Christy Lea

Christy Lea is a partner with Knobbe Martens. Christy resolves high-stakes patent and trade secret disputes at both the trial and appellate levels. She has represented clients in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries for nearly two decades. Christy is also an accomplished PTAB trial litigator having served as lead counsel in numerous IPRs.

Notably, Christy co-led the firm’s trial team that won a $70 million jury verdict with $21 million in enhanced damages for CardiAQ in a trade secrets misappropriation case against its former vendor, Neovasc Inc. The National Law Journal ranked this verdict as #6 for IP and #21 overall for verdicts that year. The court also granted CardiAQ co-founders Arshad Quadri, M.D. and Brent Ratz co-inventorship of the Neovasc transcatheter mitral valve patent. The decision made Edwards Lifesciences, which acquired CardiAQ for $400 million, co-owner of the Neovasc patent. Christy continues to represent Edwards Lifesciences in district court and before the PTAB. In addition, Christy represented and currently represents Smith & Nephew in numerous litigations and PTAB trials, including in the “negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) wars” against KCI/Wake Forest, as well as various orthopedics cases.