Thomas B. Carter, Jr.

I'll research this attorney's background before drafting.

Let me verify the tracked cases and any PTAB activity.

Let me confirm his specific court/PTAB appearances and any Federal Circuit or notable outcomes.

Note on disambiguation: This summary covers Thomas B. Carter, Jr. (Baker Botts, Houston; USPTO Reg. No. 76,040; J.D. Alabama 2015). He should not be confused with Thomas E. ("Tom") Carter, a Baker Botts antitrust special counsel in Washington, D.C. (NYU Law 2013), who appears in antitrust matters.

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Focus areas. Carter's practice at Baker Botts spans patent litigation, prosecution, and USPTO adversarial work. His litigation docket clusters in media/telecommunications and data-center software: adaptive-bitrate video streaming (the DISH/Sling TV ABR portfolio disputes with Aylo Freesites f/k/a MindGeek), voice-activated remote control, and web-based location technology; in the tracked Starbucks v. Valtrus matter, the patents at issue concern distributed storage, fault-tolerant messaging, and cluster monitoring implemented through standard open-source infrastructure (Kubernetes, Kafka, Cassandra, Hadoop, HBase0, RocksDB). He also handles energy and oilfield-services work — including a competitor suit over progressive cavity pump tools and a mercury-capture case — and prosecutes chemical/biochemical applications. His technical background is chemical engineering, and his firm bio lists experience across chemical, electrical, mechanical, and biological subject matter.

Side preference. The tracked appearances are evenly split (2 plaintiff / 2 defendant), but the substance leans defense for operating companies. He has repeatedly appeared for DISH and Yahoo against NPE/competitor plaintiffs, and the Aylo Freesites v. DISH matter is a two-way streaming fight in which DISH asserted its own patents while Aylo responded with IPRs and a declaratory judgment action. The Starbucks matter is nominally plaintiff-side but is a defensive DJ/anti-troll action by an operating company against an Irish NPE (Valtrus Innovations / Key Patent Innovations), so it also reflects an NPE-defense posture. Net: primarily a defense-side litigator for technology and energy operating companies, with occasional offensive declaratory-judgment and prosecution work.

Firm and notable matters. Baker Botts (Houston) appears in all four tracked matters; no prior firm or in-house role was located in public sources, and two tracked docket entries are unidentified in the case list, so they are not described here. His firm bio credits him with work on Customedia Tech. LLC v. DISH (all asserted claims invalidated under § 101, affirmed by the Federal Circuit), Blue Spike v. DISH (settled after IPR petitions were filed against all asserted patents), Multimedia Content Mgmt. v. DISH (favorable claim construction followed by settlement), Oil Lift Tech. v. Millennium Oilflow (preliminary injunction defeated), and Location Services IP v. Yahoo. In the Aylo/DISH streaming dispute, the district case (D. Del., transferred to D. Utah in November 2025) was stayed pending IPR, and PTAB final written decisions in February 2026 (IPR2024-00940, '234 patent; IPR2024-00516, '680 patent) held some — but not all — challenged claims unpatentable, a mixed result for the DISH team. Public reporting (IP Fray) indicates the Washington Starbucks v. Valtrus action was terminated after contested preliminary motion practice; I could not verify the settlement terms, if any.

PTAB / IPR. He is a regular PTAB participant, typically as back-up counsel. USPTO filings list him as back-up counsel for DISH in IPR2024-00917, IPR2024-00940, and IPR2024-00941 (Aylo Freesites and fuboTV v. DISH), and his firm bio emphasizes inter partes review, covered business method review, and reexamination experience.

Bar / education. Texas bar (licensed 2015); registered before the USPTO; admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. J.D., University of Alabama School of Law (2015, cum laude); B.S., chemical engineering, Auburn University (2008). A 2026 Baker Botts promotions announcement listed a "Thomas Carter, Jr." among new special counsel, though the item is presented ambiguously; treat that title change as unconfirmed.