Alpine Engineering & Design, Inc. has 6 consulting mechanical engineers. We have a total of nearly 100 years of experience designing mechanical equipment. We have been retained on over 600 lawsuits, both intellectual property along with product liability. Our engineers have over 80 U.S. patents on products we have designed. 

We have testified regarding patent IPRs, patent infringement/non-infringement, and patent validity/invalidity, product liability, mechanical design, human factors, industrial safety, accident reconstruction, failure analysis, DOT compliance, compliance with OSHA and other standards (i.e. ANSI, ISO ASTM, etc), hydraulic systems. With all of our experience, you will find us a joy to work with.

Our services include a testing and prototype lab, model shop, computer graphics and animations, the ability to create full-size prototypes.   There is nothing better than a good model or animation to get our points across.  Often we come up with arguments that were not previously considered. We give honest, understandable opinions with the underpinning required to help attorneys, judges, and jurors make good decisions.

Expert Witness Services Professional Expert Reports Testing Forensic/Failure Analysis Accident Reconstruction Demonstratives Inspections/Measurements Compliance with Standards Expert Testimony Patent & Patent Related Issues Patent Searches Provisional Patent Complete with Illustrations Patent Infringement Review

Product Development Innovative Concept Multi-Industry Experience Powerful Design Tools Full Service Fabricating Materials Design Analysis Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Electrical Structural Integrity Tests Value Analysis

 Fred P. Smith, PE, CSP,

I have been retained over 500 times as an expert in intellectual property, and product liability cases where I have testified regarding claim construction, infringement, invalidity, breach of warranty, negligent misrepresentation.  Testified in court over 40 times in multiple state courts, Federal Court, before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the International Trade Commission (ITC).  I have over 70 patents on such products with a number of patent applications still pending. Received the Utah Genius Award for being one of Utah’s top inventors.

Directed the development and improvement of a wide variety of products including trucking equipment, refuse equipment, hydraulically operated mobile equipment, cranes, manlifts, specialty axles and suspensions, zip lines, amusement rides, exercise equipment, radiofrequency and magnetically shielded enclosures, rotomolded containers, aerial lifts and a variety of consumer products.

FORENSIC EXPERT WITNESS - PHOTOGRAPHY

Professor Jeff Sedlik has decades of experience at the highest level of professional photography including advertising, corporate, editorial and stock. He is a respected and acknowledged authority on photography having served as Past National President of professional photography's leading trade organization,  "Advertising Photographers of America". Professor Sedlik is also an experienced Expert Witness. 

Areas of Expertise:

Contracts Copyright Licensing Publicity Rights Model Releases

Lost/Damaged Film Stock Photography Business Practices Forensic Scene Recreation Forensic Image Analysis

Gabriele Goldaper has over 45 years experience in the Fashion, Garment, Textile Industry, as a retailer, manufacturer, consultant, and college instructor. Ms. Goldaper is a perceptive and articulate Expert Witness who has been involved in more than150+ Apparel Industry Legal Disputes. She has been deposed and testified in bench and jury trials and arbitrations, for both defendants and plaintiffs.

Ms. Goldaper has owned her own clothing manufacturing company and has held key executive positions in major public and private companies in Southern California. She has been a Management Consultant to over 200 new, failing or growing apparel companies, and completed assignments for USAID in Romania, Egypt, El Salvador, Moscow, Thailand and Bulgaria as an apparel expert.

Ms. Goldaper is a 30-year member of the faculty at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Areas of Expertise Include:

• Copyright Infringement and Trademark Cases
• Opinions on Originality and Substantial Similarity
• Fabric/Print Design, and Origin Issues
• Garment Construction and Design issues
• Customs, Practices and Operations of Clothing Business
• Financial Conditions, Valuations and Financial Matters
• Issues with Manufacturing Contractors/Factories: Domestic and Off-Shore
• Wholesale Distribution to Retailers and Internet Sales
• Quality Standards/Specifications used in Production of Garments

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Karl R. Leinsing, MSME, PE, President of ATech Designs, Inc., is a Professional Mechanical Engineer who specializes in Medical Device Product Development from concept to production. Mr. Leinsing has been granted over 34 patents (needle free IV valves, laparoscopic devices, needlescopic devices, suture lockers, catheters, mitral valve repair devices, knitting machines) and excels in solving the most complicated problems and design challenges. His company has a fully equipped medical lab with calibrated measurement and test equipment and all is fully documented with high quality reports with pictures and video to provide credible results and easy to understand compelling data.

The winner of five design awards, Mr. Leinsing is recognized as one of the top 100 medical device professionals in the nation by MD&DI. For dedication to his industry, he was made the 2014 Chairman of the Medical Device and Manufacturing Conference in Anaheim, CA. Mr. Leinsing has also been acknowledged for his work in a publication by Life Magazine. Mr. Leinsing offers litigation support services to the legal community. He has extensive experience with Patent and Product Liability cases including report writing, depositions, and testimony.

Areas of Expertise:

Intravenous (IV) Systems & Disposables Hernia Repair Endometrial Ablation Laparoscopic Instruments Injection Ports Catheters Heart Valve Repair / Replacement Subcutaneous Ports

Bed Rails Cervical Screws Syringes, pen injectors, auto-injectors IV / Insulin Pumps Glucose Monitors Peritoneal Dialysis Pumps Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Repair Sleep Apnea Devices (CPAP)

View Karl Leinsing's Consulting Profile.

Michael Nranian, JD, MBA, MS has over 30 years experience focusing in Product Development, Intellectual Property, Patent Litigation, Legal and Technical Compliance, and Product Liability Litigation. He is a licensed attorney in Michigan, Texas, & the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Nranian is a Six Sigma Black Belt, Professional Engineer, & Certified Project Management Professional. He has an in-depth background and education in Law, IP, Electrical, Chemical & Computer Engineering, & Business. He has testified extensively as an expert witness in depositions, hearings, and trials in state & federal courts.

Mr. Nranian conducts Product and Technology Analysis, Patentability & Prior Art Research,and provides Technology & Litigation Support for Intellectual Property. His litigation background includes patent infringement / non-infringement under literal infringement and the doctrine of equivalents, patent validity / invalidity, prior art, & file-wrapper estoppel, for both ITC and Federal cases, including Inter Partes reviews. He conducts analysis of patents and products, prepares claim charts, & expert witness reports. This includes testimony and document preparation for cases before state, and federal court jurisdictions, and the International Trade Commission and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Mr. Nranian is thoroughly familiar with all 101, 102, 103, 112, and other enablement and prior art arguments. His experience includes Technology Standards Boards and Licensing Authorities, Antitrust / DOJ, Technology Development and Transfer, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, and Copyrights, Licensing, Unfair Competition/Trade, False/Deceptive Advertising, & Lanham Act Actions, & Class Actions.

His Product Liability Expert Witness litigation background includes all types of Safety Systems, Electrical Systems, Fires, Accident Reconstruction, and Evaluation of Alternative Designs for Automotive, Medical and other industries. He has over 29 years of experience in Automotive Safety Systems, Sensors, Seatbelts, Airbags / Curtains, Seats, Diagnostic Systems, Crash Recorders, Crash Pulse Analysis, System Diagnostic, Fault Codes, Structure (including roof-crush and door) and front, side & roll-over systems (including sensing and algorithm development) for domestic and international corporations. He is thoroughly familiar with all regulatory (including FMVSS), and corporate due-care requirements, & preemption arguments, occupant kinematics, & injury causation.

John Peck has over 25 years of experience as a Software and Hardware Engineer, with over 7 years of experience as a technical analyst for hardware and software Intellectual Property matters. Through his experience as an inventor, he has been granted 10 United States patents.  Background Experience: Mr. Peck's prior hardware engineering experience includes system architecture, digital design, design verification, design methodology automation, FPGAs, ASICs, and complex SoCs using in IoT applications such as smart power meters. He also has a solid background in software engineering, including video game development, firmware, EDA tools, and system validation environments.

Litigation Support: Mr. Peck has drafted numerous claim charts and prepared expert reports for software copyright, trade secret, and patent litigation. Representing attorneys for plaintiff and defendant, he is comfortable researching and expressing complex technical issues.

Ideal clients are attorneys who need to understand how complex systems operate on the basis of produced source code. Mr. Peck is able to rapidly understand complex technical systems, identify gaps in source code productions, and explain their operation in a way that most people can understand. His work products are highly detailed in their description of system operation, source code references, and claim mapping.

To date, Mr. Peck has consulted on a total of 19 cases.

• Consultant and analyst for multiple ITC 337 investigations
• Software source code analysis for litigation including alleged copyright violation and trade secret theft
• Hardware HDL/RTL source code and schematic analysis for litigation matters including patent infringement
• Patent evidence of use
• Reverse engineering of software on mobile, desktop, and server platforms
• Performed software and hardware IP analysis and composed expert reports regarding patents, trade secrets, and copyright matters
• Ran CodeSuite® and analyzed software source code correlations
• Reviewed client portfolio patents to determine likelihood of infringing use based on publicly available information
• Developed source code comparison and analysis tools

Education: 

• MS, Computer Science,  University of California, Los Angeles
• BS, Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University

Please visit  John Peck's LinkedIn Profile for more detail.

View Bay2Sierra Silicon Services, Inc.'s Consulting Profile.

Rob Wallace has unique expertise in Trademark, Trade Dress, Copyright, Brand Identity and Package Design Infringement. For 35+ years, Rob ran one of the nation's top Brand Identity Strategy and Package Design Resources providing global branding expertise to Fortune 500 companies in virtually all CPG categories. His clients include P&G, Nestle, Pepsico, Unilever, Kraft, Colgate, The Home Depot, Brown-Foreman, Novartis, J&J and more than 50 market leading companies. Manhattan-based, Rob has been an expert witness for important litigation involving:

• Likelihood of Consumer Confusion
• Secondary Meaning
• Brand Valuation & Dilution
• Package Graphic/Structural Design
• Product Design
• Branding Industry Best Practices
• False/ Deceptive Advertising
• Corrective Advertising
• and all brand related issues.

Rob has commissioned literally hundreds of consumer surveys and is uniquely qualified to determine the results of all research. He has worked for attorneys on both the plaintiff and defense sides of his cases. He is effective and efficient with the average project report requiring between 10 and 12 hours.

Peter A. Crosby has over 35 years experience in the Medical Devices Industry. He has been the CEO of six medical device companies (public and private) in four countries, and has been a member of the board (including chairman of the board) of over 10 companies.

Mr. Crosby is an accomplished entrepreneur and company builder, and has brought many medical device products to the world market. In 2017, he retired as CEO from Mainstay Medical, after spending over 8 years as the founding CEO, doing several rounds of financing, taking the company public in Europe, and bringing Mainstay’s ReActiv8 to market in Europe. Although he continues to work with the company on a consulting basis, he has shifted his focus to helping other companies grow, as a board member, advisor, and in interim management.

With a university education in Biomedical Engineering, Mr. Crosby is the inventor on over 30 US patents and applications pending. He has managed the intellectual property portfolio of several companies. His clinical domain experience includes ophthalmology, otolaryngology, cardiology, cardiac surgery, orthopedics, pain management, anesthesia, and intensive care.

Litigation Support - Mr. Crosby has served as an expert witness in many cases including product liability, intellectual property (patent disputes), and commercial contracts disputes. He has testified in three cases in which the outcome hinged on interpretation of “commercially reasonable efforts.” Mr. Crosby's services are available to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant.

Product Expertise:

Implantable Devices Cochlear Implants Cardiac Pacemakers Implantable Defibrillators Artificial Hearts and LVADs

Neurostimulation Devices In Vitro Diagnostics Medical Device Software Patient Monitoring Imaging / Ultrasound and X-Ray)

View Peter Crosby's Consulting Profile.

Rosemary Coates, President of Blue Silk Consulting, is a seasoned executive with an MBA and 25+ years of experience in Chinese Sourcing and Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Manufacturing and ERP Systems Consulting. Background Experience. 

Prior to BSC, Ms. Coates was a Senior Director at SAP, the Supply Chain Practice Leader at KPMG Peat Marwick and at Answerthink, and a Regional Manager at Hewlett-Packard. Ms. Coates has consulted with global and domestic clients, VCs, and PE firms on operations systems and processes. She has considerable international experience and has worked for extended periods in Asia and Europe.

Ms. Coates' experience spans a broad range of industries including High Technology, Software, Chemicals, Health Care, Consumer Products, Industrial Products, Food Distribution, Transportation, Publishing, Retail, and Oil and Gas. She has extensive knowledge and experience in manufacturing and outsourcing in Asia, Europe, and the US. She has written five Amazon.com books including Best Seller, 42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China, and Legal Blacksmith: How to Avoid and Defend Supply Chain Disputes, and  42 Rules for Superior Field Service, and Negotiation Blueprint for Buyers, and The Reshoring Guidebook 

Ms. Coates is also the Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute and a member of the Board of Directors at the University of San Diego Supply Chain Management Institute. She teaches Global Supply Chain Strategy at UC Berkeley. She earned a BS in Business at Arizona State University and an MBA at the University of San Diego. She resides in Silicon Valley. 

Rosemary Coates: Supply Chain Management Overview

Litigation Support - As an Expert Witness, Ms. Coates has assisted attorneys in their understanding of relevant Supply Chain Operations and Practices in sourcing, logistics, distribution, manufacturing, inventory, and Chinese Imports. She has worked on legal cases for the past 10 years, writing reports, giving depositions, and testifying at trial.

Case Opinions:

• Chinese Products
• Import / Export Management
• Counterfeit Imports
• Project Management for Enterprise Software
• ERP Software Consulting Implementation Failures and Runaway Projects
• China Sourcing and Manufacturing
• Securities
• Sales Channel Distribution and Compensation
• Supply Contracts
• Inventory Tax
• Global Manufacturing Operations, Contract Manufacturing, CMS, EMS
• Transportation and logistics, 3PLs and Freight Forwarders, Freight Shipping

Areas of Expertise:

Chinese Products / Chinese Imports Chinese Manufacturing Chinese Toys Chinese Plastics Chinese Drywall Electronics Purchasing Operations Planning

Inventory Warehousing Supply Chain Distribution Channel Manufacturing Operations Field Service Supply Contracts ERP Systems Implementations

View Rosemary Coates' Consulting Profile.

Brooks Hilliard, CMC, CCP is the only actively practicing expert witness in the world who is both a Certified Management Consultant and a Certified Computing Professional specializing in computer system selection and problem resolution. He has testified more than 30 times as a computer expert witness and has been engaged on more than 90 such matters for both plaintiffs and defendants. Mr. Hillard has done expert witness and consulting assignments in 25 states, and has qualified as an expert witness on computer software and hardware (including ERP, SCM and CRM systems) in both state and federal litigation. His expert witness engagements have included courtroom and deposition testimony in lawsuits, arbitrations, mediations and formal governmental hearings. 

Areas of Expertise:

• Allegations of ERP and CRM system failures and/or defective business software/systems
• Computer Forensics
• Intellectual property
• Valuation of computer hardware, software and services
• Regulatory, Procurement and Tax matters

Jose J. Granda, PhD, PE, is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the California State University in Sacramento, CA. Prof. Granda is a Professional Registered Mechanical Engineer with almost 40 years of experience in the industry. A NASA Fellow, he served as a NASA public spokesman for 17 space shuttle missions.

Degrees and License:

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Davis
• ME in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
• MS in Mechanical Engineering,  National Polytechnic University, Ecuador
• PE (Professional Engineer) License in Mechanical Engineering

Specialized Training: Vehicle Dynamics and Design, Vehicle Safety and Crash Reconstruction, Accident Bio-mechanics, Finite Element Modeling in Computer Aided Design, Advanced Mechanical Design and Failure Analysis, CSUS;  Motorcycle Accident reconstruction;  EDR Certification, Tech 1, Tech II,  EDR Analysis Certification, Collision Safety Institute;  Applying Automotive EDR Data to Traffic Crash Reconstruction, SAE Society of Automotive Engineers International;  Advanced Accident Reconstruction Utilizing Human Factors course; Photogrammetry for Collision Reconstruction, Lightpoint Data; Bicycle and Pedestrian Accident Reconstructions; Heavy Commercial Vehicles Accident Reconstruction

Litigation Support - Prof. Granda is an expert in Forensic Engineering and Accident Reconstruction using computer simulations. His cases include accidents involving vehicles and people. He offers services to attorneys for plaintiff and defendant which include thorough written reports, depositions, and trial experience.

Areas of Expertise:

Automotive Accidents Truck Accidents Bus Accidents Motorcycle Accidents Biomechanics Occupational / Workplace / Industrial Accidents Finite Element Modeling and Failure Analysis

EDR (Event Data Recorder) Analysis Speed Studies Patent Infringement Slip and Fall Visibility Fitness Equipment Cranes / Hoists / Lifts

 View Prof. Granda's Consulting Profile.

David Crowe has worked in the Telecommunications / Wireless Communications industry for almost 35 years. Internationally renown, he was lead software designer on an early cellular switch, and went on to develop industry standards for core networks, emergency services, smart cards, security, location services, international roaming, numbering systems and more. He continues to make technical contributions, and has received several awards for his work.

Mr. Crowe has consulted for leading telecom organizations including Alcatel, ATIS, AT&T Wireless, Compaq, CTIA, HP, Neustar, Qualcomm, Telcordia, Rural Cellular Association, Syniverse, and TIA.  He has extensive experience in the development and implementation of wireless telecom standards, telecom protocols and also in real-time software development, particularly software related to wireless telecommunications. 

Litigation Support - As an expert witness, David Crowe has testified in a variety of environments, from District Court in Chicago to County Court in Maryland to Federal Court in Australia, working in cases covering patents, other intellectual property, and business disputes. He is currently serving as an Expert Witness in US, Canadian, and Australian courts. Mr. Crowe's  writing and debating skills are a big advantage both for testifying, and for report writing. 

 Areas of Expertise:

Telecommunications Wireless Technology Numbering / Number Portability / Priority Calling Device Identifiers  Software Core Networks Emergency Communication Services / 911

Radio Interface Protocols Smart Cards GPS Location Services Roaming / International Roaming Safety Telecom Patent Infringement

View David R. Crowe's Consulting Profile.

Durand R. Begault received a PhD in Computer Audio from UC San Diego in 1988 and an MFA from Mills College in 1981. He has been associated with the Audio Forensic Center and Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc. since 1996 and has worked as an expert witness, legal consultant, and acoustical consultant on a variety of audio-related cases since 1988. Dr. Begault also holds a research position at NASA Ames Research Center and is an adjunct faculty member at McGill University. He is the author of several U.S. patents and is qualified as an expert witness in both Federal and State Courts. Dr. Begault has testified in over 40 cases on a variety of audio technology and forensic audio-related cases.

Areas of Expertise:

• Audio Technology Patent / Intellectual Property Analyses
• Forensic Audio and Video Tape Examination / Authentication
• Analysis of Speech, Alarms, Warning Signal Audibility
• Voice Identification and Elimination
• Analysis of ‘Ear Witness’ Testimony
• Enhancement of Speech from Noisy Audio / Video Tape Recordings
• Music Copyright Infringement and Musicological Analysis
• Gunshots
• Acoustical Test and Measurement - Environmental Sound
• Noise Exposure
• Software / Hardware Black Box Testing for Infringement
• Videotape Image Enhancement
• Analysis of Digital Recordings

Please contact the Marketing Department at Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc./Audio Forensic Center for Dr. Begault’s current CV.

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Howard J. Cohen, PhD, has over 30 years of experience in Software Engineering, Architecture and Implementation. He possesses particular expertise in Algorithms, Relational Databases, Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and Software Applications in general. His experience has been in a broad spectrum of technology, in several languages, in a wide variety of applications, and on multiple platforms. Dr. Cohen's background includes Electronic Design Automation, Bioinformatics, Digital Cartography, Banking Systems for Foreign Exchange Traders, and many more. He is the co-inventor on approximately 120 patents.

Dr. Cohen has over 15 years of experience as an Expert Witness. He possesses excellent written and verbal communications skills, including the ability to express himself well in interpersonal contacts, make presentations to large audiences, explain complex concepts clearly, and write well on levels ranging from the scientific to end user documentation. He is available to analyze complex systems, to write clearly about technical issues, and communicate face-to-face in a manner appropriate for any audience to understand the issues, the technology and the point of view. Dr. Cohen has been deposed and testified at arbitration hearings and in Federal Court.

Expert Witness Projects Include:

• Trade Secrets
• Copyright
• DMCA - Digital Millennium Copyright Act
• Patent Infringement
• Source Code Analysis
• Business Practices
• Damages Analysis
• Computer Software Security / Forensics

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Oded Gottesman, PhD, CTO of Compandent Inc., technology IP expert witness in such areas as telecommunications, cellular phone, and signal processing, provides technology expert witness services, prior art search, and consulting for Technology Patent Infringement, Patent Invalidity, Trade Secret Disputes, source code review, hardware analysis, and related matters. Dr. Gottesman has more than 17 years of experience as an expert witness, deposed 14 times, testified 4 times in Jury trial and 2 times in ITC trial, worked on IPR and Ex Parte Reexamination petitions, and wrote numerous reports. Among his areas of expertise are:

DSP Digital Signal Processing Telecommunications Cellular Networks (4G LTE, 3GPP, GSM) Packetized Networks VoIP Streaming audio, streaming video Real-time Systems Cellular Timing and Synchronization Location and Position Systems (UTDOA, GPS, etc.) Error Control Coding

Speech Coding, voice compression, vocoder, Audio Compression, and Video Compression, codec (MPEG, AAC, AMR) Signal Compression and Signal Enhancement Computer Software, and Algorithms Computer Hardware Embedded Systems Smartphones, Portable Devices Client-server Web Applications Mobile Applications

Litigation Support - Dr. Gottesman has more than 17 years of experience as an expert witness, deposed 14 times, testified 4 times in Jury trial and 2 times in ITC trial, worked on IPR and Ex Parte Reexamination petitions, and wrote numerous reports.

Selected Clients - Dr. Gottesman's clients have included: Alston & Bird, AZA Law, BakerHostetler, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, Comcast, Cooley Godward Kronish, Cummins, Dechert, Echelon, Fenwick & West, Fish & Richardson, Google, Hill Kertscher & Wharton, Kirkland & Ellis, Sidley Austin, Weir & Partners, Woodcock & Washburn, MagicJack, Microsoft, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, Nokia, Parts Geek, Samsung, Toshiba, TruePosition, Vinson & Elkins LLP, Wiav, and Williams & Connolly LLP.

View Dr. Gottesman's Consulting Profile.