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Philip P. Mann

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Philip P. Mann is a trial lawyer with over twenty years experience litigating patent, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property matters throughout the country.

Mann's trial work has taken him to various federal and state courts where he's tried both cases to the court (a judge) as well as before juries. In addition to trial court work, Mann has performed appellate work before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Mann began his legal career in Chicago and Milwaukee before heading to Seattle where some of America's most innovative companies were developing new technologies at breakneck speed. Before founding his own firm, he was a member of the Seattle Intellectual Property Law Firm, Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness.

Mann is an "AV" rated lawyer by Martindale Hubbell, indicative that he has reached the height of professional excellence and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity.

He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois (Urbana) and received his law degree from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri. He is admitted to practice in the States of Illinois and Washington, as well as before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and in various courts around the country.

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Some cynics claim Congress passes copyright laws mostly to protect Mickey Mouse. While that might be overstating things, there’s no question the trend over the past thirty years has been to expand the rights of copyright owners, Disney included.

A recent article in Wired talks about a new legal challenge (Kahle v. Ashcroft) to expansive copyright laws. While I don’t think the challenge will succeed, it does raise interesting questions prompted by changes in the way information is now distributed.
Continue Reading Mickey, Watch Your Back. (Famous Mouse Faces New Legal Threat)

Just when the Federal Circuit starts showing signs of (once again) making sense, they come up with a new decision that leaves me scratching my head. It’s no secret that the Doctrine of Equivalents is on their hit list. Unless I’m mistaken, the next patentee-friendly doctrine to go might be the ancient and honorable rule that “features of the preferred embodiment should not be read into patent claims.”
Continue Reading Group Thinking

I can’t believe it. Maybe I’m wrong (I’ll re-read the case Tuesday). But it sure seems the Court of Appeals has finally let common sense influence one of its decisions. The Court today overruled its prior holding that adverse inferences can be drawn when someone accused of patent infringement invokes his fundamental right NOT to disclose his lawyer’s advice. This is as it should be and the Court now has it right.
Continue Reading Sanity Returns to Court of Appeals

Here at the Mann Law Group, our focus is on helping smaller patent owners take on much larger opponents. I find it helpful, therefore, to keep track of what corporate counsel and management are thinking, particularly with regard to patents and related lawsuits. An article in the September 3, 2004 Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, discusses how larger corporations should react when faced with a charge of patent infringement and provides valuable insight.
Continue Reading Further Views From the Corporate Side

It’s not uncommon for parties in a lawsuit to think the judge is biased, unfair and singling them out for unfair treatment. Usually this happens after the judge rules against them on some procedural issue or otherwise signals he’s unimpressed with the merits of your case. Even experienced lawyers sometime question whether a particular judge has it in for them. Thus, the question often comes up: “Can’t we get ourselves a new judge?” A recent decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Juicy Whip, Inc. v. Orange Bang Inc., (I love these names!) sheds important light on how an appellate court is likely to respond if actually asked to assign a new judge.
Continue Reading “I don’t like this judge, can’t we get another?”

In recent weeks, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports music companies like Warner Bros., Sony Music, BMG Music, Capital Re-cords, Elektra and Motown have “blitzed U.S. courthouses with lawsuits against people they accuse of online piracy. Cases have been filed against 744 users of Kazaa, eDonkey, Limewire, Grokster and other file-sharing platforms.”

The lawsuits now are against individuals who have downloaded music as opposed to the larger players who produce or host the peer-to-peer file-sharing programs. It’s the latter group the music industry has battled for years.
Continue Reading Music companies now sue music ‘downloaders’ for copyright violation

It is with delight I’m announcing the start of my new law firm, The Mann Law Group. I started my own firm because I believed innovators and other start-ups, without the huge financial resources of large corporations, were at an extreme disadvantage in enforcing their intellectual property rights.

Hiring lawyers at high hourly rates made protecting the little guy’s rights impractical. I intend to provide such innovators an alternative.
Continue Reading Firm founded to level playing field for innovators and start-ups