Mark Howland

I'll research this attorney's background before drafting.

Good foundation. Let me verify the Federal Circuit outcome and PTAB activity.

Mark C. Howland — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Specialty / focus areas. Howland is a Dallas-based IP litigator whose practice centers on high-stakes patent disputes in complex technologies. His firm bio describes substantial semiconductor work (fabrication, wafer inspection, chip packaging, microprocessor and DSP architectures, memory and storage, network and graphics processors, analog/digital circuits), plus telecommunications matters involving wireless industry standards, audio encoding, data compression, GPS devices, satellite broadcast, and wireless/wired network architecture. He also handles software, GUI, network security and encryption, and payment-systems cases, and an unusual oil-and-gas patent docket (towed-array seismic acquisition, nanoparticle tracers, downhole tool and frack-pump technologies). Beyond patents, his bio lists trade secret and copyright defense work. His engineering background is cited by the firm as supporting this technical range; no specific degree or discipline is publicly sourced.

Side preference and firm context. The tracked record is defense-leaning: two defendant-side appearances as counsel for Compass Bank, and one plaintiff-side appearance that is an appellate role for the same bank group in the same Intellectual Ventures dispute — i.e., a defensive posture, not NPE/PAE enforcement. Nothing in the public record shows him prosecuting patents for non-practicing entities. Howland is a partner at Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P. in Dallas, which he joined in January 2016 from Jones Day, where he spent roughly 15 years as a partner in the IP litigation practice and also handled International Trade Commission matters. He provides IP licensing and enforcement counseling alongside litigation.

Notable cases and PTAB/IPR experience. His most prominent tracked matters are the Intellectual Ventures campaigns against regional banks. His firm bio credits him with defending a major bank in a five-patent IV suit over online banking operations, obtaining a district court stay pending IPR, with three patents resulting in final written decisions holding all asserted claims unpatentable. He is also tied to the parallel Commerce Bancshares v. Intellectual Ventures II LLC proceeding, in which the banks' cross-appeals and IV's appeals from PTAB decisions were resolved in the banks' favor — the Federal Circuit affirmed cancellation of the claims in one IPR and dismissed the banks' proceeding as moot (the banks were represented by lead counsel from another firm, and Jason S. Jackson argued; Howland's appearance was as counsel for Compass Bank in Intellectual Ventures II LLC v. Compass Bank, No. 16-1416, where the court affirmed by Rule 36 in December 2016). His IPR experience is therefore real but appears tied to these coordinated bank matters rather than a high-volume standalone PTAB practice.

Bar and education. Admitted in Texas in 2000; registered to practice before the USPTO; J.D., The University of Texas School of Law, 2000. Consistently listed in Texas Super Lawyers (2013–2019, 2024–2026; Rising Stars 2010–2013) and in The Best Lawyers in America for IP and patent litigation since 2016.