Prateek N. Viswanathan

Prateek is a trial lawyer working in intellectual property litigation, particularly on patent matters. Before joining Robins Kaplan, he served for two years as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable C.J. Williams for the Northern District of Iowa, an experience invaluable to his advocacy and legal strategy.

Prateek graduated in 2021 from the University of Illinois College of Law near the top of his class, where he served on the board of multiple law journals, published multiple intellectual property articles, and served as a legal writing teaching assistant and research assistant. As a registered patent agent, he worked on patent prosecution matters both before law school and for the University of Illinois Office of Technology and Management.

Prateek’s technology dispute experiences span multiple technology fields, including agricultural chemistry and devices, computer algorithms, medical devices, wind energy, plenoptic imagery, and artificial Christmas trees. He also holds a bachelor’s in science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

In his spare time, Prateek enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing and listening to music, and exploring the Twin Cities.

Education

• University of Illinois College of Law, summa cum laude (2021); Articles Editor, University of Illinois Law Review (2019-2021); Managing Editor, Illinois Business Law Journal (2018-2020)
• Georgia Institute of Technology, B.S. in Biomedical Engineering (2016)

Representative Matters

Pfizer Inc. v. SpecGx LLC, Case No. 1:24-cv-00927-CFC (D. Del.)
Represented SpecGx LLC in a Hatch-Waxman patent litigation concerning a solid oral dosage form drug, used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis.

Willis Electric Co., Ltd., v. Polygroup Limited et al, 15-cv-3443, U.S.D.C., D. Minnesota
Trial counsel on behalf of Willis Electric in achieving a $42.4 million jury verdict in a patent litigation involving artificial Christmas trees. Our client was the inventor of an innovative technology that simplified assembly of prelit artificial Christmas trees. After an eight-day jury trial against Willis Electric’s largest competitor, we achieved a unanimous verdict in favor of Willis Electric finding the patent willfully infringed and not invalid. The damages award is believed to be the largest award for patent infringement in Minnesota history.

• Rickert Award for Excellence in Academics (2021)
• Order of the Coif (2021)
• H. H. Harris Foundation Scholarship (2021)
• CALI Excellence for the Future Award: Patent Law (2019), Civil Procedure II: Conflicts of Law (2019), International Intellectual Property (2020), Disability Rights Law (2021)
• Diversity Scholarship Foundation Law Student with a Disability Award (2020)

Professional

• Minnesota Disability Bar Association, Chair of Judicial Endorsements Committee
• American Bar Association
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bar Association (DHHBA)
• Chicago Bar Association

Articles

• Note, The Decline and Fall of the United States’ Climate Patent Applications? U.S. Climate Patenting Behavior after the Paris Agreement Withdrawal Agreement Withdrawal Announcement, and a Fast-Track Proposal, 2021 U. Ill. L. Rev. 261 (2021).
• Kept in the Dark: The Risk of Keeping COVID-19 Vaccine Patents Secret in Nationalistic Competition, J. L. Tech. Pol.: Timely Tech (May 2020).
• Note, Reverse Engineering: Reconciling Trade Secret Law with 3D Printing and Scanning, 24 Ill. Bus. L. J. 29 (2018).

Media Mentions

• "Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs," Law.com (January 26, 2024)