Audrey is a shareholder in the Firm’s Intellectual Property and Litigation practice groups.
She is a litigator and a registered patent attorney.
Audrey has over 30 years of experience as a Business Litigator. She has concentrated in Intellectual Property Litigation, including patent, trademark, trade dress, copyright, and trade secret matters. She has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of courts, including the E.D. California, N.D. California, C.D. California, N.D. Illinois, and District of Massachusetts. Audrey has also represented clients in proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board under the America Invents Act and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
Audrey also has extensive experience litigating and advising clients in the areas of antitrust (Sherman Act, Robinson-Patman Act, Cartwright Act) and unfair competition (Lanham Act, Unfair Competition Law, Unfair Practices Act) in both federal and state courts. She has handled cases involving monopolization, price discrimination, tying, price-fixing, below-cost pricing, secret rebates, and locality price discrimination.
Audrey’s clients have included firms that produce chemicals, medical devices, health and nutraceutical products, software, insurance products, and continuing education products.
Audrey advises clients on all issues of Intellectual Property law, including ownership, infringement, invalidity, and patentability. She has also written and obtained the US and foreign patents for chemical compositions, biologically active compounds, methods of detecting disease at the cellular and molecular levels, screening methods for cancer cells, medical devices, biotechnology, computer software, business methods, and mechanical devices.
Before joining Weintraub Tobin in 1990, Audrey practiced for four years in Los Angeles, focusing on litigation involving business and entertainment. In 1989, in a high-profile paternity case in Los Angeles, Audrey obtained the first court order, in any California criminal or civil case, admitting evidence of DNA “fingerprinting.”
Audrey’s undergraduate and graduate degrees focused on cell and developmental biology and included extensive coursework in biochemistry and genetics. During and after graduate school, Audrey worked in the area of recombinant DNA technology.
State Bar of California, Anti-Trust and Unfair Competition, Intellectual Property Law and Litigation Sections
Member
Sacramento County Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section
Member
Meritas, Sacramento
Member
Awards
AV® Preeminent™ Rating, Martindale-Hubbell®
Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List, 2015 – Antitrust
Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List, 2015-2022 – Intellectual Property, Litigation Intellectual Property
Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List, 2017- Litigation-Patents
Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List, 2019 – Trade Secrets
Sacramento Business Journal’s Best of the Bar, 2014, 2016 & 2018-2019
Northern California Super Lawyer, 2004, 2007-2021
J.D., University of California, Davis, 1986
M.S., Oregon State University, 1982
B.S., summa cum laude, Oregon State University, 1978
Summary of Program Join attorneys from Weintraub Tobin’s Intellectual Property Group (Jo Dale Carothers and Audrey Millemann) for this 1 hour MCLE program. Program Highlights Overview of Cloud Computing and Cloud StorageWho owns the information in the Cloud?How are Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Trade Secrets affected by the Cloud?How private…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that 28 of its attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the Top Lawyers 2022 list from Sacramento Magazine. Ten of the listed Weintraub attorneys are recognized in multiple practice areas. The Top Lawyers list, featured each year by Sacramento Magazine, recognizes prominent attorneys in the…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that 37 of its attorneys have been recognized on the 2022 Northern California Super Lawyers® and Rising Star lists. Several Weintraub attorneys also received special recognition on Super Lawyers “Top” lists, including six attorneys named to the Sacramento Top 25 Super Lawyers (Gary L.…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that 26 of its attorneys have been recognized as 2021 Top Lawyers by Sacramento Magazine, including 8 attorneys recognized in multiple practices. Voting for Top Lawyers was managed by Professional Research Services and was open to all licensed attorneys in Sacramento. Voters were asked…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that 38 of its attorneys have been included on the 2021 Super Lawyers and Rising Star lists for outstanding attorneys in Northern California. In addition, 4 Weintraub Tobin attorneys received special recognition on Northern California and Sacramento “Top” lists. Weintraub attorneys represent 16 percent…
Sacramento, CA – Weintraub is pleased to announce that 21 Firm attorneys have been recognized as 2020 Top Lawyers by Sacramento Magazine. The full list of 2020 Top Lawyers will be featured in the August, 2020 issue of Sacramento Magazine. Weintraub attorneys honored as 2020 Top Lawyers are: Brendan Begley…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that 33 Weintraub Tobin attorneys have been included on the 2020 Super Lawyers and Rising Star lists for outstanding attorneys in Northern California. In addition, 5 Weintraub Tobin attorneys received special recognition on Northern California and Sacramento “Top” lists. Weintraub attorneys represent 20 percent of…
SACRAMENTO, California – Weintraub Tobin congratulates its 14 attorneys who have been included in Sacramento Business Journal’s Best of the Bar 2019. Attorneys selected to the 2019 Best of the Bar list include Gary L. Bradus, Kay U. Brooks ,Dale C. Campbell, Christopher Chediak, Janet Z. Chediak, Jim Clarke,Edward J.…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that more than 30 Weintraub Tobin attorneys have been included on the 2019 Super Lawyers and Rising Star lists for outstanding attorneys Northern California. In addition, 6 Weintraub Tobin attorneys received special recognition on Northern California and Sacramento “Top” lists. Attorneys selected to the…
Weintraub is pleased to announce that 24 of the firm’s attorneys have been recognized as 2019 Top Lawyers by Sacramento Magazine. The full list of 2019 Top Lawyers will be featured in the August, 2019 issue of Sacramento Magazine. Weintraub Tobin attorneys honored as 2019 Top Lawyers are: David Adams |…
SACRAMENTO, California – August 24, 2018 – Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin Law Corporation congratulates its seventeen attorneys who have been included in Sacramento Business Journal’s Best of the Bar 2018. Brendan J. BegleyGary L. BradusKay U. BrooksDale C. CampbellChristopher ChediakJanet Z. ChediakJim ClarkeEdward J. Corey, Jr.Kelly E. DankbarMark E.…
SACRAMENTO, California – July 19, 2018 – Weintraub Tobin Law Corporation congratulates its 24 attorneys who have been included in Sacramento Magazine’s 2018 Top Lawyer List. David Adams | Business/Corporate, Securities & Corporate FinanceBrendan Begley | AppellateGary L. Bradus | Banking & Financial Service, Business/Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions, Securities &…
Super Lawyers has released its Northern California, Southern California and San Diego lists of outstanding attorneys for 2018, on which 37 Weintraub Tobin attorneys have been included. Five Weintraub Tobin attorneys received special recognition as a Top 25 Sacramento Super Lawyer. Weintraub Tobin attorneys named to the 2018 Southern California…
SACRAMENTO, CA (August 7, 2017) – Weintraub Tobin, a leading California full-service law firm, is pleased to announce that 21 Weintraub Tobin attorneys are Martindale-Hubbell rated. Out of the 21 attorneys, 19 have received the AV Preeminent® Rating by Martindale-Hubbell®, while three attorneys have been given the Distinguished rating. AV…
In the last few years, the U.S. Copyright Office refused to allow a copyright registration for a work of art created by a machine, and a federal district court held that an artificial intelligence system could not be an inventor on a patent. However, before we decide whether an AI…
On Monday this week, the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that the PTO would be revisiting the test for patent subject matter eligibility. The announcement was made on the blog homepage of PTO Director Kathi Vidal. A patent protects an invention. To be patentable, an invention…
A design patent protects a new, original, ornamental design for an article of manufacture. 35 USC section 171. “Ornamental” means that the design is purely decorative; the patentability is based on its visual aspects. Those aspects are the shape or configuration of an article (like the shape of a bottle…
Not everything is patentable. First, only inventions are patentable. Second, only certain inventions are patentable. Four types of inventions are patentable: articles of manufacture, machines, processes, and compositions of matter. 35 U.S.C. §101. These four types of inventions are referred to as patent-eligible subject matter. Some things, referred to as…
The United States Copyright Office has refused to register a copyright for a work of art created by a machine. The work of art is a two-dimensional picture that is mostly dark and sort of looks like a painting. It is a view looking towards a series of two archways…
Business owners often ask whether they should protect their intellectual property with a trade secret or a patent. The answer is: It depends. What Can Be Protected? The first thing to consider is what it is that needs to be protected. A trade secret protects a business’s confidential and proprietary…
In Mobility Workx, LLC v. Unified Patents, LLC, (Fed. Cir. 2021), the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals addressed challenges to the constitutionality of the structure of the Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Mobility owned a patent for a wireless communication system. Mobility sued T-Mobile and Verizon…
There are many requirements for obtaining a patent. One of those is the written description requirement. Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §112(a), the patent must describe the invention in writing. If the written description requirement is not met, the patent won’t be granted. If the patent has already been issued, it…
How many of the lawyers out there liked hypotheticals in law school? I did not, but this case prompted me to write one! So, for those of you who enjoy hypotheticals, here it is: Company A, a North Carolina LLC, owns four patents. A new company is formed, Company B,…
Patents protect inventions. However, patents protect only certain inventions. In order to be patentable, an invention must fall within one of four categories of patent-eligible subject matter: articles of manufacture, machines, processes, and compositions of matter. 35 U.S.C. §101. There are some things that are not patentable (i.e. are patent-ineligible…
Quick answer: no! The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals recently tangled with a patent application for an invention that did not have scientific support. The court affirmed a decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board rejecting a patent application on these grounds. While this is not a common occurrence,…
The validity of a United States patent can be challenged in federal court litigation. Patents can also be challenged in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which, in most cases, is a quicker and less costly process. The PTO provides three procedures by which a patent can be challenged: inter…
Is it possible to legally protect an idea? The answer is: not really. Intellectual property is intangible personal property. There are four types of intellectual property that are protected by law: patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. A separate set of laws governs each one. Although ideas may be intangible…
