Ryan McBeth

Ryan McBeth — patent litigation practice summary

Focus areas. McBeth's practice centers on patent, trade secret, and trademark disputes, mostly in the technology and energy sectors. His firm bio and press coverage describe work on oil and gas downhole tools and wellsite surface systems, computer hardware and software, wireless communications, and consumer/commercial systems. His recent matter set skews toward software and consumer electronics: co-browsing/synchronized-web-browsing patents (Samesurf v. Intuit) and wireless charging technology (Mojo Mobility v. Samsung). He has an engineering background — a B.S. in electrical engineering and pre-law experience as a computer engineer at IBM on microprocessor and server projects — which aligns with the hardware/software mix in his docket.

Side preference. His fuller case history shows both sides, not a single-side specialty: he has prosecuted patent infringement claims for Baker Hughes, ChemOil, Oil States Energy Services, Mojo Mobility, and Samesurf, and defended Hewlett-Packard (microprocessor architecture patents), Baker Hughes (offshore drilling), and Conroe Machine/LEAM Drilling (trade secret). That said, the tracked-appearance data here records only one appearance — plaintiff-side, Samesurf, Inc. v. Intuit Inc., where he was counsel at McKool Smith — and his post-2022 McKool Smith patent-enforcement work for patent owners (including PTAB patent-owner representation) is the most visible part of the current practice. Treat the "1 plaintiff / 0 defendant" count as reflecting a limited data set rather than a one-sided practice.

Firm context. McBeth is a Principal in McKool Smith's Houston office, which he joined in January 2022 from Bracewell LLP's Houston office, where he had been senior counsel since March 2017. His Bracewell-era representative matters (Baker Hughes, Oil States, Repros Therapeutics, HP, ChemOil, and Federal Circuit appeals for Oil States and Repros) form most of the public district-court record before his McKool Smith tenure. [Prior firms before Bracewell were not identified in the sources reviewed.]

Notable matters and outcomes. Samesurf is the most prominent tracked case: McKool Smith filed the infringement suit against Intuit in the Southern District of California on March 29, 2022, and McBeth served as lead counsel for Samesurf in the parallel PTAB proceedings. The PTAB upheld all 16 claims of U.S. Patent No. 9,483,448 in IPR2023-00341 (announced June 2024); Intuit's appeal was affirmed by the Federal Circuit (No. 2024-2298, Rule 36 judgment, April 7, 2026, with McBeth arguing for the appellee). The results were mixed across the other Samesurf IPRs: the Board found all claims of the '145 patent unpatentable in IPR2023-00339/-00342, and the Federal Circuit affirmed on claim construction (Nos. 2024-2268/-2269, decided May 21, 2026). He was also a member of the McKool Smith trial team that obtained a $192.1 million willful-infringement verdict for Mojo Mobility against Samsung in the Eastern District of Texas on September 13, 2024 (Judge Gilstrap), one of the larger patent verdicts that quarter; the court declined to enhance damages and later declined to invalidate the patents.

PTAB/IPR experience. He appears regularly in PTAB proceedings, primarily on the patent-owner side — lead counsel for Samesurf in the Intuit IPRs and named counsel for Mojo Mobility in the IPR challenges Samsung filed against the asserted wireless-charging patents (16 of 18 petitions denied institution, per Mojo's trial counsel). His firm bio cites recognition among Patexia's top-performing attorneys representing patent owners (2023–2025).

Bar and education. Admitted in Texas; registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Reg. No. 69,817); admitted before the N.D., E.D., S.D., and W.D. Tex., the Federal Circuit, and the USPTO. J.D., University of Houston Law Center (2011); B.S., electrical engineering, University of Texas at Austin.