Robert A. Angle

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Let me verify the Intellectual Ventures matter and firm history.

Professional Summary: Robert A. Angle

Specialty and technology focus. Angle is a first-chair IP and complex commercial litigator based in Richmond, Virginia, and currently leads the Intellectual Property practice group at Troutman Pepper Locke. His patent work spans a broad technology mix rather than a single niche: financial-services/banking software and business-method patents (the Intellectual Ventures v. Capital One litigation), consumer products and mechanical goods (artificial Christmas trees; pleasure boats), telecommunications, and biotechnology (a COVID-19 vaccine patent asserted against Pfizer). Firm and press descriptions place his broader industry focus on financial services, computer technology, telecommunications, and consumer products, with an emphasis on trial and appellate work in the Eastern District of Virginia "rocket docket."

Side preference. His tracked appearances are exclusively defense-side (0 plaintiff, 3 defendant), and the most prominent tracked matter — Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Financial Corp. — was a defense of an operating company against a large patent aggregator. That said, his wider reported practice is not defense-only: he has also represented patent owners asserting infringement, including Cobalt Boats (willful-infringement verdict after a seven-day jury trial, later reversed at 773 F. App'x 611 (Fed. Cir.)) and Allele Biotechnology in its suit against Pfizer over a COVID-19 vaccine patent. The accurate characterization is a defense-leaning practice for operating companies that also takes select patent-owner plaintiff work.

Firm context. Angle has been with the Troutman organization continuously since 1995, becoming a partner after joining in 1995 following his 1994 clerkship-era start. He practiced at Troutman Sanders, which merged with Pepper Hamilton in July 2020 to form Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP (later Troutman Pepper, now Troutman Pepper Locke). His tracked cases reflect that transition (two matters under "Troutman Sanders," one under the merged firm name). He is not in-house.

Notable cases, PTAB/IPR, and credentials. Beyond the Capital One defense — where the court granted summary judgment invalidating the asserted patents under § 101, affirmed at 850 F.3d 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2017), a result AmLaw Litigation Daily recognized with a "Litigator of the Week" nod in 2014 — Angle handled the long-running Polygroup artificial-Christmas-tree dispute, which generated more than 20 IPR petitions before the PTAB and six consolidated Federal Circuit appeals. He is admitted to practice before the PTAB and appears regularly in IPR proceedings, and has published on PTAB motion-to-amend practice. Education/admissions: J.D., University of Virginia (1994); B.A., University of Virginia (1991); licensed in Virginia since 1994, admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fourth and Federal Circuits, multiple district courts, and the PTAB.