David Vondle

David C. Vondle‘s practice focuses on IP litigation and complex technical cases, particularly in Section 337 investigations at the ITC. He is also the hiring partner for the firm’s IP practice and serves on the Hiring Committee for the Washington, D.C., office.

David has extensive litigation experience in IP cases that have significant commercial value for his clients that involve a wide range of technologies, including computer hardware and software, wireless communications, biotechnology, medical devices and consumer electronics. He frequently leads teams of attorneys in cases involving patents and trade secrets.

He has successfully represented U.S. and foreign companies in ITC investigations through trial, appeal, and in proceedings before the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He also represents clients in federal and state courts, at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and in alternative dispute resolution.

He also advises clients on global transactions involving IP, including acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings and joint ventures across a broad swath of industries. He represented the creditors of Nortel on all IP issues in a series of complicated asset sales, including the auction of more than 6,000 patents and patent applications for more than $4 billion.

He also represented creditors in Eastman Kodak’s sale of its digital imaging patents for $525 million, as well as the recent restructuring of Avaya Inc., and Sears. His experience further includes royalty monetization and other IP-driven transactions, with a particular emphasis on the health care and life sciences industry.

David also counsels clients regarding the implementation of programs to protect their trade secrets and other confidential information.

Experience:

• Counsels clients about the implications of judicial decisions, legislative action and disruptive technologies, along with the related impacts and risks to their business, products and customers.
• Represents public and private companies in intellectual property (IP) litigation at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in federal court, inter partes reviews (IPR) and other proceedings at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and in IP transactions in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America.

Representative Work:

• Recent Representative ITC Experience:
  • Represented the leading human interface technology company in an ITC investigation involving touchscreen controllers for mobile devices, obtaining a favorable settlement after trial.
  • Represented a leading supplier of personal computers and tables in an ITC investigation involving audio processing hardware and software for consumer electronics devices, obtaining a favorable settlement shortly before the trial.
  • Represented a leading consumer electronics company in a Section 337 investigation relating to televisions and television tuners, obtaining a complete win at trial that was affirmed in its entirety by the ITC. The complainant subsequently withdrew its appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Represented plaintiff/complainant 3M Company as lead counsel in a three-patent dispute involving 3M’s ground-breaking shielded ribbon cable technology against Amphenol Corp. and related respondents. 3M filed a district court action in Delaware and an investigation before the ITC. Amphenol countered with four IPR petitions challenging 3M’s patents. Just weeks prior to trial, Amphenol entered into a consent order addressing all accused products and terminated the IPRs.
  • Obtained a complete victory for a leading consumer electronics company in an ITC investigation where the complainant asserted five patents related to video processing technology that would have excluded virtually all of the products sold by the client from importation into the United States. The parties settled after trial and after the ITC affirmed a determination of no violation.
• Recent Representative District Court Litigation:
  • Represented one of the world’s leading Internet and software companies in patent litigation in Delaware and the Eastern District of Texas involving a variety of technologies.
  • Represented one of the world’s leading Internet companies in patent litigation in Delaware relating to data display.
  • Represented a leading document technology and services company in the Eastern District of Texas relating to multifunction devices and software.
  • Represented a leading computer supplier in patent litigation in the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of California relating to wireless standards.

Affiliations:

• Member, International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association.
• Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association. International Trade Commission committee.
• Member, Federal Circuit Bar Association.
• Sponsor, Friends of the National Zoo.
• Member, James Smithson Society of the Smithsonian Institution.

Education:

• J.D., University of Houston Law Center,cum laude, 2002
• M.S., Ohio State University, 1999
• B.S., North Carolina State University,magna cum laude, 1996

Bar Admissions:

• California
• District of Columbia
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office