Laura M. Burson

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Laura M. Burson — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Focus areas. Burson is an IP trial lawyer and registered patent attorney whose practice spans a wide technical range: chemicals and chemical manufacturing processes, medical devices (hearing implants, contrast-media injectors, spinal implants), biotechnology/pharmaceuticals, and computer, semiconductor and consumer-electronics technologies. Her tracked matters reflect the high-tech side of that mix — the Flexiworld wireless printing/software NPE litigation against Epson America, streaming and digital-media patent suits in the Central District of California, and a wearable breast-pump patent dispute (Willow Innovations v. Chiaro Technology/Elvie, E.D. Tex.) — while her longer-running work (Honeywell, Cochlear, Medtronic, Covidien, Activision) reflects the life-sciences and chemical portfolio described on her Sheppard Mullin and O'Melveny bios.

Side preference. The tracked docket is 10 defendant-side appearances and zero plaintiff-side, but that skew is largely a function of role: several of those entries are Flexiworld matters in which she served as local counsel (and at times lead/local counsel) for Epson America against a non-practicing-entity plaintiff, plus defense of Disney/BAMTech/Hulu/ESPN. Her broader record is genuinely two-sided — her most prominent results have been as plaintiff's counsel (SecurityPoint, LendingTree, Activision, Covidien), alongside defense work for Honeywell, Medtronic and Cochlear. In short, she is an operating-company litigator who handles NPE defense but is not limited to it.

Firm context and notable matters. She is currently Senior Counsel at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles; before that she was a partner at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton (joined 2013) and, earlier, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis. Her signature result is SecurityPoint Holdings, Inc. v. United States (Ct. Fed. Cl.), where she was co-lead trial counsel: the patent survived an obviousness trial in 2015, and the damages phase produced a 2021 award generally reported at roughly $130–134 million against the U.S. government for TSA's use of airport security screening-tray methods — described in press coverage as among the largest patent awards ever against the federal government, and the basis for her selection as an American Lawyer "Litigator of the Week." She also represented Honeywell in a chemical-process case obtaining a jury verdict of invalidity affirmed on appeal, and LendingTree in defeating antitrust counterclaims at trial. Current tracked work includes defense of Disney/BAMTech/Hulu/ESPN in InterDigital's streaming patent litigation (C.D. Cal.) and the Adeia Media Holdings v. BAMTech matter (outcomes not verified here).

PTAB/IPR. She appears regularly in post-grant practice, both as patent owner's and petitioner's counsel. Reported examples include lead counsel for Cochlear in an inter partes review concerning bone-anchored hearing aids (claims upheld) and coordination of Honeywell's IPR and reexamination strategy in the refrigerant/chemicals litigation, which she has described as producing PTAB reversals affirmed on appeal.

Bar/education. Registered patent attorney (USPTO); admitted in California, the District of Columbia, Texas and Virginia, with Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court admissions. J.D., Loyola Law School, Los Angeles (1999); M.S., Biological Chemistry, UC Irvine (1994); B.A., Chemistry, Hendrix College (1991). Recognized by Best Lawyers as Los Angeles Litigation–Patent "Lawyer of the Year" (2026).

Note: firm bios and press releases are the principal sources for results descriptions; several representative matters were resolved by settlement or dismissal and reported only in firm summaries rather than in public opinions.