Maclain Wells focuses on patent and trademark litigation. He has assisted clients in numerous intellectual property matters, including cases relating to digital video recorders, computer hard drives, LCD panels, software, pharmaceuticals, cancer diagnostics and treatment methods and online business methods. He also has experience in evaluating and licensing intellectual property portfolios.
Representative clients include Moderna, Juno, PanOptis, TiVo, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Pennsylvania, eBay, PayPal, LSI/Agere Systems, Chi Mei Optoelectronics, Immersion, St. Jude and Guardant Health.
Experience
- Optis Wireless Technology LLC et al. v. Apple Inc. (E.D. Tex.) Secured a $506.2 million jury award for PanOptis in a patent infringement suit against Apple involving 4G LTE technology. The jury found Apple infringed claims of the five patents at issue, determined all asserted claims were valid and found Apple’s infringement was willful. The case was the first patent jury trial in the U.S. since the pandemic began.
- Juno Therapeutics, Inc. et al. v. Kite Pharma, Inc. (C.D. Cal.). Represented Juno Therapeutics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in declaratory judgment action of patent infringement against Kite Pharma relating to chimeric antigen receptor technology for the treatment of B cell cancers resulting in a judgment exceeding $1 billion.
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Immersion v. Apple. Represented Immersion in multipatent action pending before the International Trade Commission and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The dispute involved several Immersion patents relating to tactile feedback technologies that were asserted against Apple devices. The dispute settled when Immersion entered into settlement and license agreements with Apple, the terms of which are confidential.
- TiVo v. Samsung. Represented TiVo in patent infringement against Samsung in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The case involved TiVo’s claims under four patents relating to digital video recording technologies. The dispute settled on favorable terms.
- Motorola v. TiVo/TiVo v. Cisco. Represented TiVo in patent litigation over DVR technology against Motorola Mobility and Cisco Systems. On June 6, 2013, shortly before the start of trial, Motorola and Cisco agreed to pay $490 million to TiVo to resolve the litigation.
News
Honors & Awards
- Named to the Southern California Rising Stars list (2012)
Publications
- "Indefiniteness In Inter Partes Review Proceedings," Journal of the Patent & Trademark Office Society (March 2016)
- "2015 Patent Reform: Is It Happening?" Westlaw Journal Intellectual Property (October 14, 2015)
- "It’s Finally Time to Modernize Our Patent System," Los Angeles Daily Journal (July 5, 2011)
- "The Patent Reform Act of 2007: Attempting to Modernize the U.S. Patent System," Federal Bar Association Newsletter (Winter 2008)
- "Redefining Prior Art Under Proposed Patent Reform Measures," ALM's Patent Strategy and Management Journal (June and July 2008)
Professional Activities
- Member, The Bar Association of San Francisco
Practice Areas
Education
University of Colorado Law School (J.D.); Order of the Coif; Seaman Scholar; Galland Scholarship; George Kerr Memorial Scholarship; Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Litigation Award; Business Law Society; Intellectual Property Law Society; Moot Court
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (B.S., Biology, Minor in Chemistry), with distinction
Admissions
- California, 2002
- U.S. District Court for the Northern and Central Districts of California
- U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office