• Overview
  • Overview
  • Representative Matters
  • Background
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  • Insights

Sangeeta serves as the firm’s Chief Executive Officer and has over 20 years of experience. Her practice includes all aspects of intellectual property litigation, prosecution and counseling, with a special focus on post-grant challenges and patent opinions. She represents several Fortune 500 clients for whom she provides strategic counseling and guidance on their global intellectual property portfolios.

Sangeeta has handled numerous patent, trade secret, trademark, and unfair competition cases involving parties in the chemical, software, automotive and metallurgical industries on such matters as injection molded polyethylene terephthalate bottles, polymer reinforcements, magnetic storage devices, emission testing equipment, touch controlled switching circuits, compression molded doors, chemical vapor deposition processes and cutting tools. She has also litigated design patent and copyright infringement cases in such diverse areas as architectural building designs, automotive parts and consumer products.

Sangeeta does an immaculate job of breaking down complex patent law and technology concepts and relates well with other people. She is highly proficient, responsive and committed. – IAM Patent 1000

In view of the breadth of her experience in both prosecution and litigation matters, Sangeeta is the Co-Chair of Brooks Kushman’s Post Grant practice group and she is nationally recognized for her experience. She leads teams to challenge and defend patents using the post-grant challenges available in the wake of the America Invents Act. She is at the forefront of this changing landscape and its implications and works closely with clients to take proactive steps to obtain competitive advantage from an adversarial and patent procurement standpoint. Sangeeta has been instrumental in building the Post Grant practice group at Brooks Kushman.

She is frequently called upon to counsel clients in developing best practices and strategic planning of their patent portfolios, including writing successful patent applications in complex and novel situations, in anticipation of possible future litigation. She works closely with clients from the earliest stages of their technical development, offering valuable advice about how to protect their inventions and new ideas in view of their business strategies. She advises clients on multi-faceted patent clearance, and adversarial matters and works with technical and legal teams to develop invalidity arguments and design around solutions to bolster her clients’ positions.

Through her opinion and prosecution practice, Sangeeta has extensive experience with chemical and mechanical technologies, in the areas of catalysts, food science, packaging, analytical instrumentation, dietary supplements, diagnostic kits, adhesives, plastics, therapeutics and metallurgy.

A growing component of her work revolves around India. She has represented U.S. companies going into India, and Indian companies doing business in the U.S. to help obtain and protect global intellectual property assets.

Prior to becoming CEO, Sangeeta served as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer. Through her efforts, she created a culture of diversity and inclusiveness within the firm and extend the firm`s reach through pipeline initiatives and outreach efforts. Prior to this position, she also managed human resources for Brooks Kushman for over 10 years.

She has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Women in PTAB Trials in 2019, a 2009 “Women Worth Watching,” a “Top Lawyer” by DBusiness and is a 2012 “Women in the Law” awardee. She has spoken at several business and legal conferences on a variety of intellectual property topics at the IP Leadership Forum, Global IP Convention, the Women Lawyer`s Association of Michigan, State of Bar Michigan, Intellectual Property Division, the Association of Press Photographers, the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin, and TiE.

Sangeeta’s spare time is dedicated to community outreach. In 2012, she founded an early literacy initiative, Retooling Detroit, that assists hundreds of Detroit public school children each year—ensuring that their reading skills improve so that the cycle of illiteracy and poverty can be broken one child at a time. She is also actively involved in the Isha Foundation and its global environmental, education and health initiatives which focus on the use of meditation as a transformative tool for change.

Representative District Court/ITC Matters

Representative District Court/ITC Matters:

In the matter of Certain Automotive Parts (ITC): Trial counsel for Ford Motor Company in a design patent lawsuit directed to vehicle replacement parts. Obtained infringement finding and upheld validity of seven design patents and obtained a General Exclusion Order preventing any infringing parts from entering the United States. Investigation No. 337-TA-557

North American Container v. Plastipak Packaging Inc. et al. (Summary Judgment – N.D. Texas and Federal Circuit): Represented Plastipak Packaging in a suit involving blow molded plastic containers and 37 defendants, spanning the full supply chain from manufacturers to retailers. Successfully led the multi-party defense team, resulting in a summary judgment of non-infringement and invalidity ruling in district court, which was affirmed by the Federal Circuit. Case No. 2:00-cv-01738

Kennametal v. Cerametal s.a.r.l. and International WaterJet Parts, Inc. (Settlement – E.D. Michigan): Represented Kennametal in patent infringement matter involving cutting tool technology, resulting in successful settlement. Case No. 2:09-cv-00857

Horiba, Inc. v. AVL North America. (Settlement – C.D. California): Represented Horiba in patent infringement matter involving analytical equipment for emissions testing, resulting in successful settlement following Markman claim construction and summary judgment ruling. Case No. 8:03-cv-00592

Quantum Corp v. Storage Technology Corp. (Settlement – N.D. California): Represented Storage Technology in patent infringement matter involving computer data storage, resulting in successful settlement following Markman claim construction ruling. Case No. 3:03-cv-01588

Representative Post-Grant Matters:

Ford Motor Company v. Paice, LLC & Abell Foundation, Inc. (PTAB): Successfully represented Ford Motor Company as lead counsel before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in a set of IPR petitions that were part of 25 inter partes review (IPR) proceedings related to hybrid technology. In total, the Brooks Kushman team challenged 325 claims across five patents; 274 of those claims were instituted. In decisions spanning from 2015-2017, the PTAB found 273 of the 274 instituted claims unpatentable. Brooks Kushman also represented Ford in follow-on litigation before the International Trade Commission, resulting in a favorable settlement.

JTEKT Corp. v. GKN Automotive Ltd (PTAB): Successfully defended patent owner GKN Automotive Ltd as lead counsel in an inter partes review proceeding filed by JTEKT, challenging claims in a patent related to drivelines switchable between a four-wheel mode and a two-wheel mode. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board found JTEKT failed to prove the obviousness of the claims and ruled the claims patentable. The Federal Circuit agreed and dismissed the appeal in a precedential opinion on standing. Case No. IPR2016-00046

Google LLC et al v. Seven Networks, LLC (PTAB): Successfully defended patent owner Seven Networks as lead counsel in three inter partes review proceedings related to a telecom patent for optimizing battery life, resulting in 100% of the inter partes review challenges being denied at the institution stage and leading to a favorable settlement on the heels of the institution decision. Case No. IPR2018-01102, IPR2018-01113, IPR2018-01114

Ex parte reexamination of Reexamination Control (CRU): Following the final written decision in IPR2015-01444 (affirmed by the Federal Circuit) holding all claims unpatentable, Sangeeta was retained to revive IXI’s enforcement strategy by filing a patent owner-initiated reexamination. Ultimately Brooks Kushman was able to secure 67 new, IPR-proof claims through the reexamination process. After the success of the first reexamination, two additional reexaminations were filed, securing over 100+ new claims for three different, asserted patents. No. 90013925, Ex. 1032,3 of U.S. Patent No. 7,039,033 (the ‘033 patent)

Apple, Inc v. IXI, LLC (PTAB): Successfully thwarted Apple’s attempt to seek trial on six IPR petitions that were time barred under 35 U.S.C. § 315(b), establishing that there was no basis for joinder and/or consolidation and further that a reexamination certificate does not create a new “patent” or affect the § 315(b)-time bar. Case No. IPR2019-00124, IPR2019-00125, IPR2019-00139, IPR2019-00140, IPR2019-00141, IPR2019-00181.

Education

J.D., Wayne State University

B.A., Chemistry and Economics, Kalamazoo College, cum laude

Organizations & Affiliations

American Bar Association

American Chemical Society

American Intellectual Property Law Association

ChIPs (“Chiefs in Intellectual Property”) – Chicago Regional Chapter Founding Organizer

Intellectual Property Owner’s (IPO) Association – U.S. Post-Grant Patent Office Practice Committee

Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD)

Michigan Intellectual Property Law Association (MIPLA)

Michigan Patent Law Association

Michigan State Bar Foundation Fellow’s Program

State Bar of Michigan

Women Lawyers Association of Michigan

Federal Bar Association Eastern District of Michigan Chapter

Recognitions

“Individual Innovation Champion,” Michigan Lawyers Weekly, 2026

“The Best Lawyers in America,” Best Lawyers, 2018-2021, 2026-2027

“Hall of Fame,” Michigan Lawyers Weekly, 2026

“IP Star,” Managing Intellectual Property, 2013-2026

“IAM Patent 1000 – Highly Recommended,” Intellectual Asset Management, 2014-2026

“IAM Strategy 300,”Intellectual Asset Management, 2021-2026

“Leading Lawyer,” Leading Lawyer Magazine, 2025

“Top 50 Women in PTAB Trials,” PTAB Bar Association, 2019, 2021, 2025

“Foundation Fellow,” Oakland County Bar Association (OCBA), 2021

“Notable Women Lawyer in Michigan,” Crain’s Detroit Business, 2017,2021

“ChIPs Honor Roll,” ChIPs (“Chiefs in Intellectual Property”), October 2018

“Woman to Watch,” AIPLA Women in IP Law, 2016

“Top Lawyer,” DBusiness Magazine, 2013

“Women of the Law,” Michigan Lawyers Weekly, 2012

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Sangeeta does an immaculate job of breaking down complex patent law and technology concepts and relates well with other people. She is highly proficient, responsive and committed. – IAM Patent 1000

Practice Areas

Industries