Damon J. Whitaker

I'll research this attorney's professional background before drafting.

Let me verify the SIPCO/Emerson matters and check for PTAB experience.

Let me confirm current firm status and check for any PTAB appearances under his name.

Damon J. Whitaker — Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP (Atlanta/Miami)

Specialty / focus. Whitaker is a general intellectual-property and commercial litigator rather than a patent-first practitioner. His firm bio describes patent work in software, wireless communications, bio-chemical assays, children's products, and other technologies, alongside a substantial trademark, false-advertising (Lanham Act), trade-secret, and UDRP practice; he also handles consumer-finance and higher-education matters. His undergraduate degree in biology is cited as a basis for his work on "tests prove" advertising claims and life-sciences/assay disputes. The patent-side footprint in the tracked data is narrow and consistent with that profile: all three tracked matters arise from the same wireless/mesh-networking patent dispute (SIPCO's "Petite" portfolio against Emerson Electric and affiliates).

Side preference. He works principally on the accused-infringer/operating-company side. Of the three tracked appearances, two are defendant-side and one is plaintiff-side — but the plaintiff-side matter is Emerson Electric Co. v. SIPCO, LLC, i.e., a declaratory-judgment/invalidity action brought by the operating company against the patent owner, not NPE enforcement. Nothing in the record indicates he prosecutes patent cases for NPEs/PAEs.

Firm context. All tracked appearances are under the Bryan Cave name (legacy Bryan Cave LLP, now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP following the 2018 merger with Berwin Leighton Paisner). He is currently Counsel in BCLP's Atlanta office (also listed for Miami), where he is a member of the IP & Technology Disputes group and leads the Atlanta office's trademark/copyright registration practice.

Notable matters. The tracked cases center on the long-running Emerson–SIPCO wireless communications litigation, which spanned the N.D. Ga. (No. 1:15-cv-00319-AT), E.D. Tex., and D. Del. district courts and the ITC, and which ran in parallel with a large PTAB family (multiple IPRs plus CBM2016-00095). Whitaker appears on district-court filings for Emerson (with William V. Custer of Bryan Cave and lead counsel Ropes & Gray) in roles described as local and outside counsel. His best-documented standalone result is a non-patent one: WIKA Instrument Corp. v. Ashcroft, Inc. (N.D. Ga.), a two-week Lanham Act false-advertising/unfair-competition trial that produced a plaintiff verdict (disgorgement, injunction, corrective advertising, fees) and a complete defense verdict on the competitor's counterclaims; it was recognized as one of Georgia's Top 20 verdicts of 2016 (10th highest). He also represented Puff Corporation in Puff Corp. v. Kandypens, Inc. (D. Del.), resolved by a global settlement including corrective advertising.

PTAB / IPR. No PTAB appearances are evident for him. The Emerson petitions in the SIPCO IPRs/CBM were prosecuted by Ropes & Gray (James L. Davis Jr., James R. Batchelder, Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, et al.); Whitaker's documented role is in the district-court proceedings. I would not characterize him as a regular IPR/PGR practitioner on the current record. Note also that this record covers only three tracked appearances, so it likely understates his overall litigation docket.

Bar / education. Admitted Georgia (2003) and Florida (2004); also admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the N.D. Ga. and M.D. Ga. J.D., University of Florida (high honors, Order of the Coif, 2003); B.S., Biology, University of North Florida (magna cum laude, 1998).