Thomas G. Sprankling

Thomas G. Sprankling is a Partner in the Palo Alto office of WilmerHale, where he is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Practice. His work focuses on high-stakes intellectual property and technology appeals. His practice involves a range of technologies, including biotechnology and software. In one notable matter, he was the primary drafter of Ancestry.com's successful argument at the Federal Circuit that a DNA-testing patent asserted by rival 23andMe was invalid. He has also co-authored a treatise on trade secret law.

Consistent with the provided case data, Sprankling primarily defends operating companies in patent disputes. His entire legal career, outside of judicial clerkships, has been at WilmerHale, where he started as a summer associate in 2011. He has been a key member of WilmerHale teams securing major victories for technology clients, including vacating a $2.75 billion patent judgment in 2022 and another for over $500 million in 2023.

Sprankling has significant experience litigating appeals from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. For example, he was on the WilmerHale team that represented Apple in an appeal that affirmed a PTAB decision invalidating patents asserted by VirnetX, which in turn vacated a nine-figure damages award.

He earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar, and his B.A. with distinction from Pomona College. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court.