Matthew C. Gaudet

Matthew C. Gaudet — patent litigation summary

Focus areas. Gaudet's caseload is concentrated in electronics, networking, and communications technology: network security, routing and data-center infrastructure, ISP/cable (ADSL, 802.11/Wi-Fi-compliant products), fiber optics and optical transceivers, streaming/consumer devices, storage and memory. His published representative matters also include medical devices (prosthetic knees), a vaccine cell-line royalty dispute for a research foundation, and automotive patent work, so the practice is not strictly telecom. Firm and directory profiles (Duane Morris, Chambers USA, Legal 500, IAM Patent 1000) describe him as a first-chair patent trial lawyer who also leans heavily on early dispositive motions and Patent Office invalidation.

Side preference. Overwhelmingly defense-side. Of the seven tracked appearances, six are for defendants and one for a plaintiff, and that ratio matches the public record: he is lead or trial counsel for Cisco, Verizon, Comcast, Cox, ARRIS, CenturyLink, Seagate, SonicWall, Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Roku, and Ciena against NPE/PAE and university or competitor plaintiffs. Firm materials note he has also recovered more than $100 million for patent holders, so he is not exclusively a defense lawyer, but operating-company defense is the core of the practice.

Firm context. Gaudet has spent nearly his entire career at Duane Morris (Atlanta), joining as an associate in 2002 and becoming a partner in 2005; he is vice chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group and heads its IP litigation division. Before Duane Morris he was an associate at King & Spalding (Atlanta, 1998–2002) and clerked for Judge Susan H. Black on the Eleventh Circuit (1997–98). Two tracked entries carry firm labels that do not match his verified employment history — the Thales DIS France matter is listed under Alston & Bird (plaintiff side) and K.Mizra v. Ciena under Kirkland & Ellis. The K.Mizra docket confirms Gaudet entered an appearance for defendant Ciena, consistent with his Duane Morris practice; the Alston & Bird and Kirkland labels appear to be co-counsel or data artifacts and should be treated cautiously.

Notable matters. The signature case is Centripetal Networks v. Cisco Systems (E.D. Va.), where he was lead trial counsel: the court's 2020 judgment of roughly $2.7–2.75 billion in Centripetal's favor was vacated on Cisco's Federal Circuit mandamus petition (tracked as In re Centripetal Networks, where he is listed as Of Counsel), and after retrial Gaudet won a complete defense verdict in December 2023 — described in firm and press accounts as among the largest patent defense wins on record. His office has represented Cisco in subsequent Supreme Court filings in that dispute. Other reported results include a complete defense jury verdict for Roku in April 2024 in W.D. Tex. against a $318 million IOEngine demand; an October 2023 Federal Circuit affirmance of a complete defense win for SonicWall against Finjan (all ten patents defeated); a November 2025 dispositive summary-judgment win for Cisco in D. Del. against a reported $600 million university claim (Ramot at Tel Aviv University, per IAM/firm descriptions); and a 2023 summary-judgment win for Fortinet. Tracked NPE defenses include Implicit, LLC v. D&M Holdings and FireNet Technologies v. Fortinet (the latter not independently verified beyond the docket listing). Earlier defense wins include Oyster Optics v. Cisco, Crossroads Systems, Cirrex, SSL Services, Graywire, and Mobile Telecommunications Technologies (Wi-Fi), plus a defense verdict in what was reported as the largest Section 337 trial at the ITC and a Droplets v. Yahoo trial in which a $260 million demand yielded no infringement findings.

PTAB/IPR and credentials. He appears regularly in IPR practice, typically by staying district court litigation and invalidating asserted claims at the Board — e.g., Patent Asset Licensing, Crossroads Systems, Cirrex/Cirrex v. Verizon, SSL Services, and Graywire, several of which were affirmed by the Federal Circuit; he is also a named attorney in PTAB filings. He is admitted in Georgia (1999) and New York and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and the New York State Bar Association. Education: Duke University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 1997; Louisiana State University, B.A., magna cum laude, 1993.