Dowd Scheffel

Dowd Scheffel PLLC is a Washington, D.C.-based intellectual property litigation boutique firm, founded in May 2018 by Matthew J. Dowd and Robert J. Scheffel. The firm is recognized for providing sophisticated legal representation in intellectual property and civil litigation, leveraging the founders' experience from a large AmLaw 100 firm.

The firm's IP litigation practice spans a broad range of technologies, including chemicals, pharmaceuticals (with significant experience in Hatch-Waxman cases), software, mechanical inventions, agricultural products, and semiconductors. Dowd Scheffel engages in all aspects of intellectual property enforcement and defense, including district court litigation, appellate proceedings before the Federal Circuit and Supreme Court, and trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). While the firm's tracked cases show a plaintiff-side focus in patent litigation, its overall IP practice includes representing both patent owners in enforcement actions and defendants in infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition claims.

Dowd Scheffel has been involved in several high-profile patent disputes. The firm serves as appellate counsel for Centripetal Networks, LLC in its ongoing patent litigation against Cisco Systems, Inc., which includes efforts to petition the Supreme Court following Federal Circuit review of a multi-billion dollar verdict. The firm also represented Centripetal Networks, LLC against Palo Alto Networks, Inc., where the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a PTAB decision, instructing further review of obviousness evidence. Other notable representations include prevailing at trial and on appeal for ThermoLife in a false advertising and patent marking case, and favorably settling a patent infringement suit for Atticus, LLC concerning a crop fungicide.

The firm possesses a notable practice before the PTAB, handling Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs), Post Grant Reviews (PGRs), Covered Business Method (CBM) reviews, derivation proceedings, interferences, and reexaminations. Key partners Matthew J. Dowd, a Founder and Managing Partner, and Robert J. Scheffel, a Partner, both bring extensive appellate experience, having clerked for judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Matthew Dowd has been recognized as a leading appellate lawyer and actively participates in USPTO PTAB listening sessions on life sciences. Robert Scheffel has been recognized as a SuperLawyer for his intellectual property litigation work.