Eric J. Ward

I'll research this attorney before drafting.

Let me dig into the patent cases and any PTAB experience.

Eric J. Ward — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Specialty / focus areas. Ward is best characterized as a general commercial trial litigator who handles patent infringement matters as part of a broader business and IP litigation practice, rather than as a standalone IP specialist. His firm bio describes patent infringement work in courts nationwide for high-technology companies and academic institutions, with experience spanning medical devices, consumer electronics, office equipment, and industrial machinery. The tracked patent matter is in the wireless printing / networked document-output space (IEEE 802.11- and Bluetooth-enabled printing), and other reported patent matters he has been involved in cover healthcare IT software and glass/consumer electronics. There is no public indication of a pharma/ANDA or standards-essential-patent (FRAND) specialty.

Side preference. Every tracked appearance is on the defense side: 0 plaintiff, 3 defendant. All three are the same underlying dispute — the consolidated Flexiworld Technologies, Inc. v. Xerox Corp. actions in W.D.N.Y. (Nos. 6:23-cv-06370, -06371, -06373), in which plaintiff Flexiworld is a patent assertion entity. Ward appeared on behalf of Xerox and is the defendant-side local counsel; the tracked role in each docket is local counsel, with McKool Smith as lead/outside patent counsel. Nothing in the public record indicates he asserts patents for NPEs or takes plaintiff-side infringement work.

Firm context. Ward is a partner in the Rochester, New York office of Hodgson Russ LLP, where he moved effective January 1, 2024, when the ten Rochester attorneys of Ward Greenberg Heller & Reidy LLP joined Hodgson Russ. He was a co-founder of Ward Greenberg, the litigation boutique that ceased operations at the end of 2023 (its remaining offices went to Freeman Mathis & Gary). Both tracked firm labels therefore reflect the same career: Ward Greenberg pre-2024, Hodgson Russ after.

Notable cases and outcomes. The Flexiworld v. Xerox litigation resolved on May 21, 2024, by stipulated dismissal with prejudice of all claims and counterclaims under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii), each party bearing its own costs and fees — no merits ruling, injunction, or damages award, and no § 285 fee finding, so the result should not be read as a merits win. He also appeared in Medgraph, Inc. v. Medtronic, Inc. (W.D.N.Y.), where the court granted summary judgment for the defendant on direct and induced infringement (a filing attributes the defense to "Ward" of Ward Greenberg, though first-name confirmation is worth verifying), and is listed on a filing as counsel in Saxon Glass Technologies, Inc. v. Apple, Inc. (W.D.N.Y.).

PTAB / IPR experience. No IPR, PGR, or other PTAB proceedings naming Eric J. Ward were located in the public record; his patent work appears to be district-court defense-side, generally in a local-counsel capacity.

Bar / education. Admitted in New York (1983); also admitted to the U.S. District Courts for all four New York districts, the Eastern District of Texas, and the Second Circuit, subject to pro hac vice admissions elsewhere. J.D., cum laude, Washington and Lee University (1982); B.A., cum laude, Albion College (1978). He is a member of AIPLA and serves on the W.D.N.Y. mediator panel — note that he is not listed as a USPTO-registered patent attorney, consistent with a local-counsel rather than patent-prosecution role.

Caveat: the case list and the web-sourced patent matters are thin (essentially one litigated NPE defense plus a handful of other appearances), so any description of him as a "patent litigator" should be understood as ancillary to a commercial-litigation and trial practice, not as a dedicated patent specialty.