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Commercial Dispute Resolution > Tech pro joins Orrick

Tech pro joins Orrick

Tech pro joins Orrick A specialist in patent litigation has joined Orrick as a partner in its Silicon Valley intellectual prope...

A specialist in patent litigation has joined Orrick as a partner in its Silicon Valley intellectual property practice after spending two years with K&L Gates.

San Francisco-headquartered Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has expanded its Silicon Valley intellectual property (IP) partnership with the hire of Scott Oliver.

Oliver, who joins after spending two years at K&L Gates, focuses on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret litigation before district courts and the United States International Trade Commission (ITC). He has a particular expertise in technical matters such as wireless technology, standards adoption, signal impairments, mesh networking and wireless chipset design.

In addition, he advises on IP portfolio management and patent strategies, and assists handset manufacturers and patent pools with licensing issues.

Oliver represented professional services company Accenture in a patent dispute over insurance software against rival Guidewire, and acted for technology giants Fujitsu and Philips in patent infringement case against device manufacturer Netgear. His clients have also included technology companies Meru Networks (now part of Fortinet), Brocade Communications and Aruba Networks.

Denise Mingrone, Orrick’s IP chair, said in a statement: “Scott brings additional first chair ITC and jury trial experience for leading tech and other companies. His experience in ITC proceedings and cases involving complex technologies is a perfect fit for our team.”

Speaking to CDR, Oliver says: “At Orrick, I’ll continue to focus on trial, ITC and dispute resolution involving communication technologies, virtual, augmented and mixed reality, and standards essential patents.”

He notes that there is much less litigation brought by non-practicing entities, and expects to see more IP cases in the complex technology sector, particularly virtual, augmented and mixed reality products.

“Companies in this space need to begin planning for inevitable standards-setting as the technologies mature, as well as develop patent portfolios that can be used both in standards and in licensing programmes,” Oliver explains. “These issues are going to be front and centre as this technology moves into the enterprise, and then consumer markets.”

Orrick has recently been active in Europe: in April, Charles Adams, the former US ambassador to Finland, joined its Geneva office as a partner and head of the firm’s international arbitration practice, while in February, Orrick Rambaud Martel, the firm’s French arm, added partner Patrick Hubert, the former head of Clifford Chance’s antitrust team in Paris, and of counsel Marie-Laure Combet.

The US IP market also saw King & Spalding hire New York IP partners Joseph Diamante and Charles Cantine, and Holland & Knight add patent partner Jeffery Arnold in Atlanta last month.

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