F. Scott Kieff

I'll research this attorney's background before drafting.

Let me verify the tracked cases and PTAB experience.

F. Scott Kieff — patent litigation practice summary

Specialty / focus. Kieff's work is not confined to a single technology silo. His formal training is in molecular biology and microeconomics (MIT), and his published research and teaching span biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents, patent law and economics, standard-setting/hold-up issues, and the patent–antitrust interface (GW Law faculty page; Hoover Institution profile; Fordham IP Institute bio). His tracked litigation/appearance activity is on the electronics side: the Avant Location Technologies LLC v. Apple Inc. matter concerns mobile-telephone network/location technology, and the related dispute family involves Apple IPR challenges to that patent family (USPTO PTAB filings in the Avant/Apple matter). His own firm descriptions emphasize IP, antitrust, trade, finance, and national security, and note experience with mechanical, circuit, and software subject matter (GW Law CV). Public listings do not show a recurring Wi-Fi-standards litigation practice for him specifically.

Side preference / role. The tracked data show one plaintiff-side and one defendant-side appearance — effectively balanced, with no demonstrated preference for defending operating companies or prosecuting for NPEs/PAEs. Notably, his plaintiff-side appearance (Avant) is captioned in his own name/firm as "Advisor and Expert Litigation Advice/Testimony" rather than as counsel of record, consistent with the role he has occupied since entering academia: testifying and consulting expert, mediator, and arbitrator rather than first-chair trial counsel (GW Law faculty page; Hoover/USITC bios). The single tracked defendant-side appearance is listed as lead counsel, but the tracker contains no case name or public detail for it, so no conclusion about that representation should be drawn beyond the entry itself.

Firm context and career path. He is the Stevenson Bernard Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School (on leave for government service 2013–2017) and founder of Kieff Strategies LLC, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm that states it does not practice law and provides expert advice/testimony, investigations, mediation, arbitration, and compliance monitoring (Kieff Strategies; AIPLA ADR listing). He is also a visiting fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. Before academia he practiced as a trial and patent lawyer at Pennie & Edmonds (New York) and Jenner & Block (Chicago), and later was a principal at McKool Smith (D.C.); he clerked for Judge Giles S. Rich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (GW Law faculty page; Obama White House nomination release, 2012).

Notable matters and outcomes. Beyond the Avant engagement, his most prominent public credentials are governmental and scholarly rather than litigated results: Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission (2013–2017, nominated by President Obama, confirmed unanimously by the Senate), member of the USPTO Patent Public Advisory Committee (2008–2011), founding member of the Federal Circuit Appellate Mediation Panel, and member of the FedArb IP panel (USITC press release 13-098; GW Law faculty page; AIPLA listing). He is co-author of the Principles of Patent Law casebook/treatise and has written widely on patent reform and the AIA (Hoover Institution publications). I found no verifiable jury verdict or Federal Circuit appellate result attributable to him as counsel.

PTAB / IPR experience. No public source I located shows Kieff personally appearing in IPR/PGR proceedings as counsel or as a named expert declarant. The Avant/Apple dispute does involve IPRs, but the petitions I reviewed do not reference him.

Bar / education. Admitted in New York, Illinois, and D.C., the USPTO, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit, and several federal district courts (AIPLA application/CV). B.S., MIT (molecular biology; economics minor); J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School.