Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear is proud to announce that Joseph Cianfrani, Don Martens, Joseph Re and John Sganga, all from the firm’s Orange County office, were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2009 in the field of intellectual property.

Best Lawyers is the oldest peer-review publication in the legal profession. Best Lawyers compiles an annual list of outstanding attorneys by conducting extensive peer-review surveys in which thousands of lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current edition of The Best Lawyers is based on more than two million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

Joseph Cianfrani, a litigation partner, represents various clients in all types of intellectual-property disputes, including those involving patents, trademarks, trade-secrets and copyrights. He is a member of several professional groups and currently serves on the board of the American Intellectual Property Association. Additionally, he has written and spoken extensively on patent law and appellate practice before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Don Martens, a founding partner of the firm, focuses his practice on arbitration. He retired from the partnership in 2004, and is now of counsel to the firm. Martens was named as one of “The Top 10 Patent Lawyers in the World” by PLC Global Counsel Magazine. He is also a member of the mediation and arbitration panels of the American Arbitration Association and the CPR Institute.

Joseph Re, a litigation partner, represents clients in various industries in all types of intellectual property disputes. Named one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal, Mr. Re’s practice is primarily handling high-stake patent cases at both the appellate and trial levels. Re currently serves as President of the Federal Circuit Bar Association and as a member of the Federal Circuit’s Advisory Council.

John Sganga, partner, focuses his practice on the litigation of patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark disputes. His litigation experience in different industries and in various forums enables him to develop litigation strategies that are uniquely suited to each case. He has served in leadership positions in a variety of bar associations within Orange County. Sganga has published and lectured extensively on intellectual property litigation issues, and is also a co-author of the treatise entitled Pre-Litigation Patent Enforcement, published by Thomson West.