Expert witness and technical consultant to Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP of San Francisco in 2011 and Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP of Redwood Shores, California in 2010 on behalf of defendants in patent infringement case relating to disk drive technology, Convolve, Inc. v. Dell, Inc., Western Digital Corp., Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, and Hitachi Ltd. in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. Provided an expert report on invalidity on behalf of Hitachi, Western Digital and Dell. And, provided an expert report regarding non-infringement on behalf of Hitachi. Technology relates to servo control and end user interface technology for seek acoustic noise reduction in disk drives. Provided testimony in deposition and at the trial in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division in which plaintiff sought nearly $200 million in total damages. Hitachi, Dell and Western Digital obtained favorable jury verdicts.

Expert witness and technical consultant to Brian Cave LLP of St. Louis in 2010 on behalf of Nordyne in patent infringement case, Nordyne Inc. v. RBC Manufacturing Corp. in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division, relating to motor control in HVAC applications. Provided an expert declaration regarding claim construction and was deposed on same. Case settled out of court with a favorable settlement for the client.

Expert witness and technical consultant to Faegre & Benson LLP of Minneapolis in 2010 on behalf of Pella in trade secret and breach of contract case, Shi R² Solutions, Inc. v. Pella Corporation in State Court of Iowa, relating to manufacturing equipment technology. Provided an expert report.

Expert witness and technical consultant to Schopf & Weiss LLP of Chicago in 2008-9 on behalf of Goss in patent infringement case, Goss International Americas, Inc. v. Graphic Management Associates et al, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, relating to newspaper inserting machine technology. Provided expert report regarding validity and was deposed on same. Provided expert declaration on claim construction in 2009 in related patent infringement case, Muller Martini Corp. and Muller Martini Mailroom Systems, Inc. v. Goss International Americas, Inc. and Goss International Corporation in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Cases subsequently settled out of court. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Michael Best & Friedrich LLP of Milwaukee in 2006-2011 in patent infringement case, Bristol Company LP v. Bosch Rexroth et al in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, involving hydraulic control system equipment. Produced an expert report and provided testimony in deposition on non-infringement and invalidity. Also, produced an expert declaration regarding claim construction, attended the Markman hearing and assisted counsel in summary judgment action. Expert witness and technical consultant to Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll of Denver in 2006 in related legal malpractice / patent infringement case, Bristol Company LP v. Lee Osman and Dorsey & Whitney LLP, in Denver District Court, involving hydraulic control system equipment. Produced an expert report on non-infringement. Both cases subsequently settled out of court.

Expert witness and technical consultant to Cantor Colburn of Bloomfield, Connecticut in 2005-6 on behalf of Faro Technologies in the patent infringement case, CimCore Corporation, et al v. Faro Technologies, in the U.S. District Court of Southern California, involving 3D coordinate metrology equipment. Authored expert reports on non-infringement and invalidity, providing testimony in deposition and at a jury trial. Case later settled with a favorable settlement for the client. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Holme, Roberts & Owen of Denver and to Brooks Kushman of Southfield, Michigan from 2003-6 on behalf of StorageTek in patent infringement litigation in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, Storage Technology Corporation (Sun Microsystems) v. Quantum Corporation, involving tape drive optical servo technology. Authored expert reports and provided testimony in deposition on infringement and validity. Directed production of animations and videography for trial, addressing infringement. Case settled out of court during trial with a $25 million settlement for the client and a cross licensing agreement. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Fenwick & West of Mountain View from 2003-4 on behalf of Via Technologies of Taiwan in trade secret and patent infringement litigation in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Western Division), MediaTek, Inc. v. Via Technologies, Inc. et al. Disputed technologies involved optical disc drive position sensing, servo control and data buffering. Produced four expert reports addressing trade secret matters, patent invalidity and non-infringement. Provided testimony in deposition. Case settled out of court. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Oliff & Berridge of Alexandria from 2003-4 on behalf of Nikon of Japan in patent infringement litigation in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, ASML Netherlands B.V. and ASM Lithography, Inc. v. Nikon Corporation and Nikon Precision, Inc. Disputed technologies related to semiconductor processing microlithography equipment. Provided opinions in expert reports relating to claim construction of two ASML reaction frame patents. Cases settled out of court. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Welsh & Katz of Chicago from 1998-2001 on behalf of Papst Licensing, GmbH. of Germany in multi-district patent infringement litigation proceedings in the U.S. District Court, Eastern Division of Louisiana, involving IBM, Quantum Corporation, Maxtor Corporation, Western Digital, Seagate Technologies and Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd. of Japan. Related litigation involved Minebea Co., Ltd., of Japan. Disputed technologies included hard disk drive spindle motor and mechanical design. Performed priority analysis and developed claim charts on the more than twenty patents at issue. The parties settled out of court. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly of Los Angeles in 2000 on behalf of Harmonic Design in patent infringement and trade secret case, Harmonic Design Inc. v. Hunter Douglas Inc., in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division, relating to electronic circuitry, sensors, IR signal demodulation, microprocessors and motor control logic. Investigated Hunter Douglas' motorized window covering products for infringement. Wrote an expert report on infringement, providing post Markman interpretation of disputed claim terms. Case settled out of court. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Holme, Roberts & Owen of Denver in 1999-2000 on behalf of Exabyte in patent infringement case, Ecrix Corp. v. Exabyte Corp. Investigated Ecrix's tape drive microcode, electronics and mechanics for infringement of Exabyte patents relating to servo and timing control, buffer management, tape format and cartridge loading. Investigated infringement and provided technical feedback during depositions of Ecrix personnel. Provided a computer animation video of the operation of the Ecrix tape loading mechanism. Case settled out of court. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Wood, Herron and Evans of Cincinnati in 1999 in patent infringement case, Ranpak Corp. v. Storopack, Inc., relating to machine and AC motor control. Provided an expert witness report and testimony under deposition relating to both non-infringement and invalidity of contested claims in Ranpak's U.S. patent. Testified in a jury trial in U.S. District Court, Western Division of Southern Ohio, as Storopack's expert witness. The jury found in favor of Storopack on all counts to which Dr. Sidman testified, resulting in an overall favorable decision. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Kenyon and Kenyon of N.Y.C. and Washington D.C. in 1995 on behalf of Conner Peripherals in patent infringement case, IBM Corp. v. Conner Peripherals Inc., in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, relating to disk drive servo systems. Directed scanning electron microscope experiments and conducted prior art patent search. Produced non-infringement expert reports and defended same in deposition, contributing to client's satisfactory settlement of the case. 

Expert witness and technical consultant to Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell of Wilmington, Delaware in 1997 on behalf of Data General in patent infringement case, Data General Corp. v. IBM Corp., in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. Researched prior art electronic enclosures for data processing systems and authored expert invalidity report about the obviousness of a patent claim being asserted by IBM against Data General's Clariion Division RAID products. IBM subsequently withdrew its objections on this patent.

CONSUMER PRODUCT CLASS ACTION

Expert witness and technical consultant to Court Appointed Co-Lead Counsel, Chitwood Harley Harnes LLP of New York, in class action case, “In Re Microsoft Xbox 360 Scratched Disc Litigation”, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington from 2008-9. Provided expert reports and testimony in deposition relating to optical disc drives and to gyroscopic effects. Case has settled. 

PATENT LICENSING

Retained by Rodime PLC of Scotland in 1996-97 to review disk drive digital servo system patents and patent applications for marketing / licensing potential and recommend which should be pursued.

Retained by Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky of Washington, D.C. in 1997 for disk drive patent licensing negotiations on behalf of Hitachi, Ltd. of Japan. Presented opinions and responded to technical assertions of opposing side during negotiations, contributing to a satisfactory settlement for client.

U.S. PATENT PROSECUTION

Named inventor on 18 U.S. patents. Worked extensively with patent attorneys to write patent specifications, help draft claims and respond to office actions. Completed Prof. Kayton's treatise, Patent Practice. 

Retained by Rogitz & Associates of San Diego in 2001 to review prior art patents and assist it in responding to USPTO office actions. Wrote a declaration relating to battery technology and terminology.

OTHER

Technical consultant to Drew & Napier of Singapore in 2005 in breach of contract litigation in Singapore relating to DVD drive technology. 

Retained in 1999 by plaintiff's civil rights attorney, Faye Cohen, Esq. of Philadelphia, as an expert witness relating to the academic research of an engineering Ph.D. candidate in Robert Morein v. Drexel University et al. Performed technical review of Mr. Morein's academic research in state estimation to determine if it constituted viable academic work and to ascertain its potential practical value. Authored an expert report. Testified in deposition and at trial by videoconference in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. Judge found in favor of plaintiff on all counts. 

Retained by plaintiff's attorney in 1989 to investigate and analyze functionality and reliability of municipal traffic control system in case involving a juvenile pedestrian fatality. Made recommendations, directly resulting in reprogramming of traffic control systems throughout Colorado Springs.

 

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