William Andrew Liddell

I'll research this attorney before writing the summary.

Let me gather more detail on his practice and cases.

William Andrew Liddell (W. Andrew Liddell) — Austin, TX. Note on identity: the tracked profile is the Austin-based IP litigator admitted in Texas (State Bar No. 24070145) and registered before the USPTO; sources for that individual are consistent across Norton Rose Fulbright and Duane Morris docket filings. A Colorado-affiliated "Andrew Liddell" (EdTech Law Center) also appears in search results, but the court filings tie the EdTech Law Center PLLC Austin address to the same docket entries as Norton Rose Fulbright and Duane Morris, so they appear to be the same person rather than two distinct practitioners. Facts below are limited to what is documented in court records and firm/directory listings.

Specialty / focus. His patent work spans mechanical and electromechanical technologies as well as networking and software. USPTO filings show him defending patent-owner Transocean in an offshore drilling dispute (dual-activity drillship patents, IPR2015-01929/01989/01990), and he appeared for telecom defendants in XR Communications (d/b/a Vivato Technologies) v. AT&T Inc., an E.D. Tex. consolidated action asserting wireless/Wi-Fi-related patents against major carriers and infrastructure vendors (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon/Cellco, Nokia, Ericsson). He has also been listed in the Taasera Licensing MDL (N.D. Cal./E.D. Tex., 2:22-md-03042) involving cybersecurity/endpoint-security patents, and on Coding Technologies, LLC v. Hyland's, Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2019). The tracked Valtrus matter concerns data center cooling and atmospheric-control patents — again a mechanical/HVAC technology area. The pattern is a generalist IP litigator with a mechanical engineering background who handles whatever technology the NPE campaign involves, rather than a single narrow technology niche.

Side preference. He sits firmly on the defense side. Across the tracked data he has 0 plaintiff-side and 1 defendant-side appearance, and the broader docket record is consistent: he appears as counsel for accused operating companies (carriers, data center operators, equipment vendors) defending against NPE/PAE assertions, and as counsel for a patent owner only in the Transocean IPRs (a defensive posture against a competitor's validity challenge). No evidence was found of him bringing affirmative infringement suits on behalf of patent owners.

Firm context. He is presently at Duane Morris LLP in Austin (listed as Special Counsel in one directory and as a partner in another; both listings are for the same Austin office). Before that he spent a substantial stretch at Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, also in Austin, where he was a senior associate and later counsel-level IP litigator. His practice is Austin/E.D. Tex.-centric, the venue pattern typical of his case list.

Notable cases and outcomes. The most prominent tracked matter is Valtrus Innovations Ltd. v. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. et al. (E.D. Tex., lead No. 2:24-cv-00361, member Nos. 2:24-cv-00139 and 2:24-cv-00535), a data center cooling patent campaign in which he represented Digital Realty. A joint motion to dismiss with prejudice as to Digital Realty was granted on January 22, 2025, and Liddell was terminated as counsel of record — a favorable exit for his client before trial. In the Transocean/Seadrill IPRs he acted for the patent owner, handling discovery disputes and taking expert depositions. He also argued the patent-owner side of effective-filing-date questions in that proceeding. Beyond that, I did not find verifiable verdicts, Federal Circuit opinions, or reported settlements attributable to him by name in the sources available, so no trial-result claims should be made without further checking.

PTAB / IPR experience. Yes — he is a registered patent attorney (USPTO Reg. No. 65,693) and appears in AIA trial practice, including the Transocean v. Seadrill IPR proceedings and a CLE presentation, "Advancing the Effective Filing Date in an Inter Partes Review Proceeding," at the 22nd Annual University of Texas Advanced Patent Law Institute (November 2017). This is a meaningful but not volume-heavy PTAB footprint.

Bar / education. Admitted in Texas (2009) and to the USPTO; B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University (2006); J.D., University of Texas School of Law (2009).