Connor Houghton focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation in a wide variety of technologies, and works tirelessly with clients to secure favorable outcomes in difficult strategic situations. He has participated in cases before federal district and appellate courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Skilled in patent litigation in the district courts and the ITC, Connor’s experience includes preparing and filing complaints, coordinating fact discovery, drafting motions, working with expert witnesses, conducting and defending fact and expert depositions, participating in hearings, and participating in trials before both juries and administrative law judges. Connor has also managed filing and defending inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Office. He has experience briefing complex patent issues before district courts and the Federal Circuit.

Prior to joining the firm, Connor was an associate at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP.

Representative Matters

• Representing Cirba Inc. (d/b/a Densify) in ongoing patent litigation against tech giant VMware, including two trial successes, defending against counterclaims, litigating proceedings at the USPTO, and participating in related appeals.

  • Helped secure an $84 million willful patent infringement verdict on behalf of Cirba, following a five-day jury trial in the District of Delaware. After only two hours of deliberation, the jurors decided VMware willfully infringed Cirba’s patent that covers cutting-edge virtualization technology. The verdict earned The AmLaw Litigation Daily’s “Litigator of the Week” Shout Out. This is the second time a jury determined that VMware committed willful infringement.

  • Following a nine-day jury trial in the District of Delaware in 2020, secured a $236 million jury verdict that was recognized in The National Law Journal’s 2021 “Verdicts Hall of Fame” and among the “Top 100 Verdicts of 2020.”

• Represented Corning Optical Communications in patent litigation at the ITC, including a victory finding respondents in violation of Section 337 and issued a General Exclusion Order against all infringing products, which was upheld on appeal. The win for Corning bars all infringing products from the U.S. for the life of the patents.

• Represented Caterpillar in two ITC trials and several inter partes review proceedings before the PTAB against a major competitor involving multiple patents on road construction technology. Successfully invalidated several patents and achieved exclusion order barring competitor from importing infringing products.

• Representing OPTO Electronics Ltd. in ongoing breach of contract litigation and related appeals against a competitor, including assertion of patent misuse counterclaims.

• Represented Arconic in a trade secret and breach of contract dispute involving automotive aluminum processing, including defending contract and antitrust counterclaims.

• Represented renowned chef and restaurateur Emeril Lagasse in defense of a patent infringement dispute filed by SharkNinja over the popular pressure cooker appliance, the Ninja Foodi.

• Representing shoemaker Athalonz LLC in a patent infringement lawsuit against Under Armour in the Eastern District Court of Texas, alleging that Under Armour sells products that use the plaintiff’s patented athletic shoe technology.

• Representing Valtrus Innovations, Ltd. in ongoing patent infringement litigation in the Eastern District of Texas relating to data center technologies.

• Represented a variety of companies in response to subpoenas at the International Trade Commission.

Publications

• Coauthor, “Federal Circuit Report: Recent Opinion in VLSI Technology LLC v. Intel Corporation,” New Matter (Spring 2024 Edition)

• Coauthor, “ITC Trade Secrets Claims: Why Are They Not Used More by Companies in the USA?” Chambers Expert Focus (October 17, 2023)

• Author, “Federal Circuit Report: Recent Opinion in DBN Holding, Inc v. International Trade Commission,” New Matter (Summer 2022 Edition)

• Coauthor, “ITC Seems Unlikely To Stay Investigations For Parallel IPRs,” Law360 (March 17, 2021)

• Coauthor, “ITC Dispute May Lead To PTAB Litigation Strategy Shifts,” Law360 (January 27, 2021)

Speaking Engagements

• Panelist, “Developments at the ITC: License-Based Domestic Industry,” Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG), April 20, 2022

• Panelist, “The Ins & Outs of Related Proceedings Before the International Trade Commission (ITC) and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB),” Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG), August 5, 2021