Erik Fountain

Erik Fountain is a Principal in McKool Smith's Dallas office, focusing his practice on intellectual property litigation and patent licensing disputes. His work primarily involves complex patent and trade secret matters, with significant experience representing clients as both plaintiffs and defendants. While his recent tracked appearances show a strong emphasis on plaintiff-side representation (4 out of 5 cases), particularly for Nokia Technologies Oy, his broader profile indicates a balanced practice.

Fountain specializes in technologies related to telecommunications, mobile technology, and standard-essential patents (SEPs), including 4G/LTE wireless standards. He is actively involved in Nokia's global patent enforcement campaign, representing Nokia Technologies Oy in actions concerning video coding and compression technologies against major companies like Hisense Co., Ltd., Acer Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., and Paramount Skydance Corp. These cases often involve disputes over essential patents for high-definition video streaming.

Among his notable achievements, Mr. Fountain was part of a trial team that prevailed in the first-ever breach-of-FRAND jury trial in the Eastern District of Texas in 2019. He defended a base-station manufacturer against over 20 asserted 4G/LTE standard-essential patents and represented Ericsson in a licensing dispute involving unpaid royalties and FRAND allegations. He also secured case-dispositive preliminary claim constructions on over 100 claims for Halliburton at a Markman hearing. His experience also extends to trade secret litigation, as evidenced by his representation of clients in disputes over preclinical and clinical-stage bispecific antibodies and automotive radar systems. He was also involved in Nokia's settled patent dispute with Amazon.

Mr. Fountain’s firm, McKool Smith, lists Inter Partes Review (IPR) and PTAB disputes among its practice areas, indicating his involvement in these aspects of patent litigation. He graduated magna cum laude from SMU Dedman School of Law and was a member of the Order of the Coif. Prior to his private practice, he served as a law clerk to Chief Judge J. Rodney Gilstrap in the Eastern District of Texas.