The Role of the Expert Witness in Technology Litigation
Patent and other technology lawsuits regularly appear on the dockets of courts throughout the United States. This is especially true in federal and state courts in Northern California. Although the parties involved in a litigation intimately understand their businesses and the technology involved, everything is new to the judge and jury. A primary task in every such litigation is
explaining, educating and advocating technology to a generally non-technical judge and jury. This requires translating very complex ideas into easily understood concepts.
Expert consultants play a critical role in assisting attorneys in preparing their cases. Typically, each party to a case retains one or more technical consultants to provide behind the scenes analyses and/or written or oral testimony. Courts also hire expert consultants as special masters to assist the court in understanding technology behind legal briefs and issues.
Katie’s presentation will include:
- Opportunities for expert consultants, both as a non-testifying and testifying expert witnesses.
- What to expect as an expert consultant – anatomy of a technology litigation.
- Credibility and the slippery reputation slope.
- Tips for working with lawyers.
- Which credentials matter?
- Examples of the expert’s role in cases – war stories.
About the speaker, Katie Horvath, Fish & Richardson, PC
Katie Horvath is the Recruiting Attorney for the Silicon Valley office of Fish & Richardson. She earned her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame and her B.S. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan. She is member of the California and Ohio state bars and registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Katie’s practice focuses on litigation, including patent, trade secret, trademark, copyright and unfair competition cases in all areas of technology, focusing primarily on electrical and computer arts. Katie’s practice also includes patent prosecution, licensing and client counseling on
intellectual property management.
Location: Sheraton Hotel, Sunnyvale
