John Vandenberg

About John Vandenberg

Patent litigator, and vegan. For 40 years, Mr. Vandenberg has been litigating patents around the country for technology clients including Microsoft, SAP, Dexcom, Nautilus, ETAP, and Mentor Graphics/Siemens.SUPREME COURT AND COURTS OF APPEALS: Mr. Vandenberg has argued more than a dozen appeals before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He successfully argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc, No. 13-369, for rejection of the Federal Circuit’s “insolubly ambiguous” and “amenable to construction” test for enforcing the Patent Act’s mandate that patent claims “particularly point[] out and distinctly claim[]” the patent’s invention.COURT TRIALS: Mr. Vandenberg has first-chair tried patent infringement suits, and copyright infringement suits, and trademark infringement suits, and product-configuration trade dress suits.PTAB TRIALS: Mr. Vandenberg has been lead counsel in Patent Office trial proceedings.PATENT-LAW TRAINING AND ADVOCACY: Since 2004, Mr. Vandenberg has been the primary editor of an extensive summary of substantive defenses and related strategies in patent infringement suits, posted at He speaks throughout the nation on patent law, district-court patent litigation, PTAB patent trials, and patent appellate practice. He emphasizes untraditional approaches to successfully defending against a patent infringement suit while improving the law and patent system in the process. To the same end, he has authored many Amici briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit on behalf of scores of technology companies and associations. He testified before a U.S. Senate IP Subcommittee on patent-eligibility and Sec. 112(f).PATENT ARBITRATOR: Mr. Vandenberg is available to arbitrate patent disputes.

Experience

1. Senior Counsel

   Klarquist Sparkman, Llp

   Jan 2025 — Present · Portland, OR, US

   District Court, Appellate Court, and PTAB patent litigation

Education

• New York University School of Law

  JD

  1981 — 1983

• Princeton University

  BSE, Mechanical Engineering

  1976 — 1979

Skills

• Intellectual Property
• Patent Litigation
• Litigation
• Trade Secrets
• Patent Portfolio Analysis
• Patents
• Software Patents