Skiermont Derby

I'll research Skiermont Derby's profile before writing.

Skiermont Derby LLP — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Firm overview. Skiermont Derby LLP is a litigation boutique founded in July 2011, headquartered in Dallas (1601 Elm Street, Suite 4400) with a second office in Los Angeles (633 W. 5th Street, Suite 5800). It is not an AmLaw-ranked firm; Chambers USA lists it in the Texas "Regional Spotlight" for Intellectual Property, describing it as "particularly well known for its adept handling of patent litigation at trial, inter partes review proceedings and in appellate courts." The firm states that it is staffed predominantly by partners and senior attorneys recruited from larger firms, and Law360 has described it among "Ten Boutiques Giving BigLaw A Run For Its Money." It has been listed in IAM Patent 1000 every year since 2014 — which it notes makes it one of only seven Texas firms so recognized. A precise attorney headcount is not publicly disclosed by the firm and I could not verify one from an independent source.

IP litigation specialty. Patent, IP and complex commercial litigation are the firm's focus areas, with a technical portfolio spanning pharmaceuticals/life sciences, telecommunications and wireless standards, semiconductors and flash memory, aerospace, medical devices, LEDs/lighting, speech recognition and natural-language-processing software, industrial control software, and consumer electronics (firm practice page). The tracked docket bears this out: natural-language-processing patents against Microsoft and Google (IPA Technologies), LTE/wireless standard-essential patents (Optis Wireless v. Apple), smartphone/dual-network calling patents (Smart Mobile Technologies v. Apple, Samsung), memory and semiconductor patents (Netlist/Micron), options-exchange technology (SpectraNet v. Optiver, IMC-Chicago), EV charging (Charge Fusion v. Tesla), and Hatch-Waxman/generic-drug claims (Novartis v. HEC Pharm, Accord). The firm also handles copyright, trademark, trade secret, antitrust and multidistrict commercial litigation.

Side preference. The docket is genuinely two-sided: 14 tracked plaintiff-side appearances against 15 defendant-side appearances. Plaintiff work is largely patent-owner enforcement, including for licensing/NPE entities (IPA Technologies, Optis, Smart Mobile Technologies, Netlist, SpectraNet, SITNET, Charge Fusion). Defense work runs both directions — defending operating companies (VIZIO, Instacart, generic manufacturers HEC Pharm/Accord) and defending patent owners such as MyPort and Pogona in declaratory-judgment and IPR proceedings brought by Unified Patents, Apple, Merck and Micron. In other words, the firm does not present as a dedicated NPE shop or a captive defense shop; its stated positioning is that it represents "patent owners and defendants" across both postures (Chambers firm profile).

Notable cases and outcomes. The firm's most prominent public result is IPA Technologies Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. (D. Del.), where a Delaware jury awarded $242 million on May 10, 2024 for Microsoft's Cortana infringement of a natural-language-processing patent — press materials from co-counsel Bayard, P.A. describe it as the third-largest patent verdict in Delaware history; the case settled after verdict before post-trial briefing (Bayard release). Skiermont Derby also defended the IPA patents through more than a dozen Microsoft and Google IPRs; the Federal Circuit affirmed Google's PTAB win in January 2026 in a Rule 36 summary affirmance (Fed. Cir. order). The firm's partner bio also reports a $25 million eve-of-trial settlement for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute against Apple over the Siri technology, and PTAB institution of review on every brand-pharma patent it challenged for the Coalition for Affordable Drugs. Caution is warranted on two tracked plaintiff entries: the firm appears in dockets for Optis Wireless Technology v. Apple Inc. (with Paul Skiermont listed as lead trial counsel) and for parallel Netlist–Micron matters, but contemporaneous trial reporting in the Optis/Micron cases identifies Irell & Manella and McKool Smith as lead trial teams, so the firm's precise role in those specific trials is not independently confirmed. The Optis litigation's public history includes a $506M verdict (2020), a $300M retrial award (2021), Federal Circuit vacatur of both in June 2025, and a defense verdict for Apple in the third trial.

PTAB/IPR practice and key partners. AIA proceedings are a significant part of the practice — the firm states it handles IPRs "for both patent owners and petitioners," and USPTO filings show Skiermont Derby as counsel in numerous IPRs and PGRs involving the IPA/Cheyer patents, Smart Mobile Technologies, VIZIO, MyPort, Pogona and Netlist. I could not locate a public count of the firm's total IPR filings, so any scale figure should be treated cautiously. Practice leaders most consistently identified in the tracked cases and firm/Chambers materials are founding partner Paul J. Skiermont (lead trial counsel; named a Managing IP/LMG Life Sciences "Star in Patent Litigation" since 2012, per the firm), Los Angeles partner Rex Hwang (registered patent attorney, IPR/CBM/PGR and Federal Circuit work), Dallas partner Steven W. Hartsell (argued the IPA v. Google Federal Circuit appeal), and partners Sarah E. Spires and Mieke K. Malmberg, with Ryan A. Hargrave and Todd A. Martin also appearing repeatedly. The firm added IP litigation partners Bradley D. Liddle and Michael C. Pomeroy in its Dallas office in August 2026 (firm announcement); Pomeroy's top-100/top-10 PTAB recognitions are the firm's own characterization via peer-review journals and are not independently verified here.