Robert F. McCauley

I'll research this attorney's professional background and verify the case details.

Let me verify the specific cases and outcomes.

Let me disambiguate the ME2C/Buchanan Ingersoll entry and confirm the Eoptolink-side IPR role.

Robert F. McCauley — patent litigation summary

Focus areas. McCauley is a first-chair IP trial lawyer whose practice spans patent, trade secret, and other IP litigation. His published firm biography lists work on semiconductor devices, optical transceivers and networking (optical amplifiers/networks), liquid cooling systems for data centers, medical devices, pharmaceuticals (ANDA and recombinant DNA), high-end bicycle suspension systems, and software/hardware. His current tracked docket is concentrated in optical transceiver module technology: the Applied Optoelectronics v. Eoptolink Technology USA disputes in the Northern District of California, which involve six asserted AOI patents (U.S. 9,448,367; 9,509,433; 10,230,470; 10,578,818; 10,714,890; 11,177,887) covering LC adapters, TOSA/ROSA mounting, flexible printed circuits, and related transceiver architecture.

Side preference — both sides, with a defense tilt. Of the 11 tracked appearances, 6 are defendant-side and 5 plaintiff-side, but the split is a function of one two-party competitor war rather than a consistent NPE/PAE practice. He appears for defendant Eoptolink against AOI's infringement claims, and simultaneously for Eoptolink as plaintiff/petitioner in the parallel mirror-image filings (including one tracked entry as "Counsel for Petitioner"). The one non-AOI matter in the list — Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. v. Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co. et al. (mercury-emission control patents for coal-fired plants) — is a plaintiff-side patent-owner representation. He is not, on this record, a volume filer for non-practicing entities.

Firm context. McCauley is a partner in Perkins Coie's national IP and patent litigation group in Palo Alto, having joined in March 2025 alongside Arpita Bhattacharyya from Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, where he spent roughly 25 years (2000–2025) and co-led the firm's trade secrets litigation group. Before private practice he was a Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County (1994–2000). Note that one tracked entry lists him at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney as lead counsel for ME2C in the Berkshire Hathaway case; that attribution is not corroborated by any published biography, firm announcement, or PTAB/docket filing I could find (Buchanan Ingersoll's ME2C-related PTAB work involves different counsel), and his disclosed employment history contains no Buchanan Ingersoll tenure. Treat that single entry as unverified.

Notable matters, outcomes, and PTAB work. Applied Optoelectronics v. Eoptolink (N.D. Cal. 5:24-cv-08165-NW) is the centerpiece: McCauley and Bhattacharyya substituted in as Eoptolink's counsel of record in March 2025, filed a partial Rule 12(b)(6) motion attacking non-charted accused products and AOI's pre-suit damages/marking allegations, and then jointly moved to stay pending IPR institution. Eoptolink filed four IPR petitions in late 2025 — IPR2026-00019 ('367), IPR2026-00094 ('818), IPR2026-00122 ('890), and IPR2026-00123 ('887) — with ex parte reexamination requests planned for the remaining two patents; the district court stayed the case in January 2026, mirroring the pre-institution stay in the related AOI v. Accelight Technologies action. PTAB work is therefore a regular feature of his current practice, though the tracked petitions are Eoptolink's, not a broad IPR portfolio of his own. For context on the ME2C campaign, a Delaware jury awarded ME2C roughly $57 million in March 2024 in ME2C v. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. on U.S. 10,343,114 and 10,596,517; post-trial challenges were rejected in 2025 and judgment was ultimately entered at over $68 million with prejudgment interest, but court records in that matter do not list McCauley as counsel, so it should not be credited to him.

Bar and education. Admitted in California, the Federal Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the C.D., N.D., and S.D. of California; J.D./M.B.A., Santa Clara University (1992) and B.A. in Economics, UC San Diego (1988). He also teaches trial advocacy at Stanford, Santa Clara, and the University of Virginia, and appears in Best Lawyers in America for patent litigation. His firm bio states he has first-chaired more than 30 jury trials and 50-plus bench trials — a self-reported figure I could not independently verify.