Jonah Knobler is a Partner in Patterson Belknap’s Litigation Department. His practice centers on class action defense, false advertising, copyright/trademark, and food-and-drug litigation. He also handles appeals in numerous subject areas. Mr. Knobler represents some of the nation’s best-known businesses, including leaders in the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, technology, and media sectors. He has helped clients defeat dozens of class actions, win major competitor disputes, and prevail on appeals with industry-wide importance.
Mr. Knobler has well over a decade of experience representing manufacturers from a wide range of industries in high-stakes false advertising, consumer protection, civil RICO, and product liability suits. In particular, his practice has given him a keen understanding of FDA-regulated products and the surrounding regulatory landscape. He frequently litigates and publishes on cutting-edge legal topics of interest to these industries, such as standing, preemption, class certification, damages models, innovator liability, and commercial free speech. He also founded and co-edits the firm’s false advertising blog, Misbranded.
In the IP arena, Mr. Knobler has litigated and settled numerous claims of copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and counterfeiting. He has represented major media companies, consumer product manufacturers, not-for-profits, and individual artists. Mr. Knobler published one of the first major articles analyzing the copyright implications of Internet streaming and downloading, which has been cited in Nimmer on Copyright, the Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies, and U.S. Supreme Court briefing.
Mr. Knobler has also handled high-value appeals across a range of subject areas, from false advertising to product liability to civil RICO to insurance law. He has briefed and/or argued appeals in both the state and federal systems, including in the U.S. Supreme Court and most federal Courts of Appeals.
Mr. Knobler’s active pro bono practice focuses on voting rights and LGBTQ+ rights.
He was among the respondents’ merits counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court in Rucho v.
Common Cause, and he continues to litigate issues concerning gerrymandering and redistricting.
Mr. Knobler’s professional awards and honors include being named a “Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal, a “Defender of Democracy” by Common Cause, and one of the “Best LGBT Lawyers under 40” by the National LGBT Bar.
From 2009 to 2010, Mr. Knobler served as a law clerk to the Honorable Danny J. Boggs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Knobler served as a law clerk to the Honorable Frederic Block of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. In 2004, Mr. Knobler held a McCleary Law Fellowship at the Human Rights Campaign. He received his B.A., cum laude, from Harvard University, and his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Updated Aug 2023
