Robert P. Andris is a partner in the San Francisco office of Gordon & Rees. Mr. Andris' practice focuses on the litigation and trial of intellectual property disputes arising in the areas of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secrets, product liability and license agreements. He holds the Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and was named by Northern California Super Lawyers magazine in the area of Intellectual Property.
Mr. Andris is a Registered Patent Attorney with extensive experience in every aspect of the litigation and trial of patent matters. His clients span a wide array of industries, including the manufacturers of particle detectors, blade servers, toy helicopters, electric motors, computer cooling systems, microchips, end mills, money clips, cryogenic container marking systems and building support systems. He has been lead counsel in infringement and invalidity jury trials and at numerous Markman hearings, and has handled patent suits in all of the district courts in California and in Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.
Mr. Andris' trademark experience includes cases involving domain names, web pages, metatags and claims of infringement through search engine advertising. He was one of the first attorneys in the nation to try a trademark case under the 1999 Federal Anti-Cybersquatting statute to a jury. He recently obtained a judgment that his client's trademark was infringed when it was used by a competitor in the Google Ad Words program. Mr. Andris has resolved disputes involving trade dress in furniture, food packages, exercise equipment and other sporting goods.
Within the area of copyright law, Mr. Andris has resolved infringement claims arising from the background music used in a successful, nationwide television ad campaign for a major rental car agency, an ownership dispute over a series of Angel statuettes, the look and feel of competing educational materials, attribution claims over a series of historical murals, infringement disputes over computer source code, software licensing agreements and dance productions, as well as disputes over importation and distribution rights for DVD's.
Mr. Andris has been quoted on patent, trademark and copyright issues by the San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, San Jose Mercury and Internet News, and has also authored articles on these areas for the National Law Journal, the Intellectual & Technology Law Journal, the Daily Journal and Intellectual Property Today. Mr. Andris has been a speaker for the Intellectual Property Subdivision of the Bar Association of San Francisco and has been a regular guest speaker on intellectual property matters onCNET Radio's Legal InCite Talk Show.
Mr. Andris received his Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences, with Distinction, from San Jose State University and his J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law, where he was a Comment's Editor for the Computer and High Technology Law Journal. He is admitted to practice before all of the courts of the state of California, the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central Districts, the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Texas as well as the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for the Federal Circuit. He has been counsel in more than 70 state and federal appeals and is licensed to practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
