McKool Smith

Firm overview:

McKool Smith has established a reputation across the US as a trial firm. “They do a very nice job and handle lots of cases,” says a peer. The boutique firm has secured 14 nine-figure jury verdicts and 16 eight-figure jury verdicts, obtaining more VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal ‘Top 100 Verdicts’ than any other law firm.

McKool Smith represents clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, insurance recovery, and white collar defence matters. In intellectual property, McKool Smith represents plaintiffs and defendants in patent disputes in federal courts throughout the US.

Known for taking on high-stakes litigation, the firm has assisted the likes of Nokia, Ericsson, American Airlines and Medtronic in courtroom battles over some of their most valuable technology.

Team overview:

McKool Smith has 130 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, and Washington, DC.

Principal Jennifer Truelove is an accomplished trial lawyer with particular expertise in IP, antitrust, whistleblower and contract dispute litigation. Some of her high-profile achievements include securing a $445 million patent infringement verdict for semiconductor manufacturer Netlist against Micron, and a $506 million patent infringement verdict for PanOptis against Apple. Speaking to WIPR about the Netlist win, Truelove noted that “this game that we play every day has large personalities in it. If you’re going to be a successful trial lawyer, you’ve got to have that.”

Trial lawyer Nicholas Mathews routinely handles matters involving standard-essential patents (SEPs). These include successfully defending Ericsson in a first-of-its kind FRAND jury trial against HTC involving cellular essential patent licensing.

Key matters:

● Netlist v Micron Technology, Case No. 2:22-cv-294-JRG, US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, 2024

McKool Smith represented Netlist, a leading provider of high-performance modular memory subsystems to the world’s premier Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), in lawsuits against Micron and Samsung.

In May 2024, a Texas jury awarded Netlist $445 million after finding that chipmaker Micron Technology had infringed two of its computer memory patents. Netlist was also represented by Irell & Manella.

The firm secured a $118 million patent infringement verdict on behalf of Netlist against Samsung in a decision announced in November 2024. This follows a previous courtroom victory in which a judge upheld a $303 million patent infringement award for Netlist against Samsung in 2023. Irell & Manella again co-represented Netlist in this matter.

● Mojo Mobility v Samsung Electronics et al, Case No. 2:22-cv-00398, US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, 2024

In September 2024, a Texas jury ordered Samsung to pay Californian start-up Mojo Mobility more than $192 million for infringing five of its wireless charging patents used in its Galaxy smartphones and other devices.

The damages were almost double the amount the jury awarded in the first trial, held in January 2024, of $67.5 million against Samsung, plus a running royalty of $1.50 per phone. Considering this outcome unreliable, Judge Rodney Gilstrap had ordered a retrial, due to evidence of confusion between the meaning of lump-sum royalties and running royalties.

Mojo was represented by a team from McKool Smith led by Austin principal Steven Pollinger, with principals Samuel Baxter, Kevin Burgess, Charles Fowler Jr, Ryan McBeth and Jennifer Truelove, and principal Chris McNett in Washington, DC.

Samsung was represented by Melissa Smith, a partner at Gillam & Smith in Texas.

● G+ Communications v Samsung Electronics et al, Case No. 2:22-CV-00078, US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, 2024

McKool Smith represented licensing company G+ Communications in this dispute with tech giant Samsung, regarding alleged infringement of its 5G standard essential patents (SEPs). The verdict was announced in April 2024, following a jury trial before Judge Rodney Gilstrap in Texas. Jurors awarded G+ $142 million in damages.

The trial team included McKool Smith’s Jennifer Truelove and Samuel Baxter; and Jason Sheasby, Lisa Glasser and Michael Harbour of Irell & Manella.

Samsung was represented by Ruffin Cordell, John Thornburgh, Michael McKeon, Ralph Phillips, Linhong Zhang, April Sunyoung Park, Leonard Davis, Thomas Reger and Aleksandr Gelberg of Fish & Richardson.

● Eolas Technologies v Amazon, et al, Case No. 23-1184, US Supreme Court, 2024

McKool Smith client Eolas sued Amazon, Google and Walmart in 2015 alleging infringement of its patent related to interactive website technology. A California federal court found in 2022 that Eolas’s patent was too abstract to be valid; the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the decision in February 2024.

Eolas subsequently asked the Supreme Court to clarify the Mayo/Alice framework, claiming that the Federal Circuit ruling “defies Alice and threatens all patents drawn to improving what has become highly useful and important computer network technology”. The Supreme Court uses this framework to determine if an invention is eligible for a patent, but has been the subject of criticism since its inception in 2014.

However, the Supreme Court rejected Eolas’s challenge in October 2024, and upheld the lower court’s finding.

A McKool Smith team for Eolas comprised John Campbell, Joel Thollander, Charles Fowler and Kyle Ryman.

Representing Google were Quinn Emanuel attorney Deepa Acharya; for Amazon, Latham & Watkins’ Gabriel Bell; and for Walmart, Bijal Vikal of Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman).

Clients:

i4i, American Airlines, Bush Hog, Eolas Technologies, Ericsson, G+ Communications, Halliburton, Medtronic, Mojo Mobility, Netlist, Nokia Technologies, ParkerVision, Rovi, Unwired Planet, Versata, VirnetX, WiLAN.