Strategies and Best Ways to Deal with Trolls/NonPracticing Entities (NPEs)

Ann Fort, a member of Sutherland’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, protects the intellectual property rights of clients in the U.S. and abroad. Her experience encompasses patent infringement, licensing disputes, trade secret protection, and unfair competition, including trademark and copyright disputes. She represents businesses facing claims by patent assertion entities, both litigating and negotiating resolutions involving a wide variety of patents and owners.

Ann focuses her practice on technology businesses and has handled cases involving financial institution software products, Internet-based information management systems, ground fault circuit interrupters, power management unit chips, interactive television program guides, computer network security protection systems, and medical information systems.

Ann’s public service work includes serving on American Bar Association and Georgia Bar committees charged with supporting capital defense representation. She also serves on the boards of TurningPoint Women’s HealthCare and the Women in Technology Foundation.

Mark Nelson is a partner in Dentons’ Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice. He has nearly 20 years of experience litigating large, multifaceted patent infringement cases in federal district courts and before the International Trade Commission.

Mark’s experience in patent litigation spans a number of diverse technologies, including biotechnology; semiconductor products and the processes used to make such products; telecommunications and networking; satellite communications; gaming technology; financial services technology (e.g. payment systems, mobile payment systems, check processing, ATM functionality, and software, hardware and infrastructure supporting same); machine learning; personalized communications systems; Internet-related personalization; navigation technology; cryptography; electronic circuitry; Internet business methods and search engines; computer software;
explosives used in automobile airbags and other automotive technology; soft drink bottling technology; electric motor technology; stereo speakers; cosmetics; chemical compositions used in cosmetics, asexually reproduced plants, and asynchronous assembly techniques.

In addition, he has experience drafting and negotiating IP license agreements, counseling clients on setting up and maintaining IP licensing and/or IP capture programs, performing corporate IP due diligence, and opinion work. He also has handled copyright, trademark and trade secret matters, and other technology-related litigation matters.

Victor de Gyarfas is a partner in the Intellectual Property Litigation Group of the Los Angeles office of Foley & Lardner LLP. He has been lead counsel in more than 50 patent litigation matters, including more than 30 matters defending against Non-Practicing Entities. He regularly appears in many of the venues in which Non-Practicing Entities most frequently file, including the Eastern District of Texas, the District of Delaware, and the Northern and Central Districts of California. Victor has also resolved numerous claims by Non-Practicing Entities before the filing of a lawsuit, including a number of resolutions involving no payment to the Non-Practicing Entity. Additionally, Victor is a registered patent attorney. Before becoming an attorney, he worked as an engineer and was a named inventor on patents.