Jon W. Gurka

Jon W. Gurka — Patent Litigation Profile

Specialty / focus areas. Gurka is a first-chair complex patent litigator with roughly three decades of experience, concentrated in electronics-heavy technologies: semiconductor processing and manufacturing, computer hardware/software, microprocessor and electro-mechanical control systems, digital signal processing, telecommunications, medical devices (pulse oximetry, surgical implants), and — per his current docket — AI/high-performance computing and cluster computing systems. His practice also spans trademark, trade dress, copyright, trade secret, and unfair competition matters (Crowell & Moring bio; Law360, 12/14/2023).

Side preference. His two tracked appearances are both plaintiff-side: he represents Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. (ACS) asserting patents against Intel and AMD in the Western District of Texas — appearing as backup counsel in the Intel action and PHV counsel in the AMD action (firm materials describe him as lead trial counsel on both). His broader track record is genuinely two-sided: he has secured verdicts for patent owners (Masimo, Schindler/Inventio, Advanced Thermal Sciences) and defended operating companies against NPE assertions (SecureAuth, Flexera, Toshiba, iHeartMedia, BroadVision). Crowell recruited him specifically for "a rare combination of defensive patent litigation experience, as well as plaintiff-side patent litigation."

Firm context & notable cases. A partner at Crowell & Moring LLP (Irvine/Orange County) since December 2023, and co-chair of its Patents Group; previously a partner at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, where he co-chaired the Electrical Engineering/Computer Science/Consumer Electronics litigation group. Headline results include the $466M Masimo v. Philips pulse-oximetry verdict (largest IP verdict of 2014), with the jury rejecting Philips' $169M counterclaims in full; a $164M award in Mallinckrodt v. Masimo; a 33-of-33-question jury win in Schindler v. Otis (with a Federal Circuit reversal at 593 F.3d 1275); and a full § 101 dismissal of 43 asserted claims in Strikeforce v. SecureAuth, affirmed by the Federal Circuit (2019). The tracked ACS v. Intel/AMD matters (Judge Albright, W.D. Tex.) are pending post-Markman (Aug. 2025).

PTAB/IPR experience & credentials. Gurka appears regularly before the PTAB — as patent owner's counsel in the Intel/AMD IPRs against ACS (IPR2025-00794/-00795 and -00913 through -00916), in PGR2025-00001 (Catalyst v. Shoulder Innovations), and previously secured a clean sweep of six IPR institution denials for SureCall (2019); he has also published on IPR estoppel (Law360, 2017). He is licensed in California (1997), before the Federal Circuit and Ninth Circuit, and the USPTO; he holds a B.S.E.E. from the University of Connecticut (1989) and a J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law (1996).