Paul Joseph Skiermont

Paul Joseph Skiermont is a highly accomplished trial lawyer specializing in complex patent litigation, with a practice primarily focused on representing patent owners. His work at Skiermont Derby LLP, a firm he co-founded, encompasses a broad range of sophisticated technologies, including pharmaceuticals and life sciences, telecommunications, aerospace, speech recognition, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. While his firm also represents accused infringers, Skiermont is particularly known for his plaintiff-side litigation on behalf of patent owners, often against major technology and pharmaceutical companies.

Skiermont's career highlights include significant jury verdicts and settlements. He served as lead trial counsel for IPA Technologies, Inc. against Microsoft, securing a $242 million jury verdict for infringement involving natural language processing technology used in Microsoft's Cortana assistant; the case later settled. He also acted as lead trial counsel for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute against Apple, achieving a $25 million settlement in a patent infringement lawsuit related to natural language processing for Apple's Siri. Additionally, he was involved in securing a $5.9 million patent infringement verdict for LoggerHead Tools LLC against Sears and Apex Tool Group. In a recently tracked case, Smart Mobile Technologies LLC v. Apple Inc., he is listed as lead counsel for the plaintiff, with the Federal Circuit affirming the patentability of several claims against Apple's IPR challenge concerning IP-based wireless devices in March 2026.

Skiermont possesses substantial experience in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), representing both patent owners in defending their patents and petitioners in challenging them. He successfully defeated multiple IPR attacks in the IPA Technologies v. Microsoft case and is noted for his firm's success in IPRs against Google.

Paul Skiermont earned his B.A., cum laude, from the University of Kentucky, and his J.D. with High Honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and finished in the top 5% of his class. He clerked for the Honorable C. Arlen Beam of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He is admitted to practice in Texas and Illinois, before the United States Supreme Court, the Federal and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeals, and several U.S. District Courts. Prior to co-founding Skiermont Derby LLP, he practiced at Bartlit Beck and was a co-founder of Skiermont Puckett LLP.