Eric C. Westerhold

Eric C. Westerhold is an Of Counsel attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, focusing his practice on patent litigation. His experience, as evidenced by his tracked appearances, includes representing defendants in complex technology disputes.

Westerhold's patent litigation experience includes defending clients against claims related to advanced software and cryptographic technologies. Notably, he is involved in Malikie Innovations Limited v. Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc., where he represents Marathon Digital Holdings. This case centers on allegations of infringement concerning patents related to elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) used in Bitcoin mining operations, with Malikie Innovations, a non-practicing entity, having acquired the patents from BlackBerry. The lawsuit highlights ground-breaking innovations in elliptic curve cryptography that were later recognized and selected by the designers of Bitcoin.

Westerhold appears to primarily represent defendants, consistent with his single tracked appearance on the defense side in litigation against a patent assertion entity. His educational background includes a J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is admitted to the District of Columbia Bar. While Paul, Weiss broadly engages in intellectual property litigation and publications touch on USPTO guidance for AIA institutions, specific details on Westerhold's regular appearances in IPR/PGR proceedings are not reliably sourced.