Katherine (Katie) Ford Horvath
10110 San Remo Blvd.
Traverse City, MI 49684
231.932.7389
Katherine Horvath focuses her practice on intellectual property and commercial litigation, patent counseling, analysis, and patent opinion preparation. She is an active member of the XDL Group--an affiliation of intellectual property trial attorneys.
Prior to joining DurretteBradshaw, Ms. Horvath worked in the Silicon Valley and with the Microsoft Corporation. She has appeared in numerous cases across the country, advised top level management and Board of Directors on patent litigation matters, and managed patent indemnity matters.
She earned her law degree at the University of Notre Dame after studying Industrial & Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan.
Ms. Horvath is admitted to practice in Michigan, California, and various federal court admissions. She is also registered to practice before the USPTO.
Sample cases:
ABL v. Smartgene (E.D. Tex. and D.C.) – successfully dismissed patent infringement case on jurisdictional grounds in Texas, DJ case and patent reexamination pending.
FNI v. Brown (Or. Circuit Ct.) – obtained permanent injunction and stipulated judgment in trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract and unfair business practices case.
Nash v. Microsoft (S.D. Tex.) – successfully dismissed patent infringement claims on summary judgment for product activation technology, affirmed by Federal Circuit.
Rackman v. Microsoft (E.D.N.Y.) – defeated summary judgment motions on invalidity, inequitable conduct and sanctions motions, encryption patent sent into reexamination at USPTO.
BTG v. Microsoft (N.D. Cal.) – managed 5 patent case regarding software technologies, case resulted in favorable settlement.
TV Interactive v. Fujitsu (N.D. Cal.) – obtained favorable settlement for defendant computer PC makers in four patent operating system and device driver case.
Alacritech v. Microsoft (N.D. Cal.) – obtained favorable settlement for patent case involving server offloading technology.
Adaptec v. Unison (N.D. Cal.) – won jury trial in trademark and copyright counterfeiting case for SCSI technology, won damages trial resulting in multi-million dollar award.
Lucent v. Microsoft (S.D. Cal.) – managed 15 patent case, led audio and speech compression teams in Markman and technology tutorials.
Synopsys v. Nassda (N.D. Cal.) - managed patent and antitrust case as well as companion state trade secret case, sent circulation simulation software patent into reexamination at USPTO, defeated preliminary injunction, defeated terminating sanctions motions, defeated summary judgment motions on infringement, validity and inequitable conduct, case resulted in favorable settlement and acquisition.
NEC v. eMachines (E.D. Cal.) – obtained favorable settlement in four patent computer hardware case.
AK Steel v. Sollac (S.D. Ohio) – case resulted in favorable settlement for series of aluminized stainless patent cases; jury verdict against plaintiff, affirmed by Federal Circuit.
Warner-Jenkinson v. Hilton Davis (S.D. Ohio) – case resulted in favorable settlement on remand after U.S. Supreme Court decision in red food dye patent case.
Teaching Experience:
- Practicing Law Institute – Patent Basics (June 2009)
- National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) instructor for trial, teacher training and deposition programs, including programs with Mexico, Japan and Chile governments/ judiciaries.
- Microsoft Advocacy Academy creator.
- University of San Francisco Intensive Advocacy Program instructor.
- Fish & Richardson Patent Boot Camp instructor for patent prosecution, opinion writing and due diligence.
- Guest lecturer: Apple, Inc. (Quanta v. LGE); University of Washington Law School (expert witnesses); Seattle University (pretrial matters); Stanford Law School (electronic discovery); UC Berkeley Boalt Law School (electronic discovery); UC San Francisco Hastings Law School (in-house counsel perspective on patent issues); Santa Clara University Law School (patent law); University of Notre Dame Law School (IP careers); University of Cincinnati (35 U.S.C. 101); IEEE (expert witnesses).
Publications:
- Patenting Processes: Questions Linger After the Federal Circuit’s In re Bilski Decision, AAJ Business Torts Section (Winter 2009).
- Change is Forecasted for Business Method, Internet Process and Software Patents, AAJ Business Torts Section (Spring 2008).
- Federal Circuit to Revisit the Patenting of Intangible Subject Matter, Atlantic Coast In-house (March 2008).
- Kewanee Oil Revisited: Federal Preemption of Trade Secret Misappropriation in view of State Street Bank, Wiley Intellectual Property Law Update, ch. 5 (2000).
- E-Commerce Patent Protection, Cincinnati Business Courier (May 2000).
- Patenting Business Methods, Cincinnati Business Courier (October 29, 1999).
- Patents Protect Your Business Methods, Cincinnati Business Courier Supplement May 14, 1999).
- NBA v. Motorola: A Case for Federal Preemption of Misappropriation?, 73 Notre Dame L. Rev. 461 (1998).
