Christopher Honea is a Partner at the firm and co-chairs the firm’s Intellectual Property (“IP”) Litigation Group. The IP Litigation Group handles disputes involving patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, computer, and unfair competition law. He handled disputes for clients including Blue Earth, Blue Spike, Extenda Communications, and Wistaria Trading Company. Previously, Chris was in-house counsel for a group of start-up companies, including Evolution Resources, Evolution Fuels, Southwest Resources, and Big Star Media. There he gained valuable experience negotiating, acquiring, and protecting intellectual property. He also brokered deals involving technology that involved other companies, employees, consultants, joint ventures, or investors. This experience provides Chris insight as to what companies are looking for in outside counsel, as well as an appreciation of the costs.

Education and Experience:

Chris graduated from University of Oklahoma with a J.D. with Distinction in 2004 and also with B.S. in Electrical Engineering with Special Distinction in 2001. Chris Honea has practiced patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright litigation for eight years, representing companies such as Sony Electronics, IBM, Intuit, and Roche Molecular. Chris spent three years in the Eastern District of Texas while at the law firm of McKool Smith in Dallas, most notably representing i4i, Inc., which was awarded over $290 million against Microsoft in a patent infringement action relating to their XML technology used in Microsoft Office. Besides McKool Smith, Chris has worked at another of Law360’s Most Feared Plaintiff’s Firms, Quinn Emanuel. He is licensed to practice law in California and Texas.

Admitted to the following courts:

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Supreme Court of California.
Supreme Court of Texas.

Representative Matters:

Represented i4i, Inc. against Microsoft relating to their XML technology used in Microsoft Office, in which the Supreme Court recently affirmed a jury award of over $290 million, Microsoft Corp. v. i4i, Inc., 131 S.Ct. 2238 (2011).

Represented Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. defending against patent infringement claims from Stanford University relating to HIV research. Found the “smoking gun” agreement between a Stanford University professor and Roche Molecular System’s predecessor granting it rights to the patents-in-suit, and which eventually was upheld by the Supreme Court, Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., 131 S.Ct. 2188 (2011).

Represented Wi-LAN, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas as part of its lawsuits and licensing that has led to 230 companies, including Cisco, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, RIM, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba, licensing Wi-LAN technologies.

Represented Sony Electronics in defending patent infringement claims brought by Adams and Associates, Inc., in which Phillip M. Adams had taken millions from the floppy disk market, including Toshiba and Gateway. Sony Electronics was found not liable at trial, Adams and Associates, Inc. v. Sony Electronics, Inc., et al., District of Utah, Case No. 1:05-cv-00064 (filed May 12, 2005).

Represented Taiwanese based MediaTek, Inc. in defending patent infringement claims brought by Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, Ltd., in which MediaTek was able to acquire and assert its own patents that led to a favorable settlement, Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, Ltd. v. MediaTek, Inc., et al., Northern District of California, Case No. 3:05-cv-03148 (filed August 3, 2005).

Represented global discount airline easyJet and Bulletproof Technologies in defending copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation claims relating to software used in easyJet’s booking system brought by Navatiare and, which resulted in a favorable settlement, Bulletproof Technologies, Inc. v. Navitaire, Inc., District of Utah, Case No. 2:03-cv-00428 (filed May 6, 2003).

Represented NexTag in defending trademark and copyright infringement claims brought by LowerMyBills, Inc. relating to online lending advertising, which resulted in a quick and favorable settlement. Lowermybills, Inc. v. NexTag, Inc., Central District of California, Case No. 2:04-cv-09751 (filed December 1, 2004).