Robert Blair

Robert Blair serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary at Viasat, Inc., a global communications company. In this in-house leadership role, he is responsible for overseeing Viasat's global legal strategy, which includes managing the company's intellectual property and litigation matters. His patent litigation practice is centered on technologies critical to Viasat's business, including digital rights management, secure data streaming and storage, Wi-Fi, in-flight entertainment systems, and flash memory error correction.

While the tracked case, Viasat, Inc. v. Western Digital Corporation et al., shows Viasat as the plaintiff, Mr. Blair's comprehensive role at Viasat involves managing patent disputes where the company may act as both plaintiff and defendant. For instance, Quinn Emanuel successfully defended Viasat against SanDisk in a patent lawsuit concerning Wi-Fi and in-flight entertainment systems technology, indicating Viasat's defensive posture in certain litigations.

A notable aspect of his practice includes experience with Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings. Viasat, Inc. has been involved in inter partes review (IPR) challenges, as evidenced by a Federal Circuit appeal where Viasat contested a PTAB decision regarding the obviousness of claims in one of its flash memory patents against Western Digital Technologies, Inc. The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB's decision that certain claims were unpatentable.

Prior to joining Viasat in May 2008, where he progressed through various legal roles before assuming his current position in May 2017, Mr. Blair was an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP. He earned his Juris Doctor (JD) degree from Stanford University and holds Bachelor of Art degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Policy Studies from Syracuse University. He is admitted to the State Bar of California.