Drafting note (delete before execution): This draft is structured as a CPLR § 2106 affirmation suitable for filing on NYSCEF. As a NY-admitted attorney, Plaintiff may affirm without notarization. If filed on behalf of a non-attorney party or in a forum requiring notarization, convert to an affidavit (replace "I affirm" with "I, ... being duly sworn, depose and say" + add jurat). Each numbered paragraph is intended to stand alone for use as a fact statement in an opposition brief or summary judgment motion.
STATE OF NEW YORK) COUNTY OF KINGS) ss.:
I, RICHARD C. LITMAN, an attorney duly admitted to practice law in the State of New York and a member in good standing of the Bar of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO Reg. No. 30,868), do hereby affirm under the penalties of perjury and pursuant to CPLR § 2106 as follows:
I am the Plaintiff in the above-captioned action. I make this Affirmation upon personal knowledge of the facts stated herein, except as to those matters expressly stated upon information and belief, as to which I believe them to be true.
I am a registered patent attorney; my USPTO registration number is 30,868. My current address is 172 Sterling Place, Apt. 8, Brooklyn, New York 11217. My telephone is (703) 409-8850 and my email is rclitman@gmail.com.
The arbitrator's Final Award in the matter of Litman v. NGM, et al. dated June 14, 2023, fixed the date of termination of my practice with Defendants' firm, Nath & Associates PLLC ("NGM"), at June 15, 2020. From and after that date I had no role in NGM's prosecution of any client matter.
Since June 15, 2020, I have not authorized Defendant Joshua B. Goldberg, NGM, or any other person or entity affiliated with NGM (collectively "Defendants" or "NGM") to use my name, identity, or USPTO Registration Number 30,868 in any commercial activity, including but not limited to:
On April 22, 2021, I sent Defendant Goldberg an email expressly reserving my name and identity rights from any prior or future use by NGM. The reservation was repeated and reinforced in my emails to Defendants on April 30, 2021, May 1, 2023, and June 24, 2025.
The April 30, 2021 email states verbatim: "The assignment of the LITMAN LAW OFFICES, LTD. mark does not include the right to use my name separate and apart from the mark." That email was directed to Defendant Goldberg and is in NGM's production at Bates ND0000270242.
The 2017 Combination Agreement and the May 7, 2017 Amendment between NGM and Becker & Poliakoff (predecessor relationship) do not grant any right to use my name. I have read both documents in their entirety. Neither contains the words "consent," "name," "name use," "identity," "likeness," "goodwill" (in the personal-name sense), "Power of Attorney," "INID 74," "(74) line," or "attorney of record." Paragraph 3 of the May 7, 2017 Amendment enumerates every asset transferred (telephone numbers, URLs, online groups, two Freedom Bank account numbers, USPTO Customer Numbers 24396 and 37833) — my personal name is not on the list.
Paragraph 5 of the 3/29/2017 Combination Agreement provides that I "shall not be a partner." Paragraph 17 contains an integration clause requiring written modification. There has been no such written modification authorizing the use of my name.
Beginning in approximately late 2019, I became and remained physically disabled within the meaning of relevant policies and the parties' arbitration record. From the date of my disability through the present, I have not had the capacity to direct day-to-day prosecution work, supervise client matters, or to consent in fact to NGM's continued use of my name in commerce.
Defendant Goldberg has admitted, both in his answer at NYSCEF Doc #65 ¶ 39 and in NGM's prior arbitration position, that I became and remained disabled. NGM's prior position, in which it argued that disability is functionally equivalent to death for purposes of partnership consequences, is incompatible with its current implicit position that I retained capacity to authorize the post-disability commercial use of my name.
I am aware, based on review of records produced by NGM in this action and verified through the United States Patent and Trademark Office's Open Data Platform on April 25, 2026, that twelve United States patents have issued on or after July 21, 2024 listing me as the attorney of record on the face page, all under NGM Customer Number 37833. I never authorized any one of those twelve face-page elections, individually or in the aggregate. The twelve patents are catalogued in EXHIBIT_A_PACKET_12_PATENTS_2026-04-29_FINAL.md, Bates LITMAN000012 through LITMAN000139.
In the same time window, four hundred forty-nine other patents issued under the same NGM Customer Number 37833 with Defendant Goldberg listed as the attorney of record. NGM therefore had at all times the capability to elect Defendant Goldberg, James Lafave, or any other registered NGM attorney for the (74) line. The choice to elect me as the attorney of record on the twelve patents was deliberate, made on a per-patent basis, and made by NGM personnel without my consent.
I am further aware that NGM has issued, on or after June 15, 2020, at least 4,374 emails from Martha Long (NGM paralegal) to clients of NGM in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar that use my name in the body, signature block, or attachment. I never authorized those emails, individually or in the aggregate.
I am further aware that, on or after July 21, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has sent at least 688 system-generated emails addressed to both Defendant Goldberg and to me at litman@4patent.com, identifying me by name in the body of those emails as the "Correspondence Address" attorney for NGM Customer Number 37833. The persistence of my name on the USPTO Customer Number 37833 record after my termination from NGM was without my consent.
On May 1, 2025 at approximately 12:43 p.m., NGM caused my name to be removed from the Correspondence Address field of NGM Customer Number 37833 on the USPTO Patent Center. NGM's capacity to remove my name had existed at all times; the removal was not effected for almost five years following my termination.
I am aware of the Virginia State Corporation Commission 2025 Annual Report for "LITMAN LAW OFFICES, LTD." (VA SCC Entity 02437754), filed July 28, 2025. The report is signed by Defendant Goldberg under Virginia Class 1 misdemeanor liability dated May 27, 2025. The report holds out Defendant Goldberg and Jerald L. Myer as the corporate "Owners." My name appears nowhere in the officer, director, registered-agent, or owner fields of that filing. I never authorized Defendant Goldberg to hold himself out as the owner of an entity bearing my name.
I am aware of the document titled "Status of Pending Work for by King Saud University December 2022," authored by Defendant Goldberg on December 30, 2022 according to the Microsoft Word core_properties metadata of the file at evidence/uncle_supplied/Status_of_KSU_Cases_2022-12-30_Goldberg_authored.docx (MD5 hash b5fa56d3bfe9db129bd1dd7261bf48f0). That document tracks 167+ NGM client matters under my name post-termination. I had no role in its preparation and never authorized the use of my name in connection with any of the matters listed.
I am aware of the AR Report dated February 17, 2026, titled "AR Report 202602_RL," generated personally by Defendant Goldberg with the SortByResponsible:true parameter, surfacing $1,285,703.04 of accounts receivable still attributed to me as the responsible attorney 19 months after the post-arbitration limitations cutoff. I never authorized the continued attribution of any matter to me as responsible attorney after June 15, 2020.
On June 24, 2025 and again in subsequent communications, I demanded in writing that Defendants cease all use of my name in commerce. Defendants did not cease. Patents bearing my name on the (74) line continued to issue (the most-recent identified is United States Patent No. 12,194,434, issued January 14, 2025, KSU Docket 33056.80). The trademark "LITMAN LAW OFFICES, LTD." (Federal Reg. No. 1,861,297) remains owned by Nath & Associates PLLC. The Virginia SCC entity bearing my name was filed under Defendant Goldberg's signature 34 days after my demand letter.
On June 26, 2025, NGM, through counsel Heba Carter (Goldberg, Carter, Polansky LLP), sent a "Termination of Affiliation" letter purporting to formally end the relationship — confirming, by negative implication, that NGM had until that date treated the relationship as ongoing. Defendants nevertheless continued the conduct described above.
The arbitrator characterized my contractual interest as a 20% royalty — payment for the privilege of servicing the lucrative client base. It was not, and is not, a "commission" or "back pay" or "wages."
The last money I received from NGM under any theory was a single check dated September 27, 2023. That check covered accounts receivable collected through June 15, 2020 only. It did not cover the period from June 15, 2020 through December 22, 2022, even though, on information and belief, the check was supposed to do so. NGM has produced monthly and quarterly accounting records for various periods of 2023 reflecting amounts payable to me, but no such payments were actually made. After September 27, 2023, I have received no payment from NGM.
I declare under the penalties of perjury and pursuant to CPLR § 2106 that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my personal knowledge.
Executed on _____, 2026, at Brooklyn, New York.
RICHARD C. LITMAN USPTO Reg. No. 30,868 Plaintiff pro se 172 Sterling Place, Apt. 8 Brooklyn, New York 11217 (703) 409-8850 rclitman@gmail.com
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