Fish & Richardson Named Law360 IP Practice Group of the Year for Fifth Straight Year

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Jan 26, 2017, 09:20 ET

BOSTON, Jan. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fish & Richardson has been named an IP Practice Group of the Year for the fifth consecutive year by Law360 for helping "win a U.S. Supreme Court decision that reshaped a key aspect of patent law" and for securing "major litigation victories for companies such as Gilead Sciences Inc. and Power Integrations Inc." Fish was one of only five firms nationwide that was singled out by Law360 as an IP Practice Group of the Year.

According to Law360, the "firm is no stranger to accolades, having been consistently ranked among the nation's premier practice groups for years." "Headlining the firm's recent achievements was the Supreme Court's June decision in a case involving Halo Electronics Inc., in which the justices relaxed the standard for proving willful infringement and made it easier for patent owners to recover enhanced damages. Legal experts widely agree that the case was among the most important patent cases of 2016."

"We continually ask ourselves whether supposedly settled points of law should be challenged, even at the Supreme Court, if necessary," said Kurt Glitzenstein, Litigation Practice Group Leader at Fish.

Law360 noted that this "type of mindset" was part of Fish's success in another high profile win for client Shaw Industries Group Inc. "that provided much-needed guidance for accused infringers that challenge patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board." "In a favorable decision for Shaw, the Federal Circuit held that petitioners are not barred from raising those noninstituted grounds, keeping them available for litigation."

"Fish handled 90 new competitor cases in 2016, up 50% from the year before. That is a reflection of the confidence that big companies – blue chip, Fortune 500 companies – have in our practice because we simply know how to win at every level, whether it's at trial, at the PTAB or on appeal," added Glitzenstein.

Law360 also highlighted some of Fish's impressive wins for several other clients. For Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Fish "successfully challenged a number of technology patents at the PTAB, including media storage patents owned by Smartflash LLC and semiconductor patents owned by Home Semiconductor Corp." "In district court, Fish was able to secure more than $200 million in damages for clients in four trial wins, including a $139.8 million damages award for Power Integrations Inc. in a patent infringement suit against Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc."

"But perhaps the most memorable trial moment" for Fish came "when a California federal judge overturned a $200 million jury award that Merck & Co. had won in a patent case just months earlier against Gilead Sciences Inc." In the "headline-grabbing decision," the judge detailed "'serious and outrageous conduct' that…left Merck with no right to enforce against Gilead two patents related to hepatitis C treatment."

"The opinion is 65 pages long and extremely well-reasoned," said Juanita Brooks, the Fish principal who co-led the Gilead litigation team with Fish principal Jonathan Singer. "The judge meticulously went through the record to support her findings. We were very pleased that she did such a thorough job."

Fish & Richardson is a global patent, intellectual property (IP) litigation, and commercial litigation law firm with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists across the U.S. and Europe. Fish has been named the #1 patent litigation firm in the U.S. for 13 consecutive years and is one of the busiest post-grant firms, representing more petitioners at the PTAB than any other firm. Fish has been winning cases worth billions in controversy – often by making new law – for the most innovative clients and influential industry leaders since 1878. For more information, visit www.fr.com.