Douglas A. Cawley

Douglas A. Cawley is a Principal in the Dallas office of McKool Smith.  For more than thirty years, he has been engaged in the trial of complex cases, and has handled major intellectual property matters throughout the United States and across the globe.  He has served as lead counsel in five patent infringement trials that have earned "Top 100 Verdicts" rankings by the National Law Journal and VerdictSearch in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012.

Mr. Cawley is ranked as a leading intellectual property lawyer by Chambers USA and is included in the Lawdragon 500 listing of "Leading Lawyers in America."  He was named the 2011 Dallas Intellectual Property Litigation "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers and is consistently listed in the publication for his work in intellectual property law. Most recently, he was named the 2013 "Litigator of the Year (South)" by Benchmark Litigation.  

Mr. Cawley is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the American Bar Association Section on Intellectual Property Law. He is a frequent speaker on patent litigation at seminars throughout the country.

Representative Matters

• VirnetX, Inc. VirnetX v. Microsoft Corp., (ED Tex.).  Represents VirnetX in a patent infringement action involving virtual private network technology.  After a weeklong trial jury returned a verdict in favor of VirnetX that included findings of infringement, willful infringement, and validity for all asserted claims.
• i4i Limited Partnership and Infrastructures for Information Inc.  i4i Limited Partnership v. Microsoft Corporation (E.D. Tex.).  Represents i4i Limited Partnership and Infrastructures for Information Inc. in a suit filed against Microsoft Corporation for patent infringement involving a method and system for manipulating architecture and content of a document separately from each other.  After an eight-day trial, the jury found the patent valid and infringed, rendering a verdict in favor of i4i Limited Partnership and Infrastructures for Information Inc.
• Ericsson.  In Ericsson v. Samsung Mr. Cawley was lead counsel for Ericsson and Sony Ericsson in global litigation relating to cellular technology.  He supervised district court litigation in which more than 40 patents were asserted; two simultaneous International Trade Commission investigations; and parallel litigation pending in the U.K., the Netherlands, and Germany.  This global litigation was settled on terms favorable to Ericsson on the eve of the first ITC hearing.
• In Ericsson v. Harris, Mr. Cawley obtained a favorable jury verdict on behalf of Ericsson on litigation involving patented telephone subscriber line interface circuits, and successfully argued two appeals of the case to the Federal Circuit.  In parallel litigation, Harris v. Ericsson, he represented Ericsson in defense of patent infringement allegations relating to wireless communications. 
• TGIP.  As lead counsel in TGIP v. AT&T Mr. Cawley obtained a jury verdict that was, at the time, the largest jury verdict ever handed down in the Eastern District of Texas.  The case involved patents protecting a system for point-of-sale activation of telephone calling cards.  Following a JMOL of non-infringement, the case was settled while on appeal to the Federal Circuit. 
• Anascape.  Mr. Cawley was lead counsel in Anascape v. Microsoft and Nintendo, in which he obtained a very favorable jury verdict from Nintendo for infringement of patents on video game controllers.
• Rambus.  Mr. Cawley represents Rambus in litigation in the Northern District of California against global DRAM manufacturers.  This litigation involves cutting-edge issues about the inter-relationship of standard setting and patent enforcement.
• FAS Technologies.  Mr. Cawley was lead counsel in the trial and Federal Circuit Appeal for the prevailing party in Cybor v. FAS Technologies.  Tried in the Northern District of California, this case produced a seminal en banc Federal Circuit decision on claim construction and prosecution history estoppel.
• Collagenex and State University of New York.  Mr. Cawley represented Collagenex and SUNY in Collagenex v. Ivax and Corepharma.  This matter, pending in the Eastern District of New York involved a preliminary injunction hearing following an ANDA proceeding for pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of periodontal disease.
• Intel.  In Northrop Grumman v. Intel, Mr. Cawley was lead counsel representing Intel and its subsidiary Xircom in patent litigation alleging infringement of Ethernet protocols.
• Freescale. In Maxim v. Freescale, pending in the Northern District of California, Mr. Cawley is lead counsel for Freescale in patent litigation relating to semiconductor devices.
• DGI Technologies.  Mr. Cawley was lead counsel for DGI in Alcatel v. DGI Technologies, a complex copyright, trade secret, and anti-trust case.  On appeal, he successfully argued for the first application of the doctrine of copyright misuse in the fifth circuit.  
• Vari-Lite.  Mr. Cawley as lead counsel obtained a preliminary injunction on behalf of Vari-Lite, a manufacturer of patented entertainment lighting systems and successfully argued the appeal of the injunction at the Federal Circuit.  In Vari-Lite v. High-End Systems, Mr. Cawley represented the company in litigation relating to patents protecting the design and implementation of lighting systems. 
• IEX.  Mr. Cawley was lead counsel representing the holder of software patents used in the telephone call center industry.  

Professional & Community Activities

• American Intellectual Property Law Association
• American Bar Association Section on Intellectual Property Law

Awards & Recognition

• Named "IP Star" by Managing IP (2013)
• Named 2012 "Litigator of the Year (South)" by Benchmark Litigation
• Ranked as an Intellectual Property "Litigation Star" by Benchmark Litigation 
• Listed as a "National IP Litigation Star" and "Texas Litigation Star" by Benchmark Plaintiff
• Named the Best Lawyers 2012 Dallas Litigation - Intellectual Property "Lawyer of the Year"
• Ranked in Chambers USA as a leading intellectual property lawyer in Texas
• Listed in the Best Lawyers in America for Intellectual Property Law
• Peers have named him to the list of Super Lawyers every year since 2003
• Included in the Lawdragon 500 listing of "Leading Lawyers in America"

News

Press Releases

Seminars & Speaking Engagements