F. Leslie Bessenger III

Partner

Les Bessenger focuses his practice on litigation and counseling in pre-litigation and other business situations involving strategic intellectual property. He previously managed Finnegan's office in Tokyo, where he counseled the firm's Japan-based clients regarding their United States intellectual property needs. He is highly involved with clients in the fields of computer network intrusion systems, semiconductor processing and wafer polishing technology, DRAM and flash memory technology, data communication systems, telecommunications including smartphone functionality, and implantable medical devices (e.g., pacemakers, defibrillators).

Mr. Bessenger represents domestic and international clients in patent litigations before U.S. district courts (including E.D. Texas and N.D. California); appellate courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). He has vast experience preparing briefs, working with experts, taking and defending depositions in the U.S., and dealing with the intricacies of taking discovery abroad. He counsels clients regarding strategic patent matters such as infringement, validity, enforcement, and due diligence; and provides written opinions of counsel on complex matters, some of which have been successfully relied upon in litigation against charges of willful infringement. Mr. Bessenger also manages the preparation, filing, and prosecution of patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and has experience with reexamination proceedings.

Mr. Bessenger often lectures on U.S. intellectual property matters before audiences at online and live CLE seminars, as well as at events sponsored by the State Bar of Georgia and Florida Bar. He served as lead course speaker and material editor for an intensive 10-week lecture series in Japan on U.S. patent law and as a lecturer in comparative European/U.S. intellectual property law seminars for Asian audiences.

Highlights

• Lexar Media v. Toshiba Corp. (N.D. Cal., ITC). Defended Toshiba against patent infringement charges relating to flash memory and controller technology in litigation, which resulted in a favorable settlement.
• Advanced Interactive, Inc. v. Matsushita Electric Corporation of America (N.D. Ill., Fed. Cir.). Successfully represented Gateway Computers before a district court to obtain a dismissal after summary judgment, which was upheld on appeal.
• Fuente Cigar Ltd. v. Opus One (11th Cir.). Represented Fuente Cigar in a trademark appeal, which was favorably settled.
• Prepared the online business-related patents highlighted in a 2003 New York Times article (U.S. Patents 6,633,849 and 6,321,211).
• Worked as an electrical engineer for more than seven years in the communications field for E-Systems (now Raytheon), 1985-1988; and test instrumentation field for Hewlett-Packard (now Agilent Technologies), 1988-1992.

Professional Activities

• American Intellectual Property Law Association (Japan Practice Committee)
• American Bar Association
• International Bar Association
• International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property
• Japan America Society of Georgia

Select Publications

• Coauthor. "Intent and the Powerful Defense of Inequitable Conduct in U.S. Patent Litigation," Intellectual Property Supplement to the Fulton County Daily Report, Dec. 1998.
• "Trademark Rights and the Olympics," Georgia Bar Journal, June 1996.
• "Rising Expectations: Experts Survey Atlanta's Pre-Olympic Legal Landscape," Quarterly Report, a supplement to the Fulton County Daily Report, 1996.
• Coauthor. "Running a Perfect BBS: Legal Aspects of Operating a BBS," Que Publications, Dec. 1994.