Overview

Barbara’s practice focuses on intellectual property disputes, with an emphasis on patent and copyright litigation.

Barbara represents clients in a wide variety of industries, including medical and mechanical device manufacturers, software companies, retailers, and food and waste processors. Barbara’s experience enforcing and defending her clients’ intellectual property includes litigating in federal trial and appellate courts across the country, including in Delaware, Minnesota, Illinois, California, Massachusetts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as well as in proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Barbara assists clients in navigating all stages of intellectual property matters, from pre-suit evaluations and negotiations through discovery, dispositive motions, mediations and settlements, and trial. She is deeply committed to helping clients meet their goals and utilizes her written and oral advocacy skills to help clients achieve successful outcomes, drawing on her experience as a judicial clerk throughout. Barbara also maintains an active pro bono practice, currently assisting clients with asylum and anti-counterfeiting matters.

Prior to joining Fredrikson, Barbara worked as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea of the Minnesota Supreme Court and as a judicial extern to the Honorable Patrick J. Schiltz in the U.S. District of Minnesota.

Services

Experience

Patent Litigation

  • Trial team member in two matters representing clients pursuing and defending against correction of patent inventorship claims in the District of Delaware in the food processing and waste processing industries.
  • Member of a team representing a leading medical device manufacturer in patent litigation in the Northern District of Illinois and inter partes review proceedings before the PTAB.
  • Part of a team defending the world’s leading medical products provider in a patent infringement lawsuit in the District of Minnesota.
  • Succeeded in obtaining a voluntary dismissal from a non-practicing entity without needing to enter an appearance in a patent infringement suit brought in the Eastern District of Texas against Luminator Technology Group.
  • Member of a team that represented three major national retailers in patent suits in the District of Minnesota and resolved each case prior to discovery.
  • Member of a team that successfully defended a patent litigation in the District of Delaware for a leading food producer, including through appeal to the Federal Circuit and a parallel inter partes review proceeding before the PTAB.
  • Trial team member in a case involving the assertion of multiple patents in the District of Minnesota.

Copyright, Anti-Counterfeiting & Trademark Litigation

  • Led a software copyright infringement defense in the District of Minnesota and successfully obtained a dismissal without needing to answer the complaint.
  • Sued a competitor in the Southern District of Florida for copyright infringement and breach of contract. The lawsuit resolved with a favorable settlement for the client.
  • Member of a team that represented the Prince Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson in litigation concerning the late star’s intellectual property assets. In one case, Barbara argued a default judgment motion in the District of Minnesota against a music bootlegger, obtaining a $7 million award based on willful copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting.
  • Obtained summary judgment, a permanent injunction, and an award of attorneys’ fees and costs against a copyright infringer in the District of Massachusetts.
  • Won default judgment in the District of Rhode Island against a copyright infringer.
  • Member of a trademark litigation team that obtained injunctive relief for a national beverage company in the Southern District of New York.

Pro Bono

  • Representing an English-speaking Cameroonian seeking asylum to avoid violent discrimination from the government. Successfully obtained asylum for a similarly-situated client.
  • Advising a trademark owner in defending her rights against counterfeiters.
  • Briefed and argued a successful motion to dismiss on behalf of a Federal Pro Se Project client in the District of Minnesota.

Credentials

Education

  • University of Minnesota Law School, J.D., 2016, magna cum laude
  • Carleton College, B.A., Economics, 2013, magna cum laude

Admissions

  • Minnesota, 2016
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, 2017
  • U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2019
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2019
  • U.S. Supreme Court, 2023

Clerkships

  • Judicial Clerk, Honorable Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea, Minnesota Supreme Court, 2016-2017
  • Judicial Extern, Honorable Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, U.S. District Court of Minnesota, 2016

Languages

Recognition

  • Minnesota Super Lawyers Rising Star, Intellectual Property Litigation, 2023
  • North Star Lawyer, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2019-2021
  • Order of the Coif
  • Dorothy O. Lareau Writing Award

Civic & Professional

Professional Activities

  • The Honorable Jimmie V. Reyna Intellectual Property American Inn of Court, Section Co-Lead
  • Federal Circuit Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association, Minnesota Chapter
  • Minnesota Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Minnesota Law Review; Lead Managing Editor, 2015-2016; Member, 2014-2015

Community

  • The Advocates for Human Rights, Volunteer Attorney
  • Law Clerk, Asylum Law Project, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, El Paso, Texas, 2014

News & Insights

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