John M. Desmarais

John M. Desmarais is a prominent US patent litigator and the founding partner of Desmarais LLP, an intellectual property trial boutique established in 2010. Prior to founding his firm, he was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, where he headed the firmwide Intellectual Property Litigation Practice, and began his career at Fish & Neave. His practice spans a broad range of high-stakes patent disputes, primarily in the technology and life sciences sectors, including electronics, software, mobile technology, semiconductors, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.

Mr. Desmarais is known for his extensive trial work for both plaintiffs and defendants. While his recent tracked appearances show a preference for defending operating companies, with 12 defendant-side roles compared to 4 plaintiff-side, his firm is noted for specializing in jury trials for both sides. He also has experience with Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings, with his firm securing PTAB wins for clients like Ravgen, and is familiar with the interplay between PTAB and district court proceedings.

His notable successes include securing a $1.5 billion verdict for Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft and an $82.5 million willful infringement win for IBM against Groupon. On the plaintiff side, he was lead trial counsel for Ravgen in a $272 million jury win against LabCorp concerning prenatal testing technology, later enhanced to $372 million and upheld by the Federal Circuit. He also achieved a $1.25 billion settlement for ViiV Healthcare and Shionogi against Gilead in a case involving HIV drugs. As defense counsel, Mr. Desmarais has obtained complete defense verdicts for clients such as Abiomed Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) against claims exceeding $400 million, and represented Cisco in a case where the plaintiff, Arista, agreed to pay Cisco $400 million to settle. His firm has also defended Apple in patent infringement lawsuits, securing non-infringement verdicts, and successfully defeated a $4 billion damages claim for Samsung.

Mr. Desmarais earned his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Manhattan College in 1985 and his Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law in 1988. He is admitted to practice in New York, the District of Columbia, and California, and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.