Douglas Lumish

Summary — Douglas E. Lumish, Patent Litigation

Douglas Lumish is a first-chair IP trial lawyer whose practice centers on high-stakes patent, trade secret, and technology litigation for major operating companies. His tracked matters skew heavily toward electronics and software: Wi-Fi standards (IEEE 802.11be/Wi-Fi 7 multi-link operation), data-storage and hard-disk magnetic recording, cloud security, networking, and streaming technology, alongside life-sciences/biotech disputes. He defends operating companies far more often than he prosecutes for patent holders — two of his three tracked appearances were defense roles (Samsung, Western Digital; both as lead counsel), with one plaintiff-side appearance as counsel for Microsoft in Microsoft Corp. v. InterDigital Patent Holdings Inc. Consistent with that, his Weil biography describes a career winning jury trials and summary judgments "for plaintiffs and defendants alike" while defeating billions of dollars in claims against clients including Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple, Comcast, Disney, Arista, and Western Digital (Weil bio; Chambers; Lawdragon).

Firm context. Lumish is Co-Head of Weil, Gotshal & Manges' nationwide IP, Technology & Science Litigation practice, having rejoined Weil in July 2025 after 12 years at Latham & Watkins (where he served as global vice chair of the Litigation & Trial Department and global co-chair of the IP Litigation practice). He began his career at Weil's Silicon Valley office in 1996, spent roughly 15 years there, and then moved to Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman before Latham (Weil; Global Legal Post; Lawdragon). He is a Chambers USA Band 1-ranked California patent litigator and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Notable cases and outcomes. In MR Technologie GmbH v. Western Digital Technologies (C.D. Cal.), Lumish served as lead defense counsel at trial; the jury returned a $262 million verdict for MRT (plus $117 million in prejudgment interest), and Western Digital disclosed an April 2025 global settlement of $130 million covering that case and a related follow-on suit (Reuters; WD SEC filing). In XiFi Networks R&D v. Samsung Electronics (E.D. Tex.), he is lead defense counsel against 11 asserted Wi-Fi 7 patents; Samsung's eight IPR and three PGR petitions were all instituted by the PTAB in December 2025, and the court denied Samsung's stay motion with trial set for October 2026 (CourtListener). Other reported results include a complete defense jury verdict for Microsoft against Acacia (E.D. Tex.), a Google/YouTube invalidity verdict against Eolas (E.D. Tex.), summary-judgment wins for Meta/MasterObjects and WhatsApp/TriPlay, ITC and Customs wins for Arista against Cisco and Comcast against Rovi, and a plaintiff-side win for Codexis finding infringement of all ten asserted patents (Weil bio).

PTAB / IPR and credentials. Lumish regularly engages with the PTAB, typically pairing IPR/PGR strategy with district court defense — the XiFi matter and his work defeating multiple IPRs for Velodyne are documented examples (Weil bio; CourtListener). He is admitted to the California Bar (Dec. 1996) and holds a JD from Santa Clara University School of Law (1996) (State Bar of California; Lawdragon).