Case: Litman v. Goldberg, Index No. 524343/2025 (NY Sup. Ct., Kings County) To: Counsel of Record Prepared: 2026-03-16 Purpose: One-page orientation. What this package proves. What you still need. Where to find things.
After Litman's authority as attorney at Nath, Goldberg & Meyer (NGM) ceased (and specifically after an arbitration decision on approximately June 14, 2023), Joshua B. Goldberg personally signed PTO/AIA/82A Power of Attorney forms — federal government documents bearing his individual USPTO registration number (44126) — for 14 of 17 patent applications in the exhibit set. Every one of those applications resulted in an issued patent listing "Richard C. Litman" on Line 74 (the public attorney-of-record field). The evidence is not inferential: the signed PDFs are in this package, downloaded directly from the USPTO API and OCR'd. Goldberg's signature is verbatim on the forms. This is personal participation in the tortious conduct, not firm-level liability. It satisfies Turane v. MGN, LLC.
output/PERSONAL_LIABILITY_MEMO.md — Directly addresses the judge's Dec. 5, 2025 concern about personal liability. Maps each Goldberg personal act to the legal theory. Includes the "firm did it" rebuttal table.
output/BEST_EVIDENCE_MEMO.md — Ranked list of every exhibit, strength assessment, and exact file paths. Start here to build your exhibit binder.
output/MISAPPROPRIATION_ELEMENTS_PROOF.md — Maps the four §§ 50–51 elements to verified evidence. Identifies the two gaps you must fill before trial (Litman declaration; billing records).
| Exhibit Type | Count | Status | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| POA PDFs (PTO/AIA/82A) with Goldberg signature | 14 | ✅ Downloaded, OCR'd | evidence/poa_pdfs/ + evidence/poa_pdfs/ocr/ |
| Patents confirming Litman on Line 74 | 12 (post-SOL-safe) | ✅ PDFs downloaded | evidence/patents/ |
| Assignment cover sheet (Goldberg signatory) | 2 confirmed | ✅ Screenshots | evidence/assignments/ |
| Dec. 21, 2023 dual-action (POA + assignment same day) | 1 | ✅ Both docs | See App 18/392,663 in PERSONAL_LIABILITY_MEMO |
| 905-patent dataset (breadth/scale) | 905 records | ✅ CSV verified | richard_litman_attorney_issued_patents_since_2020-06-15.csv |
| Website evidence (nathlaw.com) | Through June 21, 2025 | ✅ CDX verified | evidence/website/ |
1. Obtain a Declaration from Richard Litman (highest priority) - Litman must state under oath: "I did not authorize or consent to the use of my name on any patent filings, USPTO documents, or firm website after [date of departure/arbitration]." - This fills the §§ 50–51 "without consent" element gap. Without this, defense will claim an implied license. - Also have him confirm: the arbitration date (approx. June 14, 2023); that he received no compensation for the 905 post-6/15/2020 patents; that he did not supervise or bill for any of these matters.
2. Demand Billing Records in Discovery (first wave) - Request: NGM billing records, invoices, and client communications for all KFU, KSU, KISR, and other institutional assignee matters from 2020–2025. - This proves Element 4 (benefit to defendant) and establishes damages. Scale: 905 patents × prosecution fees = the damages calculation. - Also request: Goldberg's K-1 distributions or LLC operating agreement showing his profit share.
| Document | Authentication | Note |
|---|---|---|
| POA PDFs (PTO/AIA/82A) | Self-authenticating under FRE 902(5) — official USPTO records | Order certified copies from Patent Center if court requires hard copy |
| Issued patents (Line 74) | Self-authenticating — government publications | PDFs in evidence/patents/ |
| Assignment Cover Sheets | USPTO Assignment Center records — self-authenticating | Screenshots + Assignment Center printouts in evidence/assignments/ |
| Website (nathlaw.com) | Wayback Machine — needs foundation (printout + declaration re: Wayback) | CDX verification completed; screenshots need manual capture |
Three issues were caught and corrected before reaching you:
KNPC patents: Our initial analysis mistakenly treated 3 KNPC patents as Litman name-use evidence. OCR of the actual USPTO PDFs showed Goldberg (not Litman) on Line 74. These 3 patents are now properly framed as transition evidence (showing Goldberg replacing Litman on client patents). They are still useful — just different.
IFW submitter fields: Early drafts claimed that USPTO file-wrapper API data identified Goldberg as submitter. That was wrong — the document list API does not return submitter names. That overclaim was removed from all filings.
PatentsView API: Scripts referencing api.patentsview.org were flagged — that API was retired (HTTP 410 Gone). Replaced with direct USPTO API throughout.
| Item | Status | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Arbitration date confirmation (~June 14, 2023) | Pending | Counsel confirms with client |
| Litman non-consent declaration | Not yet drafted | Counsel + Litman |
| Assignment PDFs (3 applications) | Screenshots only; PDFs require browser login to Assignment Center | Paralegal/counsel downloads |
| Website screenshots (June 21 vs. Sept. 5 professionals page) | Automated capture blocked (403); needs manual browser | Paralegal/counsel captures manually |
| KNPC pre-2024 Litman patents | Not yet searched | Run USPTO Patent Public Search: ("Kuwait National Petroleum").AS. AND (Litman).ATTY. AND @pd>=20200615 AND @pd<=20231231 |
| Billing records / K-1s | Not obtainable pre-discovery | Discovery demand |
output/
├── COUNSEL_COVER_MEMO.md ← THIS FILE
├── PERSONAL_LIABILITY_MEMO.md ← Personal acts; Turane rebuttal
├── BEST_EVIDENCE_MEMO.md ← Ranked exhibits
├── MISAPPROPRIATION_ELEMENTS_PROOF.md ← Elements 1–4 mapped to evidence
├── GOLDBERG_PERSONAL_ACTIONS_CHRONOLOGY.md ← Deposition roadmap
├── POA_GOLDBERG_SIGNATURE_TABLE.md ← All 17 POA apps; Goldberg signed 14
├── AUDIT_REPORT_2026-03-16.md ← What was verified, what was corrected
evidence/
├── poa_pdfs/ ← 26 POA PDFs + OCR text files
├── patents/ ← 12 post-SOL-safe patent PDFs
├── ifw_ifee/ ← Issue fee payment PDFs
├── assignments/ ← Assignment cover sheet screenshots
├── website/ ← Wayback nathlaw.com captures
uspto_richard_litman_package_full/
└── uspto_richard_litman/
├── richard_litman_attorney_issued_patents_since_2020-06-15.csv ← 905-patent dataset
└── likely_targets_litman_and_goldberg_post_2024-07-21.csv ← 12 post-SOL-safe patents
This package was compiled and audited 2026-03-16. All USPTO documents were downloaded from api.uspto.gov (government API). All OCR was performed on the actual PDFs. The audit corrected three material errors before delivery.