Kenneth Weatherwax is an associate in the Los Angeles office of Irell & Manella LLP. His practice focuses on intellectual property with a concentration in patent litigation, prosecution and licensing. He has successfully represented clients in many highly complex matters involving a full spectrum of patent enforcement, defense, acquisition, valuation and licensing issues.  These matters have included patent examinations, reexaminations and interferences before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, patent infringement and contract actions before multiple federal and state courts, Section 337 enforcement investigations before the U.S. International Trade Commission, and company and intellectual property valuation, licensing and acquisitions. 

Mr. Weatherwax is comfortable representing clients in matters involving a wide array of technologies.  The technologies involved in his active matters have included semiconductor packaging and interconnection, implantable heart valve repair products, Li-ion and NiCd computer battery management, wheel finishing, video game controllers and distribution channels, audio reproduction and amplification, telephone call multiplexing, automated retail processing, point of sale and enterprise management software, subcutaneous drug delivery, polymerase nucleic acid quantitation, and recombinant RNA preparation.

In 2007, Mr. Weatherwax was selected for inclusion in Los Angeles Magazine's Southern California "Rising Stars" in intellectual property law.

Mr. Weatherwax earned his J.D. from the University of California, Davis, where he was a member of the University of California, Davis Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif.  

Before joining Irell & Manella, Mr. Weatherwax served as law clerk to the Honorable Robert Beezer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Seattle, Washington, and as civil extern to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento.

Before entering law school, Mr. Weatherwax worked for six years in the energy industry for consulting firms whose clients included state public utilities commissions, major investor-owned and municipal electric power utilities, and private electric power providers. His engineering work included electric vehicle air quality impact analyses; evaluations of conservation and energy efficiency programs; electric power production cost modeling and price and load forecasts; natural gas pipeline risk assessments; and need assessments for electric power generation, transmission, and distribution facilities. His management responsibilities included handling tax and payroll for a small corporation.

Mr. Weatherwax  enjoys backpacking and other outdoor activities, and writing about film and history. He lives in Marina del Rey, California.

Representative Matters

• Tessera, Inc. v. Amkor Technology, Inc., No. 14 268/EGS (International Court of Arbitration).
• Tessera, Inc. v. United Test And Assembly Center Ltd. and UTAC America, Inc., No. RG08410327 (Calif. Super. Ct.).
• In the Matter of Certain Semiconductor Chips with Minimized Chip Package Size and Products Containing Same (IV) (Tessera, Inc. v. Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd., STATS ChipPAC, Ltd., ASE Inc., and ChipMOS Technologies, Inc.), International Trade Commission, Case No. 337-TA-649.
• In the Matter of Certain Semiconductor Chips with Minimized Chip Package Size and Products Containing Same (III) (Tessera, Inc. v. A-Data Technology Co., Ltd., A-Data Technology (U.S.A.) Co., Ltd., Acer, Inc., Acer America, Inc., Centon Electronics, Inc., Elpida Memory, Inc., Elpida Memory (USA), Inc., International Products Sourcing Group, Inc., Kingston Technology Co., Inc., Nanya Technology Corp., Nanya Technology Corp. U.S.A., Peripheral Devices & Products Systems, Inc., PowerChip Semiconductor Corp., ProMOS Technologies, Inc., Ramaxel Technology Ltd., Smart Modular Technologies, Inc., TwinMOS Technologies Inc., and TwinMOS Technologies USA Inc.), International Trade Commission, Case No. 337-TA-630.
• In the Matter of Certain Semiconductor Chips with Minimized Chip Package Size and Products Containing Same (II) (Tessera, Inc. v. Qualcomm, Inc., Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Motorola, Inc., ATI Technologies, Inc., Spansion Inc., Spansion LLC, and ST Microelectronics N.V.), International Trade Commission, Case No. 337-TA-605, on appeal, Nos. 2008-1460, -1461, -1462, -1465.
• Netcraft Corp. v. eBay Inc. and PayPal Inc., No. 07-C-0254-C (W.D. Wis.), aff'd, No. 2008-1263 (Fed. Cir.).
• Tessera, Inc. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Spansion Inc., Spansion Technology Inc., Spansion LLC, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc., ASE (U.S.), Inc., ChipMOS Technologies Inc., ChipMOS U.S.A., Inc., Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd., Siliconware USA Inc., STMicroelectronics N.V., STMicroelectronics, Inc., STATS ChipPAC Ltd., STATS ChipPAC, Inc., and STATS ChipPAC (BVI) Limited, No. 05-04063 (N.D. Cal.).
• Tessera, Inc. v. Micron Technology, Inc., Micron Semiconductor Products, Inc., Infineon Technologies AG, Infineon Technologies Richmond, LP, Infineon Technologies North America Corp., and Qimonda AG, No. 2:05cv94 (E.D. Tex.).
• Unova, Inc.  v. Hewlett-Packard Co., No. CV 02-03772ER (C.D. Cal.)
• Edward Lifesciences Corp. and Edwards Lifesciences LLC, v. St. Jude Medical, Inc. and St. Jude Medical Products, Inc., No. CV 00-7091 CAS (C.D. Cal.).
• Brown v. NCR Corporation, No. CV-N-01-0706-ECR-RAM (D. Nev.)

Publications

• Benjamin Hattenbach & Kenneth Weatherwax, "Bilski v. Kappos: A Divided Court Narrowly Reaffirms Patentability of Business Methods," Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal (September 2010)
• Andrei Iancu, Lisa Partain, & Kenneth Weatherwax, "Chapter 3: Opening Phase," in Laurence H. Pretty (ed.), PATENT LITIGATION (PLI 2009)

Bar & Court Admissions

• 2002, California
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Courts of Appeals, Fourth, Ninth and Federal Circuits
• U.S. District Court, Central and Northern Districts of California
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office