Hill, Kertscher & Wharton

I'll research the firm's profile before writing.

Hill, Kertscher & Wharton LLP (HKW) — Firm overview

Hill, Kertscher & Wharton LLP is an Atlanta-based litigation firm founded in 2003, headquartered at One Overton Park, 3625 Cumberland Blvd. SE, Suite 1050, Atlanta, GA 30339 (earlier PTAB filings list 3350 Riverwood Parkway, Suite 800). It is not BigLaw: the firm's own site and Martindale list roughly 9–11 attorneys, and its practice description emphasizes a lean, senior-staffed model. There is no AmLaw 200/100 ranking. The relevant third-party indicator is IAM Patent 1000, which lists HKW as a Bronze-tier firm and separately ranks Steven G. Hill and David Ludwig as leading patent practitioners. Chambers rankings were not found for this firm.

IP litigation specialty

HKW describes a national patent practice spanning district court litigation, PTAB proceedings, Federal Circuit appeals, licensing disputes, and counseling, with technology coverage in software, electronics, telecommunications, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, scientific instruments, aerospace, and industrial systems. That breadth is consistent with the tracked docket: network scanning/copier document management (MPHJ), wireless/content printing (Flexiworld), video-game controllers (Ironburg), and security software (Quickvault). The firm also handles the IP-adjacent mix of trade dress, copyright, trade secret, and unfair competition issues.

Side preference

The firm works both sides. Its 10 tracked appearances split 7 plaintiff-side and 3 defendant-side, and its own IAM profile states it "represents both patent owners and accused infringers." Much of the plaintiff-side work is patent-owner enforcement — including NPE/PAE representations such as MPHJ Technology Investments and Flexiworld Technologies, where HKW served in Georgia local-counsel roles and Steve Hill functioned as local/Georgia counsel. Defendant-side and defense-support work appears in IPR defense and in local-counsel engagements.

Notable cases and outcomes

• MPHJ Technology Investments v. Ricoh Americas, Xerox, and Lexmark — HKW represented MPHJ (patent owner) through a consolidated set of IPRs covering the '173 and '410 patents and on appeal. The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB's invalidation of the '173 patent claims in MPHJ Tech. Invs., LLC v. Ricoh Ams. Corp., 847 F.3d 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2017); Vivek Ganti argued for appellant. Notably, this was a loss for the firm's client, and it is the most prominent tracked matter.
• Unified Patents Inc. v. MPHJ Technology Investments — HKW is recorded as counsel in this PTAB challenge brought by Unified Patents, an entity that files IPRs against NPE-held patents.
• Ironburg Inventions Ltd. v. Collective Minds Gaming Co. (N.D. Ga., 1:16-cv-04110) — HKW appeared as Georgia local counsel. Note a data caveat: the tracker labels this a defendant-side appearance, while public docket filings show HKW signing as local counsel for plaintiff Ironburg.
• Flexiworld Technologies v. Hisense — local/Georgia counsel for the plaintiff patent owner across multiple filings.
• Firm-published results include a $1.06 million jury verdict for Hyper Products in a design-patent/copyright case (2024), described on the firm's David Ludwig bio as a willful-infringement verdict of more than $1.4 million against j5create; and a defense of a BIOS software company and Taiwanese manufacturers with a $1.55 million fee award and 15 patents invalidated through IPRs. These figures come from firm/attorney profiles rather than court records I could independently verify.

PTAB / IPR practice and key partners

PTAB work is a stated core of the practice. IAM's Patent 1000 profile credits HKW with more than 50 inter partes review trials argued before the PTAB — a notable scale claim for a firm of this size, though it rests on the ranking publication rather than an independent audit. The firm's PTAB docket includes both patent-owner defense (the MPHJ family) and coordination of IPR strategy with district court and Federal Circuit positions. Key figures: Steven G. Hill (co-founder; IAM Patent 1000, 2014–2026; Best Lawyers in America) and David Ludwig (patent litigation, IPR/PGR, Federal Circuit; IAM Patent 1000) anchor the patent side; Douglas R. Kertscher (co-founder) leads broadly in complex business/IP litigation; and Vivek Ganti, who argued the MPHJ Federal Circuit appeal and appears in the tracked case list, is a registered practitioner seen in the firm's historic PTAB filings.