Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey

J. Scott Davidson

Professional Profile

Mr. Davidson is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Group. He has wide-ranging experience in both in-court and out-of-court litigation practices for high-technology clients. He has been rated by his peers with the “AV” rating, indicating the highest level of excellence.

The subject matters involved in Mr. Davidson’s multiple decades of litigations have been diverse, and include network switches, asphalt mixers, cellular telephone technologies, Global Positioning Systems, video games, vending machine controllers, office power systems, plate stackers, business forms, sweeteners, amorphous metal security detectors, and others. He has worked with the firm’s clients on computer architectures, communication protocols, analog and digital video switches, control systems, video compression techniques, optical systems, telecommunications, cellular radio circuits, magnetic resonance imagers, semiconductor designs, automotive electronics, video signal compensation algorithms, financial business methods, area networks, database designs, memory utilization techniques, luminance on wafers, electronic monitors and gauges, smart cards, digital and analog signal processors, data security systems, auto-focus systems, diagnostic systems, non-linear signal processors, filters, video game systems, and others.

Mr. Davidson is originally from the Gulf coast community of Seminole, Florida. He has an electrical engineering degree from the University of South Florida, where he was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa national honor society and the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. After school, he was employed as an electrical engineer at Honeywell, designing missile technologies in the Military Avionics Group. He received his law degree from the University of Florida and began practicing law at the 100 year old firm of Cushman Darby and Cushman in Washington, D.C. There, Mr. Davidson became one of the youngest attorneys in the firm’s history to be offered a full equity partnership. Later, he developed a unique law firm business model that he and his fellow founding partners used to start and grow the Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey firm. The firm was recognized as “one of the great litigation secrets in the area of patent law.” He is admitted to practice in Virginia, Florida, and the District of Columbia, as well as before the United States Supreme Court and many other federal courts.

Mr. Davidson is recognized as a significant author in the field of intellectual property, especially as it relates to the role of intellectual property in business decision-making. He wrote several articles published by IEEE that forecasted the future of software patenting. He wrote the leading textbook on business management of intellectual property, co-edited a text on Intellectual Property on the Internet, and contributed to a substantial U.S. Patent Practice textbook that was translated and published in both English and Korean.

Jay Berquist

Professional Profile

James D. Berquist (“Jay”) graduated from the University of Missouri with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in May 1985. While in school, Jay worked as a Cooperative Engineer for the Union Electric Company in St. Louis, Missouri, at their Callaway Nuclear Power facility.

After graduation, Jay worked for General Dynamics in their Fort Worth aerospace defense group, specializing in the field of advanced aircraft development. Jay worked for General Dynamics from May 1985 until his departure for law school in August 1986.

While still a law student, Jay worked as a law clerk at the trial firm of Carson, Coil, Riley, McMillian, Levine and Veit in Jefferson City, Missouri. Following graduation from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law in May 1989, Jay became an associate, and later partner, in the Washington D.C. intellectual property law firm of Cushman, Darby & Cushman. Upon the merger of Cushman and Pillsbury in 1996, Jay became a partner in the law firm of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop). While at the Cushman/Pillsbury firm, Jay worked on, and was lead attorney in, a number of patent infringement cases. Jay also lectured at various CLE Seminars on the subject of patent litigation and patent damages.

In June 1997, Jay joined the law firm of Nixon & Vanderhye in Arlington, Virginia, and worked there as a partner until April 2003. While at Nixon, Jay led numerous trial teams in patent cases involving a wide variety of technologies and cases involving claims of unfair competition, anti-trust, and the theft of trade secrets. Among other matters, Jay brought an end to industry-wide infringement of a client’s key patent directed to pressure seal technologies and business forms.

On April 1, 2003, Jay was a founding member of Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey LLP in Arlington, Virginia. Since forming Davidson Berquist, Jay has continued his litigation practice and is currently handling several patent infringement actions pending in Federal Courts around the country.

Jay has patent experience in a broad spectrum of technologies including: computer switching systems, chemical formulations of adhesives and release coatings, business form designs, optical sensor systems, vending machine controls, industrial filters, medical products, electrical distribution systems, furniture design, cooling and ventilation systems, and various automotive components.

Jay is a member of the bars of Missouri, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Jay is also admitted practice before the Patent Office, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Don Jackson

Professional Profile

Don Jackson is a founding partner of Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey, LLP. Mr. Jackson has more than 14 years of experience in all aspects of patent law, including patent litigation, client counseling, patent prosecution, and trademark litigation. Mr. Jackson’s current practice involves all aspects of intellectual property litigation, with a particular emphasis on electrical, electronic, and computer litigation.

Experience

Mr. Jackson has served as first-chair on patent infringement actions. He has participated in several Markman claim construction hearings both with and without witnesses. His professional experience also includes prosecuting patent applications, drafting licenses for patents, copyrights and trade secret technology, and analyzing patents for infringement, validity and enforceability. Mr. Jackson has litigated patent infringement cases involving technology as diverse as telecommunications, integrated circuit design and fabrication, computer networking systems and methods, optical sensing systems, biotechnology manufacturing processes, and asphalt production processes and devices.

Prior to founding DBJG, Mr. Jackson was a partner in an intellectual property law firm also located in Arlington, Virginia from 2000 through March 2003.

After graduation, Mr. Jackson worked for defense contractor in Baltimore, Maryland involving advanced airborne radar, sensing and surveillance systems.

Education

J.D., 1998, George Mason University

B.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1989, University of Tennessee

Admissions and Memberships

Supreme Court of Virginia, 1998

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 1998

U.S. Supreme Court, 1998

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 1998

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1998

Eastern District of Virginia, 1998

Western District of Virginia, 2009

U.S. Court of Federal Claims, 2008

American Bar Association

Peter W. Gowdey

Professional Profile

Prior to joining Davidson Berquist, Mr. Gowdey practiced all aspects of intellectual property law for both domestic and international clients. Mr. Gowdey has extensive experience litigating intellectual property cases before juries in the federal court system, as well as cases at the International Trade Commission. He has argued before the Supreme Court in Holmes v. Vornado, a case dealing with the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), and has an appellate practice including numerous arguments at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as well as the 4th, 5th and 10th Circuits. Peter also has extensive experience in developing intellectual property strategies, client counseling, conducting intellectual property audits and valuing intellectual property rights, and in developing and obtaining intellectual property rights for clients.

Mr. Gowdey was an Examiner in the electrical arts with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and, between 1970-75, was Associate Patent Counsel with Burlington Industries, Inc. where he specialized in licensing and related negotiation efforts, patent litigation and prosecution in mechanical, textile and machinery control areas. Since 1975, Mr. Gowdey has litigated in a variety of areas including: various automotive components, polyurethane foam, textile products and processes, solid state devices, control systems including circuitry, pharmaceuticals and a variety of manufacturing processes.

Mr. Gowdey has lectured on a variety of patent and patent litigation subjects for a number of years in the United States, Japan and Europe. Mr. Gowdey has been a lecturer with the Patent Resources Group (PRG) having developed and lead the Patent Litigation Course, as well as counseling at the Advanced Patent Application and Amendment Writing Workshop. He has also lectured on patent litigation at the Georgetown University National Law Center, and on international trade at George Washington University. He has been an Adjunct Professor at the George Mason University School of Law since 1995 where he teaches patent litigation.

Education and Affiliations

J.D., Union University’s Albany Law School, 1968. B.S., Clarkson University (Mechanical Engineering), 1965.

Admitted: New York, North Carolina and District of Columbia bars; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and other courts. Member: Bar Association of the District of Columbia, American Bar Association, American Intellectual Property Law Association, International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property; past president of the Washington Patent Attorney’s Association. He also regularly attends the Asian Patent Attorney Association (APAA) meetings as a sponsored guest.

Current and Previous Positions

2003 to Date Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey, LLP

2001 to 2003 Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

1996 to 2000 Pillsbury Madison & Sutro LLP

1975 to 1996 Cushman, Darby & Cushman

1970 to 1974 Burlington Industries, Inc. (In-house Patent Counsel)

1968 to 1970 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Patent Examiner)

Kimani Clark

Professional Profile

Kimani Clark specializes in computer and software patent law and, in particular, patent litigation, cross-licensing, patent studies and counseling, and patent prosecution. His experience includes pre-litigation patent strategies and negotiations, management of large-scale patent studies, performing infringement and validity analysis, preparing patent opinions and managing and performing patent prosecution. His areas of technical proficiency generally include software, computers, business methods, electronics and electrical engineering. He has worked with patents and technologies spanning these and other technical areas. In his patent practice, Mr. Clark has represented some of the leading computer and software companies in the world.

Mr. Clark’s experience includes the representation of:

• + a large financial services company in defense of a claim of patent infringement on a business method patent, resulting in a favorable settlement
• + a software company in its patent litigation in the Eastern District of Texas against fifteen companies involving computer and software technology
• + a large semiconductor and electronics manufacturer in litigation in the Eastern District of Texas involving patents related to semiconductor technology; the company was involved in over a dozen related lawsuits worldwide
• + one of the world’s largest electronics and semiconductor manufacturers in a multi-patent suit regarding semiconductor manufacturing processes, resulting in a favorable settlement
• + one of the world’s largest software/computer companies in cross-licensing negotiations with other large high-technology companies; these projects involved the study and analysis of hundreds of software patents
• + a large financial software company in cross-licensing negotiations with a global computer and software company.

Mr. Clark received a B.S. in computer science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and obtained his J.D. from Stanford Law School. Prior to legal practice, Mr. Clark worked as a computer consultant in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Clark is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and is a member of the District of Columbia and Maryland bars. He also serves as a member of several associations, including the American Intellectual Property Law Association, Maryland Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association, American Bar Association and Stanford Law and Technology Association.

Greg Krauss

Professional Profile

Gregory A. Krauss is a partner in the law firm Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey, LLP. Prior to joining the firm, he had a successful solo practice from 2010-2012; was a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP from 2000-2010; and was an associate and partner at Carr Goodson Lee & Warner, P.C. from 1988-2000.

Greg has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame (1984) and a Juris Doctor from Delaware Law School of Widener University (1988).

Greg has been a trial lawyer since 1988. His practice has centered primarily on cases that combine complex scientific issues with complex litigation issues. He has litigated cases involving intellectual property, environmental liability under CERCLA, environmental insurance coverage, toxic tort chemical exposures, and pharmaceutical regulatory issues.

Trial Experience

Greg has trial experience in state, federal and administrative courts, including:

• + Trial co-counsel in a three week CERCLA arranger liability bench trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin representing Appleton Papers Inc. (2012)
• + Trial co-counsel in a four week DRAM patent jury trial in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey representing Matsushita Industrial Electrical, Ltd. (2006)
• + Trial co-counsel in a three month medical device patent jury trial in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee representing Medtronic Sofamor Danek. (2004)
• + Lead trial counsel for Bayer Corporation in administrative proceedings before the United States Food and Drug Administration, In the Matter of: Enrofloxacin for Poultry: Withdrawal of Approval of New Animal Drug Application NADA 140-828, the first animal drug withdrawal case to be tried since 1985. (2002 - 2003)
• + Trial defense co-counsel in a two month, multi-plaintiff, “sick building syndrome” jury trial in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, a case arising from the EPA Headquarters building in Washington, D.C. (1993)
• + Lead counsel in a pro bono asylum case, achieving asylum in September 2010 for a teenaged El Salvadoran girl who was persecuted by gangs in her hometown. Greg was lead trial counsel at the merits hearing. Before a decision on the merits, a law change impacted where the case could be first heard. Greg moved the matter to the United States Customs and Immigration Service and won asylum. (2009 – 2010)
• + Lead counsel in a pro bono asylum case, achieving asylum in February 2007 for an Ethiopian professor who was persecuted and imprisoned on account of his political affiliations, ethnic background and religious beliefs. Greg was lead trial counsel at the May 2005 merits hearing in the United States Immigration Court, Arlington, VA and lead counsel on appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals. (2005 - 2007)

Other Litigation Experience

In addition to the trials above, Greg has achieved results on the merits without trial for a number of clients, including:

• + WTC Captive Insurance Company, Inc. (insurance coverage, summary judgment against Certain Underwriters of Lloyd’s, London and Certain London Market Insurers on duty to defend and equitable contribution, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2008);
• + Swett & Crawford (insurance contract, case dismissed on summary judgment, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 2005);
• + Medtronic Sofamor Danek (conversion and unjust enrichment claims dismissed on summary judgment, United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, 2004);
• + Cutting Edge Technologies (supplier contract, awarded $1.5 million on summary judgment, United States District Court for the District of Maryland, 2002);
• + Continental Insurance Company (insurance coverage, summary judgment finding no coverage, Connecticut Superior Court, 1999)
• + Zurich American Life Insurance (annuity contract, summary judgment finding no breach of contract, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 1995);
• + Rutland Fire Clay Company (asbestos personal injury, summary judgment finding no liability, Circuit Court for Baltimore County, MD 1989).

While attending law school, Greg was a chemical engineer for a multinational chemical company, providing technical support to a chlorofluorocarbon manufacturing plant and conducting laboratory research in composite material development.

Greg is admitted to practice in Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania (inactive) as well as in the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia, District of Maryland, District of New Jersey, Western District of Michigan, and Eastern District of Wisconsin, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Seventh Circuit, and Federal Circuit. He is a member of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.

Wayne Helge

Professional Profile

As an experienced patent attorney, Wayne Helge is skilled in developing and executing strategies for patent litigation, patent and trademark prosecution, and commercial disputes. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of IP-related disputes, including at the Federal level breach of contract actions, patent and trademark infringement suits, and consumer privacy actions. His state cases have included employment lawsuits, breach-of-contract actions, and corporate landlord-tenant disputes

Wayne shares his expertise in inter partes review on his blog, IPRpetitiondenied.com, through which he has analyzed and commented on dozens of granted and denied IPR petitions.

His areas of technical specialty include telecommunications and telecommunications standards, graphical user interfaces (GUIs) especially for cellular devices including smartphones and tablets, augmented reality for smartphones and tablets, semiconductors, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), display panels and driving circuits for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and organic LEDs (OLEDs), power management and power supply systems, business methods including crowdsourcing technology, mechanical systems, and code division multiple access (CDMA) spreading technology.

Education

J.D, Roger Williams University School of Law; Masters of Science (Civil Engineering), University of Illinois; B.S. (Civil Engineering), U.S. Coast Guard Academy; Exchange Cadet to U.S. Air Force Academy

Court and bar affiliations and memberships

Wayne is admitted to practice before all state-level courts in Virginia and before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. He frequently practices in federal court in Texas, Illinois, Florida, California and Texas.

Prior associations

Managing Director, W.M. Helge Law, PLC; Director of Litigation, H.C. Park & Associates, PLC

Prior experience

Wayne is a registered professional engineer, licensed by the State of Rhode Island. He also served as an engineer and officer in the U.S. Coast Guard for eight years while attending law school on a full scholarship.

Walter D. Davis, Jr

Professional Profile

Walter Davis is a partner with Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey. Walter has over 20 years of experience as an intellectual property professional, including more than 15 years of law firm experience and 6 years of experience as a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Walter’s practice consists primarily of patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property litigation, inter partes and post-grant reviews, patent studies and counseling, and patent preparation and prosecution.

He has experience before many courts, including various federal district courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Representative technologies for his cases include smartphones, lighting control systems, consumer appliances, processor technology, software, liquid crystal display devices, plasma display devices, semiconductor design and fabrication, medical imaging systems, battery chargers, computer hardware technology, Internet technology, telecommunications, business methods, and pharmaceuticals.

Walter’s wide-ranging experience enables him to provide a full range of intellectual property services for his clients. Walter has extensive experience managing the day-to-day operation of intellectual property litigations and developing and implementing litigation strategies. In his prosecution practice, Walter has written and prosecuted countless patents in a wide range of technologies, including among others, computer architecture, microprocessors, instruction processing, processing control, storage access and control, computer networks, telecommunications, operating systems, and electronic commerce. Walter uses his litigation expertise to help him attain patents for his clients that can better withstand the rigors of a patent infringement suit.

Walter is frequently invited to speak in the U.S. and abroad about a wide range of topics. He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School, with honors. Directly after graduating from Cornell, Walter spent 6 years as a patent examiner at the PTO, gaining partial signatory authority before leaving to work for a law firm while going to law school at night.

Walter has held multiple leadership positions in the Intellectual Property Section of the National Bar Association, the nation’s oldest and largest association of predominately African American lawyers and judges. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the Defense Research Institute.

Prior to joining Davidson Berquist, Walter was an attorney at the Washington, D.C. office of Axinn, Veltrop, & Harkrider LLP, and the Washington, D.C. office of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, and Dunner, LLP.

Alan Wright

Professional Profile

Alan Wright is a partner with over twenty five years of experience as a patent law professional. He began his patent career in 1989 serving as an Examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the art of ceramic materials and processes. Mr. Wright is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and has experience in both patent prosecution and procurement, as well as post-grant proceedings such as reexaminations. He also served as an Attorney Advisor with the Office of Legislative and International Affairs at the PTO before his clerkship with the Honorable William C. Bryson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. For the past twenty years, Mr. Wright has worked at a number of top law firms in the Washington, D.C. area, focusing on patent litigation and counseling. Mr. Wright also worked in industry for a number of years as a process engineer in both the electronic ceramics and fiber optic industries.

Mr. Wright has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in numerous litigations before various federal district courts as well as the U.S. International Trade Commission in such varied technologies as: • cellular telephone technologies • aircraft engine • pharmaceuticals (ANDA litigation) • drug delivery systems • cosmetics • designs for automotive parts • on-line auctions • semiconductor manufacturing equipment and processing • sunscreen formulations • on-line gaming • domain names

Mr. Wright holds a B.S. degree in Ceramic Engineering from Alfred University, and a J.D. from American University. He was a member of the American University Law Review, where he served as an editor of its Federal Circuit edition, which follows developments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Mr. Wright is a member of the bars of Virginia, the District of Columbia, and New York. He is also a member of the bars for the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Eastern District of Texas, and Colorado, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Mr. Wright also has extensive experience before the federal district courts in Delaware, California, and Illinois.

James Wilson

Professional Profile

Jim Wilson is a partner with Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey. Jim handles complex intellectual property matters, drawing on his experience in patent and trade secret litigation, appellate practice, and patent prosecution. Jim began his intellectual property career in 1992 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).

Jim has studied electrical and computer engineering hardware and software systems in cases involving smartphones, Internet systems, telecommunications, computer networking, integrated circuits, semiconductor packaging, batteries, LED, and laser technologies.

Jim earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University and a J.D. from American University, each with honors.

Jim is a member of the bars of Virginia and the District of Columbia and is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Aldo Noto

Professional Profile

Aldo Noto is a partner with the firm and concentrates his practice in the area of domestic and international intellectual property rights, including patents, trade secrets, copyrights, and trademarks, with an emphasis on contested matters. He is a recognized industry leader in software patent portfolios -- the development, procurement, sale, litigation, and licensing of software patent portfolios.

Having worked at highly regarded international law firms, Mr. Noto brings over 25 years of big law firm experience to bear on solving client’s intellectual property problems. His litigation experience includes intellectual property rights litigation in the "Rocket Docket" Eastern District of Virginia, Eastern District of Texas, before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and U.S. International Trade Commission, as well as the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In addition to litigation, Mr. Noto’s work includes patent portfolio development, management and exploitation, licensing, technology agreements, and providing opinions and advice regarding patentability, freedom to practice, infringement, and validity issues. His experience includes both patent prosecution as well as proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

His industry focuses include electronics, telecom, digital media, interactive television, e-commerce, computer and business methods. His software patent portfolio experience includes a string of successful development and monetizations totaling $100’s of millions including the following portfolios: Discovery Communications’ cable television portfolio sold to Comcast, Daniel Egger’s Software Rights Archive (SRA) internet page searching portfolio asserted against Google, Telequip’s (TQP) encryption portfolio, Bascom’s (DSS) social media linking portfolio, Discovery Communications’ electronic book portfolios, Strikeforce’s two factor authentication portfolio and others going as far back as the development and prosecution of CyberOptics’ portfolio for detecting an object in continuous motion and its ultimate sale in 1994 to Yamaha.

Mr. Noto served as an adjunct law professor for Marymount University’s Masters Program, teaching Computer Law from 1992-2000. From 2000-present, he has taught “Software and Business Method Patents: Procuring and Enforcement” at Patent Resources Group, Inc., the leading provider of CLE in patent law. He frequently writes and presents on the topic of software patents and intellectual property law for leading industry forums and publications.

In 2015 and 2016, Mr. Noto was recognized as a Washington, D.C., “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers. He was also named "One of the World's Leading Patent Practitioners" in Intellectual Asset Management magazine's IAM Patent 1000: The World's Leading Patent Practitioners (2014-2015).

Education

Mr. Noto earned an LL.M. in Intellectual Property and his J.D., with honors, from George Washington University. He received a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science from the State University of New York, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Mr. Noto was an active duty U.S. Coast Guard Officer from 1985-1990 and made arrests for drug offenses on the high seas.

Court and bar affiliations and memberships

Mr. Noto is a member of the bars of Virginia and the District of Columbia and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Fourth Circuit as well as the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.