Meet Your Team

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Kent J. Tobin

Of Counsel, Patents

| Silicon Valley
TELEPHONE
(650) 759-6959

Mr. Tobin‘s practice involves traditional patent prosecution for large- and medium-sized companies, in a wide array of technologies including semiconductor fabrication, semiconductor devices, solar technology, computer architecture, microfluidic devices, magnetic disk drive technology, and many others.

Mr. Tobin also has extensive experience in conducting non-traditional patent prosecution for start-up companies, including the preparation of lengthy parent applications and the generation of large and complex families of patents therefrom.

Mr. Tobin also has significant experience conducting post-grant prosecution, and in particular obtaining broadening reissuance. Mr. Tobin served as a deponent in successfully defending a number of reissued patents that were challenged in litigation.

Previously, Mr. Tobin was a partner in the Electrical Practice Group at Townsend and Townsend and Crew L.L.P. Before focusing his practice on patent prosecution, Mr. Tobin worked for several years as an intellectual property litigation associate.

Prior to entering the legal profession, Mr. Tobin was an organic chemist with Telios Pharmaceuticals of La Jolla, where his duties included synthesis of unnatural amino acids for incorporation into peptide analogues.

EDUCATION

Hastings College of the Law, J.D.

University of California at San Diego
B.A. Chemistry

ADMISSIONS

State Bar of California

United States Patent & Trademark Office

Kent J. Tobin

Of Counsel, Patents

| Silicon Valley
TELEPHONE
(650) 759-6959

Mr. Tobin‘s practice involves traditional patent prosecution for large- and medium-sized companies, in a wide array of technologies including semiconductor fabrication, semiconductor devices, solar technology, computer architecture, microfluidic devices, magnetic disk drive technology, and many others.

Mr. Tobin also has extensive experience in conducting non-traditional patent prosecution for start-up companies, including the preparation of lengthy parent applications and the generation of large and complex families of patents therefrom.

Mr. Tobin also has significant experience conducting post-grant prosecution, and in particular obtaining broadening reissuance. Mr. Tobin served as a deponent in successfully defending a number of reissued patents that were challenged in litigation.

Previously, Mr. Tobin was a partner in the Electrical Practice Group at Townsend and Townsend and Crew L.L.P. Before focusing his practice on patent prosecution, Mr. Tobin worked for several years as an intellectual property litigation associate.

Prior to entering the legal profession, Mr. Tobin was an organic chemist with Telios Pharmaceuticals of La Jolla, where his duties included synthesis of unnatural amino acids for incorporation into peptide analogues.

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Fintech

Ensenta, Inc. (acquired by Private Equity fund)

After linking Ensenta’s core technology innovations to its target market space, Fountainhead successfully navigated Ensenta’s patents through the Patent Office to protect their innovations and markets. Over the years, Fountainhead worked with Ensenta to successfully fend off IP attacks from competitors. These efforts culminated in a successful exit when the company was sold to a private equity firm.

Microelectronics

Power Analog Microelectronics (acquired by Diodes Inc.)

Power Analog Microelectronics (PAM) was a multinational analog and mixed signal startup. Fountainhead’s expertise in analog, mixed signal, and global IP strategy helped PAM to build a comprehensive IP program to support their global marketing efforts, leading to a successful acquisition by Diodes Inc.

Microelectronics

Summit Microelectronics (acquired by Qualcomm Inc.)

Summit’s battery charging technology changed the world. When Summit invented a charging algorithm that reduced battery charge time by orders of magnitude (“TurboCharge”), they turned to Fountainhead to protect these vital IP assets. Knowing that companies around the world would stop at nothing to “design around” Summit’s innovations, Fountainhead worked with Summit engineers to craft numerous claim strategies to make their IP as impregnable as possible. Summit was later sold to Qualcomm for hundreds of millions of dollars based in large part on their IP portfolio, portions of which was later asserted against Apple.

Software

SAP is a global leader in business process software. Since the seminal Supreme Court case of Alice Corp. v CLS Bank, which significantly raised the bar for patenting business process software patents, protecting these key IP assets has been no easy task. For almost two decades, Fountainhead Law has worked with SAP to lead the field in patenting business process software patents, having successfully obtained hundreds of valid and granted patents for SAP and other clients in this nuanced and challenging technology space.

Wireless

When wireless titan Qualcomm launched its seminal patent lawsuit against Apple, from over 200,000 patents in their arsenal, they selected just 12 patents deemed capable of withstanding the rigors of Apple’s rigorous patent defenses. Fountainhead Law proudly prosecuted two (2) of the selected 12 Qualcomm patents, contributing to Qualcomm’s favorable settlement with Apple of this epic patent battle.

Software Systems​

When Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, set out to transform Microsoft’s strategic vision, the legal team turned to Fountainhead’s broad range of expertise in software, hardware, AI, and other technologies to protect the new technology areas that Microsoft was venturing into. Fountainhead has helped Microsoft preserve the wealth of innovations along their technology roadmaps from software to AI and spanning both the analog and digital semiconductor worlds.