Stites & Harbison

Stites & Harbison, PLLC is a nationally recognized, full-service law firm headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. With 11 offices across six states, including Kentucky, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia, the firm operates as one of the oldest and largest law practices in the Southeast region, comprising over 165 attorneys. Chambers USA notably ranks Stites & Harbison Band 1 in Kentucky for Intellectual Property (2025). The firm has also been recognized by The Patent Lawyer Magazine as a "Top 10 Patent Firms and IP Practices in North America – South" for five consecutive years, including 2026.

The firm's Intellectual Property & Technology (IPT) Group handles a comprehensive range of IP litigation, encompassing patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Their litigators possess diverse technical backgrounds, with advanced degrees in areas such as engineering, biology and life sciences, chemistry, computer science, manufacturing, and telecommunications. This expertise allows them to manage patent cases across various technologies, from mechanical devices and complex software packages to biotechnological inventions and business methods, with a particular strength noted in life sciences, mechanical, and electrical patent prosecution. The firm's single tracked patent litigation case, RARE BREED TRIGGERS, LLC et al. v. LAWRENCE DEGARMO et al., aligns with expertise in mechanical devices.

Stites & Harbison's patent litigation practice demonstrates a balanced approach, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. The firm explicitly states its commitment to "aggressively protect[ing] the intellectual property assets of our clients, and defend[ing] those who have been wrongfully accused of infringing others' intellectual property rights." While the firm's tracked case appearance is on the defendant side, examples cited on its website include securing a $40 million royalty payment for a patent-holding client, achieving a multi-million-dollar jury verdict for a lighting industry patent holder, and obtaining a judgment as a matter of law for a financial software developer in a patent infringement trial. The firm also highlights a case where it represented a national manufacturer of athletic pads in an infringement action that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in an award of attorneys' fees to their client. No specific public outcome (verdict or settlement) for RARE BREED TRIGGERS, LLC et al. v. LAWRENCE DEGARMO et al. was identified in public records at the time of this summary.

The firm's IP litigation services extend to post-grant proceedings, including appeals before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. However, specific public data on the firm's volume or scale of IPR/PGR filings or defenses was not reliably sourced.

Key intellectual property litigation partners at Stites & Harbison include Adam J. Eynon, who served as lead counsel in the tracked case. Additionally, Chambers USA 2025 recognizes David W Nagle Jr. and Joel T Beres as Band 1 IP practitioners, with Mandy W Decker and Warren D Schickli also ranked for their IP expertise. Richard S. Myers Jr. is a main contact for patent prosecution and protection, and Bill Schulman, an "IP Star" as recognized by Managing Intellectual Property magazine, also has deep federal litigation experience in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.