Nancy Claire Abernathy

I'll research this attorney before drafting.

Let me search for more biographical and practice details.

Let me verify the Granite Vehicle Ventures case counsel and the attorney's current firm.

Nancy Claire Abernathy (Texas Bar No. 24053063; now practicing as Claire Abernathy Henry — same bar number appears on filings under both names) is a Longview, Texas–based patent litigator whose practice is concentrated in the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas. Her docketed patent work spans software and internet search/advertising (Function Media v. Google/Yahoo; Paid Search Engine Tools v. Google/Microsoft), mobile and memory-card technology (Minerva Industries v. Motorola; Technology Properties Ltd. v. HTC), consumer-electronics and wearable optical sensing (Omni MedSci v. Apple), and most recently automotive/autonomous-driving systems (Granite Vehicle Ventures v. Tesla). Firm biographies describe her as handling complex commercial litigation alongside high-stakes patent cases.

Side preference. The tracked record shows a single appearance, on the plaintiff side. That is consistent with the bulk of her web-identifiable patent docket, which is patent-owner/assertion-side work for small entities and NPE-type plaintiffs against large operating companies. She has not been exclusively plaintiff-side, however: she has also entered appearances for defendants, including Bloomberg L.P. and American Airlines, and her firm bio states she has represented both plaintiffs and defendants. The one-case plaintiff count in the tracking data should be treated as an incomplete sample rather than a settled side preference.

Firm context. The tracked data associates her with Capshaw Derieux LLP (Longview), where she was an associate in the 2007–2009 period. Public filings show a subsequent progression: The Henry Firm, PC (Longview), then Ward & Smith / Ward, Smith & Hill, and currently Miller Fair Henry PLLC (Longview), where she is counsel of record in the Granite matter. Note the discrepancy: the tracked firm field lists Capshaw Derieux, but the operative E.D. Tex. complaint and docket in Granite Vehicle Ventures list her (with Andrea L. Fair) as Miller Fair Henry counsel for the plaintiff.

Notable case. Granite Vehicle Ventures LLC v. Tesla, Inc., No. 2:24-cv-01007 (E.D. Tex., filed Dec. 2024) asserts U.S. Patent Nos. 11,597,402, 11,738,765 and 12,037,004 — self-driving "driving mode" control patents originating with IBM and transferred through Daedalus Group and Slingshot IOT — against Tesla's FSD software. Tesla's five IPR petitions were denied institution on time-to-trial/Fintiv-type grounds; the Federal Circuit denied mandamus (In re Tesla, No. 26-116, nonprecedential, Feb. 2026); Tesla's cert petition (No. 26-136) drew amicus support from CCIA, HTIA, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the National Retail Federation and Unified Patents. The case was transferred from E.D. Tex. to the Northern District of California.

PTAB / IPR. I could not verify that she has served as counsel of record in an instituted IPR or PGR. Her name appears in PTAB records primarily as district-court litigation counsel in exhibits and petition attachments (e.g., earlier Capshaw Derieux and Henry Firm filings), not as a lead PTAB advocate.

Bar / education (as sourced). Licensed in Texas; admitted to the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas. Stanford Law School, J.D. (2005); Vanderbilt University, B.A., summa cum laude (2002). She previously served as a briefing attorney to the Hon. T. John Ward, former U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas. (Biographical details drawn from her Best Lawyers profile; the name-equivalence to "Nancy Claire Abernathy" rests on the shared State Bar number and firm email history, not on a single confirming source.)