John C. Alemanni
Partner

4208 Six Forks Road Suite 1400, Raleigh, NC USA 27609

1001 West Fourth Street, Winston-Salem, NC USA 27101

Overview

John Alemanni focuses his practice on trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and related appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is co-chair of Kilpatrick’s PTAB litigation group which is ranked by Patexia Insight as one of the top 10 Best Performing Law Firms representing Patent Owners and top 20 overall (Representing petitioners or patent owners)(IPR Intelligence Report, September 2021). Mr. Alemanni's practice also includes client counseling, patent litigation and strategic patent prosecution. He provides creative, cost-effective solutions for his clients. He has served as lead or back-up counsel on over 130 trials before the PTAB. He also helps manage the portfolios of both established and emerging companies, including a company consistently ranked at the top of its category in the IEEE Power Spectrum Patent Power scorecard and having generated licensing revenues of more than $250 million dollars. He focuses on hardware and software technologies, including mobile devices, gaming, bioinformatics and laboratory information management, as well as mechanical and electro mechanical devices, including aerospace components, medical devices and medical device simulations. Before joining the firm, he owned and managed a computer consulting firm and web hosting company. He was an experienced programmer, database administrator, and systems integrator, having developed dozens of applications, including both client-server and web-enabled applications. He is also an avid amateur race car driver.

Mr. Alemanni has been recognized as an "IP Star" in 2023 and the ten years immediately preceding by Managing Intellectual Property magazine. He was recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® in 2023 and the five years immediately preceding for Patent Law and again in 2024 and 2025 for both Intellectual Property Litigation and Patent Law. Managing IP's PTAB 2020 rankings named Mr. Alemanni as one of the "Top 50 Petitioner and Patent Owner Attorneys at the PTAB in Proceedings Filed in 2020". Mr. Alemanni was recommended by Legal 500 US in 2017 in the area of Patent Prosecution. He was named a top patent practitioner in 2024 and the five years immediately preceding by IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners. Patexia Insight ranked Mr. Alemanni as one of the top 100 best performing attorneys representing patent owners and 81st overall (IPR Intelligence Report, September 2021).

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Experience

Represented Volvo Penta in competitor-on-competitor patent infringement litigation involving six patents. Volvo Penta’s main U.S.-based competitor, Brunswick Corporation challenged Volvo Penta’s patent on an innovative forward-facing drive in IPR; Volvo Penta responded by filing suit. Brunswick then sued Volvo Penta for alleged infringement of five Brunswick patents; Volvo Penta responded with IPR’s challenging all five patents. The Eastern District of Virginia found all of Brunswick’s patents invalid. The Patent Office initially determined the Volvo Penta patent to be invalid, but the Federal Circuit vacated that decision and remanded the IPR. The parties settled before final written decision. Volvo Penta of the Americas, LLC v. Brunswick Corporation, No. 1:20-cv-01678 (D. Del. 2022)

CAO Lighting, Inc. v. Cree, Inc. et al., No. 1:21-cv-00634 (M.D.N.C.) – Representing Cree (now Wolfspeed, Inc.) and Ideal Industries in the defense of an allegation of patent infringement by a competitor lighting company. The litigation involves two patents related to light emitting electrode lighting devices. Kilpatrick Townsend successfully invalidated almost all claims of the patents in inter partes reviews (IPRs).

Represented Patent Owner in Inter Partes Review. Dispute favorably settled and dismissed prior to deadline to file a Preliminary Response. Sumitomo Chemical Company, Ltd. v. Celgard, LLC, No. 3:12-cv-00122 (W.D.N.C., filed Feb. 22, 2013).

B/E Aerospace, Inc. v. Safran Cabin, Inc. et al., No. 2:19-cv-01480 (C.D. Cal.) – Representing Zodiac Aerospace and several related entities against B/E Aerospace in a series of a patent infringement matters. The companies are fierce competitors in the market for aircraft interiors, including lavatories. B/E and Safran have been engaged in a series of messy disputes regarding their competing lavatories. We invalidated most of the claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,590,838 titled, “Aircraft Interior Lavatory.”. We are currently handling a matter that B/E brought in the Eastern District of Texas (which has since been transferred to the Central District of California), accusing Safran of patent infringement. The case was stayed after we successfully petitioned for review of three of the five asserted patents before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which issued final written decisions finding the asserted claims of those patents invalid. The Federal Circuit affirmed those decisions. The court lifted the stay and we proceeded to file additional re-exams and an inter partes review which again persuaded the court to stay the litigation. The patent subject to IPR was held invalid by the Patent Office. The remaining patents have been rejected in reexamination.

Served as lead counsel and prevailed on behalf of Petitioner Google Inc. in two inter partes reviews challenging the validity of patents related to processing and transmitting digital content. The PTAB ruled in favor of Google, finding all challenged claims in both proceedings unpatentable. PTAB Case Numbers IPR2015-00806 and IPR2015-00807.

Representing Celgard LLC in an inter partes review related to separators for high energy rechargeable lithium batteries.

The firm served as lead counsel in the representation of Epic Systems Corporation, a leading Wisconsin-based health care software company, against claims of patent infringement in a suit involving Internet-based doctor-patient communications software. The district court held that Epic and its health care provider customers did not and could not infringe the patent. The case settled while on appeal. McKesson Info. Solutions v. Epic Sys. Corp., No. 06-2965 (N.D. Ga. filed Dec. 6, 2006), No. 2010-1291 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 12, 2011).

The firm served as lead counsel on behalf of broadband communications technology developer in a patent infringement suit involving broadcast delivery of data filed against it by Broadcast Innovation LLC, an Acacia subsidiary. A favorable settlement was reached, after a motion to dismiss was filed.

The firm served as lead counsel on behalf of Red Hat, an open-source software company, in a patent infringement suit brought by Firestar related to database technology—in particular, object-relational mapping. This suit is believed to be the first patent infringement suit involving open-source software. Red Hat recently settled this suit and another recently-filed suit with the same plaintiff. The settlement was structured to be compatible with all versions of the GPL (General Public License), the open-source license under which many Red Hat products are developed and distributed, and provides licenses to the patents for all of Red Hat's products. In addition, the license extends not only to Red Hat and its customers, but also to members of the open-source community who contribute to the development of Red Hat's products. Firestar Software, Inc. v. Red Hat, et al., No. 06-00258 (E.D. Tex. filed June 26, 2006). (Judge Ward).

As lead trial counsel to the inventor and patent owner, obtained a verdict of willful infringement and an award of $20.3 for past damages after a seven day jury trial in the Eastern District of Texas. The Court increased the award to $23.6 million after ruling on post-trial motions. The two related inter partes review hearings resulted in an exceedingly rare final determination upholding the patentability of all challenged claims.

Represented Dr. Mark A. Barry in a series of inter partes reviews relating to Dr. Barry’s patents directed to a unique surgical instrument and related techniques for use in scoliosis surgeries filed by Medtronic, Inc., two of which were instituted. The PTAB issued two final written decisions upholding the validity of the two patents and resulted in a total victory for our client. PTAB Case Numbers IPR-00780 and IPR2015-00783.

Served as lead counsel representing Motorola in IPR trials before the United States Patent and Trademark Office for two related patents that are the subject of litigation in Delaware (SoftView LLC v. Motorola Mobility LLC before Judge Stark). We filed a successful motion to join two corresponding IPR trials that had been filed by Kyocera and subsequently instituted. We represented Motorola in oral argument before the board on January 7, 2014, and received a decision finding all challenged claims unpatentable. Judge Stark (D.Del.), who previously denied a motion for stay in the case, granted a stay in view of our IPR trials. The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s finding that all claims were invalid. Case numbers IPR2013-00256, IPR2013-00257; related case numbers IPR2013-00004, IPR2013-00007.

Counsel for patentee Racing Optics in four inter partes review petitions filed by competitor Aevoe challenging validity of Racing Optics’ patents related to touch screen protectors, with related action in D. Nevada. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Case Numbers IPR2016-01164, IPR2016-01165, IPR2016-01166, and IPR2016-01745.

Provides patent procurement and counseling services to Adobe Systems Incorporated, one of the largest and most diversified software companies in the world. The company offers creative, business and mobile software and services used by creative professionals, knowledge workers, consumers, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners and computer programmers. Much of the firm's work has focused on the software and services used to create, manage, deliver and engage with compelling content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media. The firm works closely with the key technical and business personnel to identify and protect innovations with patent protection to achieve the company’s strategic corporate goals. The firm also counsels the company with respect to patent strategy.

The firm served as lead counsel on behalf of Red Hat, an open-source software company, in a patent infringement suit brought by Datatern related to database technology. Specifically, the patent at issue involved methods for interfacing software with relational databases. Datatern, Inc. v. United Air Lines Inc. et al., No. 09-53 (E.D. Tex. filed  Feb. 17, 2009). (Judge Folsom).

We represented AT&T against allegations that AT&T infringed patents related to Internet-based security, fire and emergency identification and communication system. After claim construction briefing, ComCam accepted a settlement that was very favourable to AT&T. ComCam International, Inc. v. AT&T Corp., No. 2:13-cv-00795 (E.D. Tex. filed Oct. 7, 2013). PTAB Case Number IPR2015-00086.

The firm served as lead counsel on behalf of a major North American bank and an international airline in a patent infringement suit in the Eastern District of Texas filed by an intellectual property technology company. The patent at issue involved methods for interfacing software with relational databases. The plaintiff sued more than 20 defendants – including many leading companies in the travel and financial industries – and the firm played an integral role in the joint defense group on behalf of its two clients. Our two clients in this matter split our fees for common tasks, such as claim construction and invalidity, and we billed each client separately for work related to that client. Case settled.

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Insights

Blogs

Education

Wake Forest University School of Law J.D. (1996)

University of North Carolina at Greensboro B.S. (1990) Management Information Systems, magna cum laude

Admissions

North Carolina (1996)

District of Columbia (2017)

Court Admissions

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (2014)

U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (2000)

U.S. Supreme Court

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Professional & Community Activities

Intellectual Property Owners Association, Post-Grant Committee, Member

PTAB Bar Association, Member

North Carolina Bar Association, Intellectual Property Section, Member, Past Chair of the Software and Electrical Engineering Committee and Past Chair of the Continuing Legal Education Committee

Piedmont Opera Company, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Former Board Member

Eastern Music Festival, Greensboro, North Carolina, Former Board Member

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