Johannes Hsu

Senior Associate

Orange County

Johannes Hsu draws on his business, technical, and legal acumen developed over more than 20 years in engineering, management, and law to serve technology clients.  His experience enables him to take a holistic approach in his legal services.

Johannes's practice focuses on patent litigation, especially in the fields of electronics, circuits, computer and network systems, software, and telecommunications. He has litigated in district courts, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and the U.S. International Trade Commission. He also leverages his technical and operational experience in data-privacy and data-security matters.

Before joining Orrick, Johannes clerked for the Honorable R. Gary Klausner in the Central District of California.  He assisted Judge Klausner on a wide variety of civil matters.  In particular, he worked on many intellectual-property disputes involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Johannes began his legal career primarily as a patent prosecutor at one of the largest intellectual-property boutique firms in the United States.

Before becoming an attorney, Johannes worked for over 20 years as an engineer in high-tech and aerospace industries. He held increasing responsibilities and was last a manager and a senior principal engineer at one of the top two fabless-semiconductor companies in the world. His work in those positions had a direct and significant impact on virtually every chip of a one-billion-dollar product line. A technical leader and a functional manager, he interacted regularly with upper management in engineering and marketing and worked closely with cross-disciplinary teams.  His substantial engineering experience encompasses a wide array of technologies, from communication systems, digital-security systems, to hardware and embedded-software design. In addition to developing digital-security technologies, Johannes also set operational security policies for his engineering organization and developed a secure infrastructure which he led through a successful third-party audit.

  • In law school, Johannes drafted an Amicus Curiae letter that the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence filed with the Supreme Court of California.

    At Caltech and Chapman, Johannes had a distinct privilege of learning from two Nobel laureates. He obtained the highest grade in both classes.