Porter Hedges

Porter Hedges LLP is a full-service law firm headquartered in Houston, Texas, with an additional office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The firm is recognized as one of the largest Houston-based firms and among the leading law firms in Texas. In 2024, Law360 ranked Porter Hedges 354th among the largest U.S. firms, with 124 U.S. lawyers, indicating its substantial regional presence. Chambers USA consistently acknowledges multiple Porter Hedges practices among the leading teams in Texas and nationally.

The firm's intellectual property practice offers a comprehensive suite of services, including patent, trademark, trade secret, unfair competition, and antitrust litigation, as well as patent and trademark prosecution, portfolio management, and transactional support. Porter Hedges' patent litigators possess experience across a diverse range of technology areas, such as oilfield equipment and systems, electronic manufacturing devices, wireless communication devices, chemical catalysts, genetically modified crop plants, software, and material science.

Porter Hedges handles patent litigation for both patent owners enforcing their rights and companies defending against infringement claims. The firm was involved in the notable case of Proxense, LLC v. Samsung Electronics CO, LTD, filed in March 2021 in the Western District of Texas. This case asserted five patents related to biometric personal data key (PDK) authentication and hybrid device receiver-decoder technology. The matter was resolved by a consent judgment after nearly two years, with each party bearing its own costs; specific financial or licensing terms were not publicly disclosed.

The firm maintains an active practice in Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), representing both petitioners challenging patents and patent owners defending them. Their attorneys navigate the procedural, technical, and litigation-like aspects of IPRs, often in parallel with federal court litigation. For instance, Porter Hedges successfully secured four denials on IPR petitions filed by Phillips 66 before the PTAB in January 2022.

Key partners in the intellectual property litigation practice include Jonathan Pierce, who specializes in patent and trademark law, intellectual property agreements, and litigation, and Sarah J. Ring, who handles complex intellectual property and business disputes involving technologies like oil and gas, wireless communications, and medical devices, and also litigates appeals before the Federal Circuit and IPRs before the PTAB. Miranda Jones is also a partner focusing on patent litigation, with experience in pharmaceutical, chemical, electrical, and mechanical fields.