James Isbester has been advising and representing clients in intellectual property and technology-related matters since 1987. Although his clients span the business world, most of his work is on behalf of high technology and medical device companies.

Mr. Isbester has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in jury trials, bench trials, various state and federal courts of appeal, and arbitrations.

Mr. Isbester was recognized as a Northern California "Super Lawyer" for Intellectual Property Litigation in 2011 and 2012 by SuperLawyers magazine and he is AV^® rated by Martindale-Hubbell.*

*CV, BV, and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedure's standards and policies.

Select Representative Cases

Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. v. Alcon
Represented Abbott Medical Optics (AMO, f/k/a Advanced Medical Optics), a supplier of advanced refractive technologies, as plaintiff in one action and as defendant in three other related actions and in reexamination of patents involving ophthalmic surgical products. Case settled with payment to AMO of $121 million and cross-licenses after AMO obtained jury verdict of infringement and judgment of $235 million and invalidated two of Alcon's patents in reexamination (U.S. District Court, District of Delaware and Northern District of Texas; United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; United States Patent and Trademark Office).

Lochner Technologies, LLC v. Lenovo (United States) Inc., Hitachi America Ltd. et al.
Represented Hitachi America Ltd. in a patent infringement action on a patent related to modular computer systems. Mr. Isbester was successful in settling the case on behalf of Hitachi America Ltd., very early in the case, with no financial recovery for the plaintiff.

Resonate Inc. v. Nortel Networks Corporation
Lead counsel for Nortel Networks in patent infringement action relating to switching in large Internet server sites. Won summary judgment of non-infringement. On appeal, certain claim terms were redefined and the matter remanded. Won a second motion for summary judgment, affirmed on appeal.

Molecular Probes v. Texas Fluorescence Laboratories
Lead counsel for plaintiff in patent infringement case involving fluorinated xanthene fluorophores. After district court accepted plaintiff's position on all disputed claim terms, the defendant took a license and the parties settled.

Schreiber Foods, Inc. v. Saputo Cheese, Inc.
Lead counsel for food products company accused of infringing U.S. patent relating to enzymes used in cheese manufacture. Won summary judgment of non-infringement.

Surety Technologies, Inc. v. Entrust Technologies, Inc.
Co-counsel for defendant Canadian data security company accused of infringing patent relating to encryption techniques. Responsible for liability aspects of case. Won jury verdict of patent invalidity.

Pulse-Link Inc. v. Tzero Technologies Inc.
Represented Tzero Technologies in patent infringement actions relating to ultra wideband communications technologies. The case settled following discovery.