Nathaniel R. Scharn

Nathaniel R. Scharn is an associate in the Orange County office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he specializes in intellectual property matters within the firm's Litigation Department. His practice areas encompass a diverse range of technologies, including high-tech, life sciences, medical devices, and automotive industries. He handles patent infringement, copyright infringement, unfair competition, antitrust disputes, privacy law, breach of contract, and licensing disputes.

Scharn primarily represents defendants in patent litigation, with all tracked appearances on the defense side. He has been part of trial teams that secured favorable outcomes, including a jury verdict of non-infringement, invalidity, and prior commercial use in the District of Delaware involving network security technology. Additionally, he contributed to a defense trial team that obtained a directed verdict of non-infringement in a Western District of Texas litigation concerning cloud computing networks. Most recently, in June 2025, a Gibson Dunn team including Scharn secured a complete jury verdict for Cisco and Duo against CosmoKey in a patent infringement case related to verification technology, defeating claims seeking nearly $140 million in damages.

His experience extends to litigating cases through jury trials in federal and state courts, as well as evidentiary hearings in the International Trade Commission (ITC) and arbitration proceedings. Scharn also has experience in PTAB proceedings, having been involved in at least one IPR (IPR2025-00574, Samsara v. Motive).

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Scharn was an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. He also served as a law clerk to The Honorable Janis L. Sammartino in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Scharn earned his Juris Doctor summa cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2015 and is a member of the California Bar, admitted to practice before several U.S. District Courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for Litigation - Intellectual Property (2023-2025).