Intel Corporation v. Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc.

Case Overview and Background

Parties, technology, and patents. This matter is the PTAB-side inter partes review (IPR2025-00913) that Intel Corporation and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) jointly brought against Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. (ACS) to invalidate U.S. Patent No. 11,570,034 B2 ("Cluster Computing," issued Jan. 31, 2023, priority June 13, 2006; inventors Zvi Tannenbaum and Dean E. Dauger). Intel is the accused infringer in the parallel district court case; AMD was an original co-petitioner but has since settled (see below). ACS is not a university or classic mass-claiming NPE but a small, inventor-controlled California company founded in 2004 by Tannenbaum, with Dauger (of Dauger Research) as co-inventor; it developed "Supercomputing Engine Technology" to parallelize Wolfram Mathematica, and its sole litigation campaign is assertion of this patent family (Mondaq, "Inventor-Controlled Plaintiff Reboots Cluster Computing Campaign," Oct. 21, 2024). The '034 patent claims a computer cluster in which single-machine software kernels are parallelized across nodes via "cluster node modules" that communicate peer-to-peer—explicitly without routing tasks through a master node—with each node requiring a multi-core hardware processor. In the underlying suit, ACS alleges that Intel's Xeon Scalable processors (Skylake-SP through 6th-gen), Habana AI accelerators (Goya, Gaudi, Gaudi 2, Gaudi 3), and servers/workstations incorporating them infringe independent claims 1 and 30 (among others) when configured in multi-node clusters (Amended Complaint, 7:24-cv-00245, Dkt. 34; RPX Insight).

Procedural posture and venue. The petition was filed April 29, 2025, challenging all 30 claims on obviousness grounds over the 1997 "MultiMATLAB" paper (Menon), the 1996 companion report (Trefethen), IBM RS/6000 SP and Parallel Operating Environment manuals, and—for claims 26 and 29—the MPI standard. After ACS's request for discretionary denial under Fintiv (citing the parallel W.D. Tex. cases, Judge Albright's track record of denying stays, and a trial date of Nov. 16, 2026—just two weeks before the FWD deadline of Nov. 27, 2026), Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart declined to deny institution and referred the petitions to the Board (Paper 13, Sept. 19, 2025). The panel of APJs Karl D. Easthom, Arthur M. Peslak, and Brian P. Murphy (author) instituted review of all 30 claims on all grounds on Nov. 7, 2025 (Paper 16). AMD then settled with ACS; the Board terminated the proceeding as to AMD while keeping Intel in (Paper 20, termination due to settlement under 35 U.S.C. § 317, settlement agreement treated as business confidential). ACS filed its Patent Owner Response on Feb. 6, 2026 (Paper 22), and the case remains in instituted trial status with no final written decision yet (FWD due by Nov. 27, 2026). The underlying infringement cases are Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. v. Intel Corp., No. 7:24-cv-00245-ADA, and v. AMD, No. 7:24-cv-00244-ADA, both in the Waco Division of the Western District of Texas before Judge Alan D. Albright (filed Sept. 26, 2024)—a venue ACS chose for its fast-track scheduling; notably, during W.D. Tex. claim construction the court found the "communicate a result…" clause of '034 claim 30 indefinite, a ruling ACS flagged as still appealable in its IPR response (Paper 22, citing Ex. 1085). I could not verify the current disposition of the W.D. Tex. case as of August 2026 (one docket aggregator labels it "closed," but the most recent PTAB mandatory notices from December 2025 list it as pending), so that point should be confirmed against PACER.

Why the case is notable. The IPR is one of eight coordinated petitions Intel and AMD filed across the ACS family (IPR2025-00794/-00795 on the '768 patent—discretionarily denied with Director rehearing pending; IPR2025-00862/-00863—discretionarily denied; and IPR2025-00913/-00914/-00915/-00916, all instituted on the '034, '679, '621, and '582 patents), reflecting a two-front war against an inventor-controlled plaintiff's rebooted 2024 campaign. The same family already survived an earlier NVIDIA challenge—ACS v. NVIDIA (D. Del. 1:19-cv-02032) was dismissed in 2023 after settlement, and NVIDIA's IPR2021-00019/-00020 were denied institution—underscoring the patents' resilience. Commercially, the case targets Intel's core data-center and AI-accelerator lines (Xeon and Habana Gaudi), making the validity fight consequential for the AI/HPC market. Procedurally, it is a notable test of post-2025 PTAB workload-management and Fintiv practice—the Acting Director's refusal to discretionarily deny despite a near-coincident Albright trial date, and AMD's mid-trial settlement terminating it as a petitioner while Intel continues alone, highlight how parallel IPR and district-court strategy, settlement dynamics, and claim-construction (including an indefiniteness ruling) all converge in a single family.

Sources: PTAB Institution Decision, IPR2025-00913, Paper 16 (Nov. 7, 2025); Director's Decision Referring Petitions, Paper 13 (Sept. 19, 2025); Termination Due to Settlement, Paper 20; Petitioners' Updated Mandatory Notices, Paper 18 (Dec. 11, 2025); ACS Patent Owner Response, Paper 22 (Feb. 6, 2026); ACS v. Intel, 7:24-cv-00245-ADA docket (Justia/RPX); Mondaq, "Inventor-Controlled Plaintiff Reboots Cluster Computing Campaign" (Oct. 21, 2024); Dimensions/Google Patents records for US 11,570,034 B2. Where a fact above lacks a cited source—such as the current status of the district court docket—it is flagged as unverified.

Key Legal Developments and Outcome

Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. v. Intel Corporation, No. 7:24-cv-00245-ADA (W.D. Tex.) — and Related PTAB Proceedings (IPR2025-00913 et al.)

A note on scope: the case you flagged (IPR2025-00913) is the PTAB inter partes review of U.S. Patent No. 11,570,034. The underlying patent infringement litigation is the parallel W.D. Tex. case Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. v. Intel Corporation, No. 7:24-cv-00245-ADA (Judge Alan D. Albright), which is where the complaint, answer, Markman, and trial events live. I cover both below, chronologically. Where a fact is not well-sourced, I flag it.

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1. Background and campaign context

• ACS is an inventor-controlled (Dean Dauger; Zvi Tannenbaum) NPE that launched its sole litigation campaign in October 2019 against NVIDIA (D. Del. No. 1:19-cv-02032), which was stipulated to dismissal in April 2023 in light of a settlement — after two NVIDIA IPRs on the '768 patent were denied institution (IPR2021-00019/-00020, institution denied May 5, 2021) and three related IPRs were terminated after institution (Mondaq, "Inventor-Controlled Plaintiff Reboots Cluster Computing Campaign," 2024-10-21).
• On 2024-09-26, ACS rebooted the campaign with two W.D. Tex. suits: ACS v. Intel, No. 7:24-cv-00245 and ACS v. AMD, No. 7:24-cv-00244, both assigned to Judge Albright. Five family patents were asserted (10,333,768; 11,563,621; 11,570,034; 11,811,582; 12,021,679), all sharing a ~June 2006 priority date. ACS sought damages, reasonable royalties, an injunction, and a judgment of willful infringement (Mondaq; RPX Insight).
• In the Intel case, the accused instrumentalities are Intel Xeon Scalable Processors (Skylake-SP through 6th gen), Habana AI accelerators (Gaudi, Gaudi 2, Gaudi 3, Goya), and server/workstation products incorporating them (First Amended Complaint, Doc. 34; Ex Parte case summary).

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2. Filing & initial pleadings (W.D. Tex. 7:24-cv-00245)

• 2024-09-26 — ACS filed the original Complaint (Doc. 1) asserting infringement; venue pled via Intel's Austin, Texas presence (Unified Patents docket; RPX complaint document).
• 2024-10-16 — Court granted ACS's pro hac vice motions for David P. Lindner, Jon W. Gurka (Crowell & Moring), and Reynaldo C. Barcelo (Docs. 18, 17, 19).
• 2025-01-22 — ACS filed the First Amended Complaint (Doc. 34); for the '034 patent it asserted independent claims 1 and 30 against the Habana and Xeon product lines (Ex Parte amended-complaint analysis).
• 2025-02-05 — Intel filed its Answer to the First Amended Complaint with Jury Demand and Counterclaims (Doc. 41), denying infringement and validity (including denying the '034 patent is "valid or duly and lawfully issued"), not contesting venue "for purposes of this action only," and asserting counterclaims (Ex. 2021 in IPR2025-00915; PTACTS exhibit). Intel's W.D. Tex. team included Heather Takahashi, Brian Nash, Kevin Yang, Faye Teller, with pro hac vice appearances for Gregory P. Stone, Evan J. Mann, L. Ashley Aull, Adam W. Kwon, Peter E. Gratzinger, and Ted T. Kang (Docs. 21–29, Nov. 2024).
• 2025-02-25 — ACS answered Intel's counterclaims (Unified Patents docket).

No motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim or motion to transfer is reflected in the publicly available docket excerpts; Intel expressly declined to contest venue while disputing convenience (Intel Answer ¶15). No motion to stay pending IPR had been filed as of ACS's PTAB filings in August 2025, which stated affirmatively: "No stay has been requested in the Parallel Litigations" (ACS Request for Discretionary Denial, IPR2025-00913, Paper 8, ~2025-08; see PTACTS exhibit).

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3. Discovery milestones with strategic significance

• Scheduling/discovery infrastructure: The court entered an Amended Scheduling Order (D.I. 54 in the Intel case) and later appointed a technical advisor (D.I. 71 in the Intel case; D.I. 53 in the AMD case) — both orders cited in ACS's IPR exhibits (PTACTS exhibit 2004/2019 list).
• Preliminary infringement contentions dispute (March 2025): Intel moved to strike or compel amendment of ACS's preliminary infringement contentions (PICs), arguing ACS failed to identify where the claimed "cluster node module" and "user interface" are found in the accused products. Judge Albright denied Intel's motion in substantial part, finding the PICs compliant, but ordered ACS to amend its PICs within 21 days to specifically identify the "cluster node module" (recited in '768 claim 4; '034 claim 3; '679 claim 3) and the "user interface" ('034 claim 8), and to supplement PICs within 60 days of receiving Intel's technical documents (which Intel had agreed to produce by 2025-03-19) (W.D. Tex. 7:24-cv-00245, Doc. 55, March 2025 order). This is strategically significant because the claim terms at issue became the same terms later litigated at Markman and in the IPRs.
• Technical discovery: ACS's IPR filings characterize the district court as having "invested significant time and resources" in claim construction and finalized infringement/validity contentions by late 2025 — a central factor in ACS's unsuccessful Fintiv discretionary-denial bid (see below).

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4. Claim construction (Markman)

Markman briefing concluded in the W.D. Tex. case (Joint Claim Construction Statement, Dkt. 49-12; opening briefs Dkt. 49/50), and Judge Albright issued a Claim Construction Order (later filed as Ex. 1085 in IPR2025-00913 on 2025-10-02) after a Markman hearing. Key outcomes relevant to the '034 patent:

• "single-node kernel" — The court adopted plain and ordinary meaning, rejecting both sides' proposals. It rejected Intel/AMD's proposed construction because it "adds an intent element to an apparatus claim, which is improper" (citing Sorrell Holdings, Fed. Cir. 2024), while noting that if ACS's expert applied a deviant meaning, Intel could seek supplemental construction or summary judgment (Ex. 1085; Markman Tr. 11:3–12, 14:20–15:19).
• "mechanism" terms (e.g., "a mechanism for the nodes to communicate … using a peer-to-peer architecture") — The court found "mechanism" to be a nonce word and construed the terms under 35 U.S.C. §112 ¶6, with the structure being "modules that communicate using a peer-to-peer architecture" (Ex. 1085, citing Williamson and Samsung).
• Indefiniteness — '034 claim 30: The court found the phrase "communicate a result of the second mathematical expression evaluation to the first node" in claim 30 of the '034 patent to be indefinite (Ex. 1085 at 16; noted in ACS's IPR Patent Owner Response, IPR2025-00913, Paper 22, filed 2026-02-06). This is strategically significant: claim 30 was one of only two '034 claims ACS asserted in the litigation.

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5. Parallel PTAB IPR/PGR proceedings and their effect on the litigation

The four instituted IPRs (Intel + AMD as joint petitioners):

• 2025-04-29 — Intel and AMD jointly filed four petitions: IPR2025-00913 (the '034 patent, claims 1–30), IPR2025-00914 ('679 patent), IPR2025-00915 ('621 patent), and IPR2025-00916 ('582 patent). For the '034 patent, the grounds were (1) obviousness over Menon (1997 "MultiMATLAB" paper) + Trefethen (1996 report) + IBM RS/6000 SP manual + IBM POE manual (claims 1–25, 27–28, 30), and (2) the same combination further in view of the 1994 MPI Standard (claims 26, 29). Lead counsel: Andrew Ehmke, David McCombs, Dan Smith, Dagim Tilahun (Haynes and Boone) (Petition, Paper 3; Institution Decision).
• 2025-08 to 2025-09 — ACS filed Requests for Discretionary Denial in all four cases (Paper 8), arguing Fintiv (trial set for 2026-11-16 vs. FWD deadline 2026-11-27; Judge Albright's 74% stay-denial rate) and §325(d) (RS6000/POEref cumulative of art already before the examiner). Intel/AMD opposed (Paper 9); ACS replied (Paper 11, 2025-09-04) and Intel sur-replied (2025-09-08) (PTACTS emails; docket pages).
• 2025-09-19 — Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart denied discretionary denial and referred the petitions to the Board (Paper 13), reasoning that the Fintiv time-to-trial considerations were neutral and that the challenged patents (issued 2022–2025) had not been in force long enough to create settled expectations; §325(d) arguments were unpersuasive.
• 2025-11-07 — Institution granted in IPR2025-00913 (Paper 16, panel of Judges Easthom, Peslak, Murphy; Murphy author) on all claims 1–30 and all grounds, finding a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on at least one claim (35 U.S.C. §314; SAS). Sibling cases were instituted 2025-11-10 (-00916), 2025-11-12 (-00914), and 2025-11-19 (-00915) (Termination Decision).
• 2025-12-11 — Petitioners filed Updated Mandatory Notices confirming the related W.D. Tex. cases remained pending (Paper 18).

AMD settlement and termination (the biggest IPR development):

• After institution, AMD settled with ACS. AMD and ACS filed a Joint Motion to Terminate as to AMD (Paper 20), a confidential Settlement Agreement (Ex. 1162), and a Joint Request to treat it as business confidential (Paper 19). The Board granted termination as to AMD only under 35 U.S.C. §317 and 37 C.F.R. §42.74, finding no merits decision had been entered and treating the settlement agreement as confidential. The order states: "Petitioner Intel Corporation remains in the proceedings as Petitioner." (PTACTS, "TERMINATION Due to Settlement After Institution of Trial"). The termination presumably also resolved ACS v. AMD (7:24-cv-00244), though I could not confirm that dismissal entry. The exact date of the termination order is not captured in my sources (likely Q1/Q2 2026); I flag that as unverified.
• 2026-02-06 — ACS filed its Patent Owner Response (Paper 22) in IPR2025-00913, arguing: (1) the asserted references do not disclose the claimed multi-core processor ("hardware processor with a plurality of processing cores") required by every independent claim; (2) the "Eval-return" premise is unsupported; (3) no three-node 1→2→3→1 execution flow is disclosed; (4) no motivation to combine; (5) the petition relies on expert ipse dixit; and (6) the references fail the §311(b) printed-publication test. It also noted the district court's indefiniteness ruling on claim 30 (Paper 22).

Non-instituted / related proceedings:

• IPR2025-00794/-00795 (Intel on the '768 patent, filed 2025-03-28) — institution denied (discretionary); Director rehearing requests were pending as of the institution decision in this case.
• IPR2025-00862/-00863 (AMD on the '768 patent, filed 2025-04-16) — Director discretionary denial.
• Ex parte Reexamination 90/015,706 of the '768 patent — filed 2025-11-20, pending (Petitioners' Updated Mandatory Notices, Paper 18).

Effect on the litigation: The IPRs did not stay the district court case — ACS's own filings confirm no stay was requested, and Judge Albright had scheduled trial for 2026-11-16, two weeks before the IPR's statutory FWD deadline of 2026-11-27. The Board's institution therefore runs in parallel with an active, post-Markman district court case; the Markman order (including the claim-30 indefiniteness ruling) is feeding directly into the IPR record, and the IPR outcome (FWD due 2026-11-27) could moot or reshape the '034 claims in the litigation.

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6. Trial, verdict, and post-trial motions

None yet. The case had not gone to trial as of the latest verified sources (April 2026). Trial was scheduled for 2026-11-16 in the W.D. Tex. case (ACS DD Request, Exs. 2004/2005, citing the district court's schedule). No verdict, JMOL, new-trial motion, or fee motion exists on the public record.

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7. Final disposition / present posture

• PTAB (IPR2025-00913): Active and instituted. AMD terminated by settlement; Intel remains the sole petitioner. PO Response filed 2026-02-06; no final written decision as of April 2026; FWD due 2026-11-27. (This matches your case metadata.)
• District court (7:24-cv-00245): The case was pending and proceeding toward the 2026-11-16 trial as of the institution decision and ACS's IPR filings. One secondary aggregator (Ex Parte) labels the docket "Closed," which may indicate a recent settlement/dismissal — but I found no docket entry, stipulation of dismissal, or order to that effect, so the final disposition of the Intel district court case is unconfirmed on this record. If a settlement occurred, it post-dates the PTAB's termination decision (which still listed Intel as an active petitioner) and the 2025-12-11 mandatory notices (which listed the W.D. Tex. case as pending).

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Bottom line

The '034 patent is embroiled in a two-front fight: a live Albright-court infringement case (claim construction done; trial set for 2026-11-16; claim 30 held indefinite; "mechanism" terms construed as §112 ¶6 means-plus-function; "single-node kernel" at plain meaning) and an instituted IPR (all claims 1–30 challenged over the MultiMATLAB/IBM SP2 prior art, with a FWD due 2026-11-27). AMD exited both via confidential settlement (PTAB termination granted; Intel remains). The pivotal upcoming events are the 2026-11-16 trial and the 2026-11-27 IPR final written decision — two weeks apart.

Key sources: PTAB Institution Decision, IPR2025-00913 Paper 16 (2025-11-07, docketalarm.com); Director's Decision Referring Petitions, Paper 13 (2025-09-19, PTACTS); PTACTS Termination Due to Settlement After Institution (IPR2025-00913 et al., Papers 19–20); ACS Patent Owner Response, Paper 22 (2026-02-06, docketupdate); Claim Construction Order (Ex. 1085, filed 2025-10-02); Unified Patents docket for 7:24-cv-00245; Justia docket (txwdce 1172806263); Mondaq (2024-10-21); RPX Insight.

Preliminary note on the case posture

The docket identified in the case metadata — IPR2025-00913, Intel Corporation v. Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. — is not a patent infringement case. It is an inter partes review before the PTAB in which Intel Corporation is the Petitioner (the functional equivalent of the "plaintiff-side" party named in the metadata), and Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. ("ACS") is the Patent Owner (the defendant/respondent). AMD was a co-petitioner but was terminated from the proceeding after settlement (Paper 20; Joint Motion to Terminate as to AMD), leaving Intel as the sole remaining petitioner. Institution was granted on November 7, 2025 (Paper 16); no final written decision has issued (FWD due ~November 27, 2026).

Separately, the underlying patent infringement case is Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. v. Intel Corporation, No. 7:24-cv-00245-ADA (W.D. Tex.) — there, ACS is the plaintiff and Intel is the defendant, the reverse of the metadata's "plaintiff" label. I address both below.

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Counsel of record for Intel Corporation (Petitioner) in IPR2025-00913

Lead counsel

Andrew S. Ehmke — Lead Counsel for Petitioners

• Firm: Haynes and Boone, LLP — 2801 N. Harwood Street, Suite 2300, Dallas, TX 75201 (signature block on Petitioners' Updated Mandatory Notices, Paper 18, Dec. 11, 2025).
• Role: Lead counsel (Reg. No. 50,271; Customer No. 27683). Confirmed in Paper 18 and in the Acting Director's Decision Referring Petitions (Paper 13, Sept. 19, 2025), which lists him first "FOR PETITIONER."
• Experience note: H&B partner who heads the firm's PTAB/IPR advocacy; routinely leads high-stakes AI/semiconductor IPRs for Intel and other tech companies (a general characterization — specifics of his prior Intel matters aren't on this docket).

Back-up counsel (Haynes and Boone, LLP)

David L. McCombs — Back-up counsel

• Firm: Haynes and Boone, LLP (Dallas IP practice).
• Role: Named as counsel of record for Petitioners in the Petition-era service lists (Patent Owner's Mandatory Notices, Paper 5, and Power of Attorney, Paper 4, both May 20, 2025) and in Paper 13's "FOR PETITIONER" list.
• Experience note: Senior H&B IP partner with decades of district-court and PTAB patent litigation experience (long-time lead in H&B's patent practice; specific prior cases not verified on this docket).

Dan Smith — Back-up counsel

• Firm: Haynes and Boone, LLP.
• Role: Counsel of record for Petitioners (Papers 4, 5; Paper 13 "FOR PETITIONER" list).
• Experience note: H&B PTAB/patent-litigation practitioner (appears on the firm's IPR filings in this coordinated Intel/AMD campaign).

Dagim Tilahun — Back-up counsel

• Firm: Haynes and Boone, LLP.
• Role: Counsel of record for Petitioners (Papers 4, 5; Paper 13 "FOR PETITIONER" list).
• Experience note: H&B associate-level PTAB practitioner supporting the Intel IPR campaign.

Additional H&B practitioners on correspondence (not formally designated as back-up in the papers reviewed): Gregory Huh and David O'Dell appear on PTAB email correspondence regarding this proceeding (e.g., the Sept. 2, 2025 email chain in PTACTS records), suggesting they are additional H&B team members — but I could not confirm they are designated back-up counsel from the docket entries retrieved.

Winston & Strawn LLP (co-petitioner AMD's counsel — terminated from the case)

Brian E. Ferguson, Chaoxuan Charles Liu, and James Kappos — Winston & Strawn LLP

• Served as "counsel of record for Petitioners" on the same service lists (Papers 4 and 5) and on PTAB email correspondence (BEFerguson@winston.com; CCLiu@winston.com; jkappos@winston.com).
• The docket entries I retrieved do not expressly state which petitioner Winston & Strawn represented, but the pattern (separate H&B and W&S blocks; AMD's own IPRs) is consistent with Winston & Strawn representing co-petitioner AMD, which has since settled and been terminated (Paper 20). Treat this as an inference, not a confirmed designation.

In-house Intel counsel

No Intel in-house attorney is identified as counsel of record in the IPR2025-00913 docket entries retrieved. Intel's in-house lawyers (Heather E. Takahashi, Kevin Han Yang, Faye Paul Teller) appear instead in the parallel W.D. Tex. infringement case (see below).

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If you meant the parallel district court infringement action (7:24-cv-00245, W.D. Tex.)

There, the plaintiff is Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc., not Intel — Intel is the defendant. For completeness:

• ACS's (plaintiff) counsel: Mark Siegmund (local W.D. Tex. counsel), David P. Lindner and Jon Gurka (Crowell & Moring LLP — Lindner in Chicago; Gurka in Irvine), and Reynaldo C. Barcelo (Barcelo, Harrison & Walker, LLP, Newport Beach) — Lindner, Gurka, and Barcelo appeared pro hac vice (W.D. Tex. orders at Dkt. 17–19).
• Intel's (defendant) counsel in that suit: Munger Tolles & Olson attorneys Gregory P. Stone, Evan J. Mann, L. Ashley Aull, Adam W. Kwon, Peter E. Gratzinger, and Ted T. Kang (pro hac vice motions, Dkt. 24–29, filed by local counsel Brian Christopher Nash), plus Intel in-house attorneys Heather E. Takahashi, Kevin Han Yang, and Faye Paul Teller (Notices of Appearance, Dkt. 21–23). Intel answered with counterclaims on Feb. 5, 2025.

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Key sourcing caveats

• Attorney names, roles, and the Dallas address for lead counsel are grounded in PTAB Papers 4, 5, 13, and 18 (retrieved via PTACTS/Docket Alarm/ex parte case aggregators), not PACER (IPR filings aren't on PACER).
• Office locations for the individual H&B back-up counsel (McCombs, Smith, Tilahun) are not stated in the retrieved filings; I have listed the firm's Dallas presence as it appears in the lead-counsel signature block. If you need per-attorney office verification, the USPTO's PTAB practitioner directory (Reg. Nos. as above) is the authoritative source.
• The Winston & Strawn/AMD inference and the "notable experience" lines are general characterizations from firm/public-source knowledge, not from the docket itself.

The metadata identifies this as a PTAB inter partes review (IPR2025-00913), where Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. ("ACS") is the patent owner/respondent—i.e., the party defending the patent. Let me verify the full counsel lineup from the PTAB filings and check for any updates in later docket entries.

I have the core counsel lineup from the Patent Owner's Power of Attorney (Paper 4, May 20, 2025). Let me verify whether any additional counsel have appeared in later filings (e.g., the February 2026 Patent Owner Response) and confirm the experience/background of each attorney.

Clarification on case posture

The case in the metadata — IPR2025-00913 — is a PTAB inter partes review (Intel Corp. and AMD v. Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc.), not a district court infringement suit. The "defendant" analog is the patent owner/respondent, Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. ("ACS"), which is defending the '034 patent against Intel's/AMD's unpatentability challenge. (In the parallel W.D. Tex. infringement actions, ACS v. Intel, No. 7:24-cv-00245-ADA, and ACS v. AMD, No. 7:24-cv-00244-ADA, ACS is the plaintiff and Intel/AMD are the defendants.) Below is the counsel of record for ACS in the IPR, taken from ACS's Patent Owner's Power of Attorney (Paper 4, filed May 20, 2025) and confirmed by subsequent filings (e.g., Paper 11 reply, Paper 22 Patent Owner Response, Paper 23 Updated Mandatory Notices).

Counsel of record for Advanced Cluster Systems, Inc. (Patent Owner)

1. David P. Lindner — Lead Counsel

• Firm/Location: Crowell & Moring LLP, 455 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive, Ste. 3600, Chicago, IL 60611 (Reg. No. 53,222).
• Role: Lead counsel; signed the POA and every substantive PO filing in this proceeding (discretionary-denial briefs, reply brief, Patent Owner Response).
• Note: Experienced PTAB/patent litigator who has headed ACS's IPR defense across the related proceedings (IPR2025-00913 through -00916 and the AMD IPRs 00862/00863).

2. Jon Gurka — Backup Counsel

• Firm/Location: Crowell & Moring LLP, 3 Park Plaza, Floor 20, Irvine, CA 92614 (Reg. No. 44,139).
• Role: Backup counsel in the IPR; per Crowell's own materials, he is also the lead trial lawyer "leading Advanced Cluster Systems' patent infringement actions against Intel and AMD concerning cluster computing products" in the W.D. Tex. cases.
• Note: Veteran patent litigator with 30+ years' experience; named a Daily Journal Top IP Lawyer in California (2025); currently also represents Shoulder Innovations in patent litigation against Catalyst Orthoscience.

3. Reynaldo C. Barcelo — Backup Counsel

• Firm/Location: Barcelo, Harrison & Walker, LLP, 2901 W. Coast Hwy, Ste. 200, Newport Beach, CA 92633 (Reg. No. 42,290).
• Role: Designated backup counsel from the boutique IP firm appointed alongside Crowell & Moring in the POA; appears on the service/email chains for PO filings in this and the related IPRs.
• Note: Long-practicing California patent litigator; his firm's appointment as co-counsel reflects the local Newport Beach IP boutique's involvement in ACS's patent portfolio enforcement.

Other observations

• No in-house counsel is listed on the PTAB docket for ACS; the POA was executed by an ACS corporate officer (in the related IPR2025-00862 proceeding, the signatory was Zvi Tannenbaum).
• No sealed filings affecting counsel identity: The POA, mandatory notices, and all PO briefs are public. The only sealed items are the AMD–ACS settlement agreement (treated as business confidential under 35 U.S.C. § 317(b)); they don't involve new counsel.
• Status as of the latest docket entries: Trial was instituted on November 7, 2025 (Paper 16); AMD settled with ACS and was terminated as a petitioner (Papers 19–21, Jan. 2026), leaving Intel as the sole petitioner; ACS filed its Patent Owner Response and updated mandatory notices on February 6, 2026 (Papers 22–23). No final written decision has issued (projected due date ~November 27, 2026).
• If you instead meant the defendants in the underlying W.D. Tex. infringement suits (Intel and AMD), their district-court counsel are Haynes and Boone, LLP (Andrew S. Ehmke, David L. McCombs, Dan Smith, Dagim Tilahun, David O'Dell, Gregory Huh) and Winston & Strawn LLP (Brian E. Ferguson, Chaoxuan Charles Liu, James Kappos) — the same teams appearing as petitioner's counsel in this IPR. Let me know if you'd like that lineup expanded.

Sources: ACS Patent Owner's Power of Attorney, IPR2025-00913, Paper 4 (May 20, 2025); PO Reply in Support of Discretionary Denial, Paper 11 (Sept. 4, 2025); PO Updated Mandatory Notices, Paper 23 (Feb. 6, 2026); Crowell & Moring press release, "The Daily Journal Names Kent B. Goss and Jon Gurka Among Top IP Lawyers" (Apr. 7, 2025); Board Termination Order re AMD settlement (IPR2025-00913 et al.).