John Desmarais

John Desmarais is a highly experienced patent litigator with a national reputation for handling complex, technology-driven disputes for both plaintiffs and defendants. His practice at Desmarais LLP, which he founded, spans a broad range of technologies including semiconductors, telecommunications, networking, computer software, consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, chemicals, and transportation.

Throughout his career, Mr. Desmarais has demonstrated a balanced approach, representing both operating companies seeking to enforce their intellectual property rights and defendants facing infringement allegations. His firm's track record includes both significant plaintiff verdicts and complete defense victories. Before establishing Desmarais LLP in 2010, he was a partner and head of the firmwide Intellectual Property Litigation Practice at Kirkland & Ellis and began his career at Fish & Neave, following a period as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Desmarais has secured numerous notable outcomes, including a $1.5 billion verdict for Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft in a seminal MP3 patent case, and a $372 million judgment for Ravgen in a prenatal testing patent dispute that was upheld on appeal. On the defense side, he has obtained complete defense verdicts for clients such as Apple, Cisco, and Google, and defeated a $4 billion damages claim for Samsung in a semiconductor dispute. More recently, he secured a complete defense verdict for Abiomed Inc. in a blood pump patent trial.

His experience extends beyond district court litigation to administrative proceedings, with Desmarais LLP maintaining successful practices before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and the International Trade Commission (ITC). Mr. Desmarais is admitted to practice in New York, the District of Columbia, and California, and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering, magna cum laude, from Manhattan College, and a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law.