SAN FRANCISCO — When he first read the email, Stephen Korniczky says, he nearly fell out of his chair.

Last fall, the Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton partner persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the supposed inventor of wireless picture displays had submitted false declarations to the U.S. Patent and Trade Office. Then in January, Korniczky obtained an email from the inventor’s patent prosecution attorney that validated his theory—in surprisingly candid terms.