Smith R. Brittingham IV

Partner

Smith Brittingham concentrates on intellectual property litigation. He has extensive litigation experience in both the trial and appellate courts, and he has particular expertise in cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).

Since joining the firm in 2000, Mr. Brittingham has been involved in nearly twenty five ITC investigations and twelve ITC trials, as well as trials in U.S. district court and appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Brittingham served as a senior investigative attorney with the ITC’s Office of Unfair Import Investigations.

Before working at the ITC, he worked in private practice for more than five years, concentrating on civil litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts and general antitrust counseling.

Highlights

• Defense of respondent Pioneer in an ITC trial in which Pioneer’s automotive navigation systems were accused of infringing four patents, acquiring ruling from administrative law judge that none of the patents was infringed and three were invalid.
• Representation of complainant Pioneer in ITC and district court litigation against major manufacturer of GPS navigation devices.
• Representation of complainant InterDigital in two ITC investigations against major manufacturers of cellular telephone handsets, related district court proceedings, and Federal Circuit appeal.
• Representation of complainant Telcordia Technologies in ITC and district court patent infringement actions against major manufacturers of routers and switches.
• Representation of Zoran Corporation in two ITC trials against MediaTek, resulting in favorable post-trial judgments in both investigations, a favorable ruling before Customs excluding MediaTek’s alleged design around chip, and a favorable settlement.
• Representation of respondent System General at ITC trial against allegations that its entire product line of power supply controllers infringed a competitor’s patents.
• Investigative attorney with the ITC’s Office of Unfair Import Investigations for more than six-years, acting as primary trial lawyer for the ITC in five patent infringement trials involving digital satellite television systems, semiconductor processing methods, semiconductor chip architecture, fluorinated polymer chemistry, and rare earth magnets, and one gray market trademark trial involving cigarettes. In addition, Mr. Brittingham was responsible for a number of additional patent-based investigations, including cases involving low-power computer hard drives, infrared remote control systems, nickel-metal-hyrdride batteries, and polymerase chain reaction methods for detecting HIV levels.
• Representation of chemical manufacturer in patent infringement trial in the Southern District of Indiana relating to desiccant-entrained polymers.
• Representation of Philips in a series of successful district court litigations in New York, Illinois, Arizona, California, and Nevada against sellers and manufacturers of infringing compact discs and DVDs.

Professional Recognition

• Recognized as a leader in the field of International Trade: Intellectual Property (Section 337) by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, 2007-2010; and as a top International Trade: IP attorney in the USA by Chambers Global, 2010.

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association (Section on Intellectual Property Law)
• American Intellectual Property Law Association
• ITC Trial Lawyers Association
• Federal Circuit Bar Association

Select Publications

• Coauthor. "Reminder of the Importance of Conducting a Proper Pre-Filing Investigation," 337 Reporter, 2005.