Erik A. Christiansen

Erik A. Christiansen is a seasoned commercial litigation trial attorney at Parsons Behle & Latimer, where he is a shareholder and co-chair of the firm's securities litigation practice group. His practice encompasses a broad range of complex, high-stakes commercial disputes, including trade secrets litigation, commercial contract disputes, and securities and financial fraud litigation. While his firm handles intellectual property litigation, including patent infringement matters, Mr. Christiansen's individual experience in patent litigation, based on tracked cases, appears as part of his general commercial litigation practice with a focus on defense.

Mr. Christiansen typically defends operating companies, as evidenced by his role as local counsel for defendants in the notable case DISH Technologies L.L.C. et al. v. Aylo Freesites Ltd et al. (D. Utah). This case involved patents related to adaptive video streaming technology. The District of Utah proceedings were stayed pending inter partes review (IPR) of the patents-in-suit. Parallel proceedings in Europe saw Aylo prevail, with an infringement suit dismissed and a patent revoked. Further, an IPR related to the dispute, IPR2024-00046 concerning "Aylo Freesites Ltd v. DISH Technologies LLC," resulted in a patent ("Apparatus, system, and method for multi-bitrate content streaming") being deemed "Unpatentable" in a final written decision, a significant outcome for the defense side.

Prior to joining Parsons Behle & Latimer in Salt Lake City in 1996, Mr. Christiansen practiced for six years in Los Angeles, California, as an associate attorney at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (1990-1993) and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan (1993-1995). He maintains an active practice in California.

Mr. Christiansen earned his J.D. from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah in 1990. He is an active member of the legal community, holding an active license with the State Bar of California and having served as the President of the Utah State Bar from 2023-2024.