Frank L. Watson, III

Frank L. Watson, III — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Frank L. Watson III is a Memphis-based commercial trial lawyer whose practice centers on business litigation, class actions, and complex commercial disputes rather than patent litigation as a specialty. In the tracked patent matters, he has appeared exclusively as local counsel on the plaintiff side (2 of 2 appearances), for Flexiworld Technologies, Inc. — a non-practicing entity (Stanford NPE database classifies Flexiworld as a "failed startup") asserting a wireless printing and output technology portfolio. Watson's role in these cases was local-counsel support for out-of-state lead counsel (Nelson Bumgardner Conroy, PC), consistent with his West Tennessee roots rather than a standing NPE-prosecution practice. Directory bios describe substantial experience on both sides of complex litigation generally, but his tracked patent docket is entirely plaintiff-side local counsel work.

Firm context and case highlights. Watson co-founded Watson Burns, PLLC in Memphis in 2005 with William F. Burns; the boutique litigates a deliberately small number of high-stakes cases and has recovered over $150 million for clients, per the firm's own site. He previously was a partner at Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz. His tracked patent cases are the four coordinated actions in Flexiworld Technologies, Inc. v. Brother Industries (U.S.A.), Inc. (W.D. Tenn., 2:22-cv-02236, -02237, -02250, -02251), filed April 2022 over wireless/driverless printing and wireless-proximity patents. All four actions terminated in March 2023 via a consent judgment entered with prejudice, closing the coordinated litigation on undisclosed terms. His verifiable non-patent results include Slusser v. CFTC (7th Cir. 2000) and a $6.38 million bench-trial win in Bass v. First Pacific Networks, though these sit outside his patent practice.

PTAB / IPR experience: No evidence was found that Watson appears regularly — or at all — before the PTAB in IPR/PGR proceedings; his patent exposure appears limited to district-court local counsel roles.

Bar / education: Admitted in Tennessee (1991); B.A., Washington & Lee University (1988); J.D., cum laude, Tulane University School of Law (1991). Super Lawyers honoree (2016–2025). Caveat: several sources must be disambiguated from other attorneys named "Frank Watson"; the above reflects the Frank L. Watson III at Watson Burns, PLLC.