John L. Haller (1979-80)
Edward W. Callan (1980-81)
Mervyn L. Young (1981)
Freling E. Baker (1981-82)
Charles Fassbender (1983-84)
Michael H. Jester (1984-85)
Natalie Jensen (1985-86)
Lawrence A. Maxham (1986-87)
John R. Lindsay (1987-88)
R. Ben Miller (1988-89)
J.F. McLellan (1989-90)

John R. Ross. Jr. (1990-91)
Jim McClain (1991-92)
April Logan (1992-93)
Nancy Dahl (1993-94)
Anita M. Kirkpatrick (1994-95)
Kathleen A. Pasulka (1995-96)
Laurie A. Axford (1996-97)
Lisa Haile (1997-98)
Susan Perkins (1998)
Lisa Haile (1999)
Bruce Greenhaus (1999-2000)
Stephen Korniczky (2000-01)
Sam Talpalatsky (2001-02)
Richard Kim (2002-03)
Mark D. Wieczorek (2003-04)
Vicki G. Norton (2004-05)
Kent M. Walker (2005-06)
Robert Prince (2006-07)
Tom Coverstone (2007-08)
Boris Zelkind (2008-09)
Jessica S. Mitchell (2009-10)
John E. Peterson, PhD (2010-11)
Kenneth Jenkins, Ph.D. (2011-2012)
Kurt Kjelland (2012-2103)
Marc Morley (2013-2014)
JoDale Carothers (2014-2015)
Les Overman (2015-2016)
Shawn McDonald (2016-2017)
Rose Thiessen (2017-2018)
Bernard J. Greenspan (2018-2019)
Desmond O’Sullivan (2019-2020)
Justin Gray (2020-2021)
Nate Luman (2021-2022)
Bruce Greenhaus (2022-2023)
John Lanham (2023-2024)