Christopher Honea

Christopher Honea is a Partner and co-chairs the Intellectual Property Litigation Group at Garteiser Honea, a litigation boutique specializing in high-stakes intellectual property and business disputes. His practice encompasses patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, computer, and unfair competition law. With a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, his technical focus areas in patent litigation span software, security, semiconductor, optics, computer architecture, communications, and, to a lesser extent, chemical and biotech fields.

Honea has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in patent infringement actions. While his current tracked appearances show plaintiff-side roles for Garteiser Honea, the firm states it handles complex IP disputes for both plaintiffs and defendants, including Fortune 500 companies. Historically, he has been associated with firms recognized for their plaintiff-side prowess, such as McKool Smith and Quinn Emanuel, where he represented i4i, Inc. He has also defended companies like Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.

His career highlights include significant outcomes in prominent patent cases. Notably, he represented i4i, Inc. in a patent infringement action against Microsoft concerning XML technology, which resulted in a jury award of over $290 million that was ultimately affirmed by the Supreme Court. He also played a key role in representing Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. against Stanford University regarding HIV research, where the Supreme Court upheld a "smoking gun" agreement discovered during litigation. His tracked cases at Garteiser Honea include plaintiff-side representation in IOT Innovations LLC v. Schneider USA Inc, which involves patents related to IoT systems, and DataTreasury Corporation v. Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., concerning systems for remote data acquisition and centralized processing of document images and data.

While his "Ex Parte" profile does not detail extensive IPR/PTAB petitioner activity, Honea was involved in defending the DataTreasury patents during a Covered Business Method (CBM) review where certain claims were found unpatentable, indicating experience with post-grant proceedings. Christopher Honea earned his J.D. with Distinction and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with Special Distinction from the University of Oklahoma in 2004 and 2001, respectively. He is admitted to practice in California and Texas, as well as before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and several U.S. District Courts.