Gerson Panitch Bio

Gerson S. Panitch has over 30 years of experience in patent litigation, strategic planning, licensing, due diligence and portfolio development. He leads the firm’s Strategic IP Planning Group and its Israel practice, working with many of Israel’s leading companies to help them grow valuation through strategic patenting, and to assert and defend patent infringement claims in U.S. courts. Gerson is on the faculty of the Business School at Tel Aviv University, where, for the last three years, he received the school’s Outstanding Lecturer Award for his MBA course on patent strategy. Previously, Gerson taught patent litigation and strategy for five years at the University of Haifa Faculty of Law. Outside of his work representing leading Israeli companies, Gerson represents companies in the United States and Europe as well. In addition to his patent litigation work in U.S. district courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), Gerson handles other contentious IP-related litigation and was recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. for his trade secrets work. In one case, Gerson successfully defended a patent owner from claims of infringement during a $500M+ public transaction, enabling the transaction to proceed on schedule and saving his client over $100M in potential penalties. Although recovery of attorneys’ fees is not the norm in U.S. courts, Gerson has developed successful strategies for defending companies accused of patent infringement, and recovering attorneys fees in the process. Gerson led the defense for a major manufacturer against patent infringement claims in a $150M+ case related to commercial cooling systems. He secured a jury decision that two patents involving heat exchangers and electronic system controls were invalid, and won an award of nearly $1M in attorneys’ fees from the patent owner after persuading the judge that the case was exceptional. As leader of the firm’s Strategic IP Planning Group, Gerson advocates the application of business principles to patenting decisions to help clients align their patent strategies with their business goals, maximizing patent portfolio impact and minimizing resources wasted on patents unlikely to add value. He combines his experience as an in-court patent litigator with his practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to help companies strategically develop patents designed to provide competitive advantage and withstand courtroom attack. Gerson has been recognized by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) for his intellectual property practice.