A trial lawyer with more than 20 years of experience focusing on IP litigation matters, Rob has handled IP cases for a roster of clients that include household brands like T-Mobile, Cochlear, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, AMC Theatres, Sprint, The Coca-Cola Company, Cerner/Oracle, eBay and O’Reilly Auto Parts. Along with his Shook colleagues, Rob has a proven track record of winning complex cases at trial against some of the best firms in the country.
Over the last decade, Rob’s case teams have obtained more than $1.4 billion in verdicts and settlements for Shook clients in patent enforcement actions, and he has been equally successful on the defense side, employing aggressive approaches that seek to resolve cases early while preparing for trial in a focused and efficient manner.
Representative Matters
Sprint v. Time Warner Cable - Rob served as trial counsel for Sprint in a patent infringement action involving seven patents related to VoIP technology. Time Warner Cable was represented by teams from Latham & Watkins and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer. After a three-week trial, the jury returned a verdict on behalf of Sprint, finding Time Warner Cable willfully infringed all asserted claims and awarding Sprint its full damages ask of $139.8 million. This verdict was affirmed on appeal.RLIS v. Cerner Corp. – Rob served as trial counsel for Cerner in a patent infringement action in the Southern District of Texas wherein RLIS, represented by Susman Godfrey and Leydig Voit, asserted two patents related to electronic medical records. After a two-week jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in Cerner’s favor on all issues, finding all asserted claims not infringed and invalid.
Touchstream Technologies Inc. v Google – Rob was part of a trial team that obtained $339 million in damages against Google in a patent infringement case for three patents in the Western District of Texas.
Sprint v. Altice– Rob was counsel for Sprint in this patent infringement case filed in the District of Delaware. The case settled on the eve of trial with the defendant agreeing to pay Sprint $112.5 million.
CliniComp v. Cerner – Rob was counsel for Cerner in this patent infringement matter in the Southern District of California involving a patent directed to electronic medical records. After the plaintiff’s broadest patent claims were invalidated in an IPR proceeding handled by Shook, the district court granted summary judgement in Cerner’s favor on the plaintiff’s remaining claims, finding that Cerner was entitled to judgment of no infringement in light of disclaimers by the plaintiff during the IPR.
Oracle v. Rimini Street – Rob was trial counsel for Rimini Street in this copyright action. Oracle was represented by teams from Boies Schiller and Morgan Lewis. In this case, the defendants were found at summary judgment to have infringed Oracle’s copyrights, leaving for trial only the amount of copyright damages and whether the infringement was willful. In addition, Oracle had raised multiple claims related to inducement of breach and intentional interference. The jury deliberated for a full week and found the copyright infringement was innocent; in addition, defendants prevailed on all business tort claims. The jury awarded Oracle less than 15% of their damages request and refused to award any punitive damages.
Fall Line Patents, LLC v. AMC Entertainment – Rob was counsel for AMC in this patent infringement case in the Eastern District of Texas involving mobile application technology. This case settled after seven of the plaintiff’s eight asserted claims were held invalid in a related IPR proceeding.
Ragan v. Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, Inc. – In this copyright infringement matter, Rob and his Shook colleagues obtained judgment on the pleadings in favor of Shook’s client Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, with the court finding that the plaintiff’s work was not entitled to copyright protection.
Decapolis Systems vs. Cerner – In this case filed in the Western District of Texas, Rob and his team secured dismissal of the action after moving to dismiss for improper venue and demonstrating that Cerner’s activities in the district were insufficient to establish venue.
Sprint Commc’ns v. Vonage Holding – Rob represented Sprint in a patent infringement action asserting a portfolio of voice over packet patents, resulting in a jury verdict of $69.5 million.
University of Pittsburgh v. Cochlear – Rob served as counsel for Cochlear in a patent infringement case pending in the Western District of Texas related to hearing implant technology. Rob and his team secured a favorable settlement for Cochlear shortly after fact discovery closed.
Byteborne Technologies, Ltd. v. eBay Inc. –Counsel for eBay in the District of Delaware involving a patent related to facilitating anonymous communications between devices. The case was dismissed with prejudice after eBay filed a motion to dismiss for lack of patent-eligible subject matter.
Nash v. Microsoft – Rob represented Microsoft in patent infringement litigation concerning anti-piracy software. The court’s granting of summary judgment finding non-infringement in favor of Microsoft was later affirmed on appeal.
Consolidated Transaction Processing, LLC v. eBay Inc. – Rob was counsel for eBay in patent litigation in the District of Delaware involving a set of e-commerce patents.
Cerner Corp. v. Visicu, Inc. – Rob represented Cerner in a declaratory judgment action involving patents relating to remote monitoring of intensive care units, resulting in a jury verdict finding both asserted patents invalid and not infringed.
Sprint v. Comcast – Rob served as trial counsel for Sprint in a patent infringement action in the District of Delaware wherein Sprint asserted two patents related to fiber optical SONET networks.
Marshall Packaging v. The Coca-Cola Co. – Rob represented The Coca-Cola Company in a patent infringement action in the Eastern District of Texas.
Garmin v. TomTom – Rob represented Garmin in patent infringement actions concerning navigation systems employing global positioning systems.
C2 Commc’ns v. Sprint – Rob represented Sprint in a patent infringement action concerning voice over internet communications.
Med. Monitoring v. Cerner – Rob served as counsel for Cerner in a patent infringement case involving medical monitoring technology.
Accent Packaging v. Leggett & Platt – Rob served as counsel for Leggett in patent infringement case filed in Southern District of Texas.
Venetec Int'l, Inc. v. Nexus Med., LLC – Rob represented Nexus Medical in patent infringement litigation in Delaware involving catheter securement devices.
Presentations
Recent Changes to the Patent Litigation Landscape and Predictions for the Future, Association of Corporate Counsel (Houston Chapter) the Woodlands Meeting, June 27, 2018 (with Fiona Bell).
Recent Changes to the Patent Litigation Landscape and Predictions for the Future, Association of Corporate Counsel (Houston Chapter) Galleria Meeting, June 12, 2018 (with Fiona Bell).
What Every Attorney Should Know About Intellectual Property … In About an Hour, Association of Corporate Counsel, Houston Chapter, Back to School CLE Symposium, August 16, 2016.
Publications
Exhausted!: The Supreme Court Weakens Patent Owners’ Rights to Enforce Post-Sale Restrictions on Patented Products, Shook IpQ, August 2017 (with Elena McFarland, Melissa Marerro and Colman McCarthy).