Kenneth Cheney advises clients on the full spectrum of intellectual property (IP) matters, with an emphasis on patent-related disputes, patent prosecution, and transactional matters. Ken manages large patent portfolios for multinational corporations, coordinating patent prosecution activities between the United States and across other countries worldwide. Ken also represents clients before the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and in appeals and post-issuance patent challenges before the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Ken routinely conducts freedom-to-operate and IP due diligence investigations in connection with funding, acquisition, and merger transactions, and prepares legal opinions on patent validity, infringement, and noninfringement.
Ken assists clients in devising long-term comprehensive patent protection strategies for the benefit of extended product lifecycles and “bet-the-company” innovations. He also brings years of litigation experience involving patent and trademark infringement, trade secrets, fraud, and breach of contract.
With his degree in computer engineering and industry experience, Ken is intimately familiar with existing and emerging technologies involving computer hardware and software systems. Representative technologies include networking, analog and digital technology, semiconductor devices, electrical and electromagnetic circuits, integrated circuits, mixed signal systems, RF devices, volatile and nonvolatile memory systems and devices, artificial intelligence, big data, social networks, mathematical and computer modeling, visualization and simulation software, virtual reality software and systems, spacecraft applications, solar and battery cell technology, and quantum mechanics. Ken's technical experience in the life sciences includes medical devices and methods (e.g., stents, catheters, implantable devices, glucose monitoring, infusion pumps, ultrasound, electric and magnetic field therapy, and MRI), drug delivery and medication management systems, external and intra-body therapies, DNA chromatography, and stem cell technologies.
Ken regularly authors articles on IP-related issues, with a recent focus on patent law under the America Invents Act. He is also a contributing author of Computer Games and Immersive Entertainment: Next Frontiers in IP Law, published by the American Bar Association. Ken's first legal publication explored international norms in stem cell research. Prior to attending law school, Ken gained experience as a software engineer in the aerospace and healthcare industries.
Member, Practice Group of the Year, Intellectual Property, Law360 (2019)
Member, Litigation Department of the Year–Intellectual Property, The American Lawyer (2019)
Recommended, Intellectual property: Patents: licensing, The Legal 500 US (2019)
Recommended, Intellectual property: Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings), The Legal 500 US (2019)
Panelist, Inter Partes Reviews: What Have We Really Learned?, 2016 Patent Disputes Forum South (Oct. 19, 2016)
Team Captain, Judge Paul R. Michel Intellectual Property American Inn of Court (2010–2011)
Speaker, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Dialogues in Freedom (2008–2009)
Senior Production Editor, Loyola International & Comparative Law Review