Tony Rowles

Tony Rowles is a member of the firm’s Management Committee and focuses his practice on high-tech patent litigation, counseling and representing clients in district court patent litigation, appeals at the Federal Circuit, Section 337 investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and prosecution and post-grant review proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Tony has experience in all aspects of intellectual property litigation, including analyzing and valuing large IP portfolios, managing complex source code review, working closely with expert witnesses, arguing claim construction at Markman hearings and examining and cross-examining witnesses at trial. He also represents clients in a variety of other technology-related areas, including IP licensing and commercial disputes regarding IP ownership.

Tony has been a core member of multiple Irell trial teams that have obtained significant victories for clients, including most recently securing more than $300 million—plus individual findings of willful infringement—for United Services Automobile Association in separate back-to-back trials against Wells Fargo relating to mobile remote deposit technology.

Prior to law school, Tony helped develop robotic solutions to retail inventory management as a researcher on Intel’s “Future of Retail” project. He also worked as an engineer in the defense industry, creating machine vision and sensor tools for military platforms. Before college, Tony served as an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army.

Experience

• United Services Automobile Association v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (E.D. Tex.). Obtained more than $300 million in jury awards for USAA in separate patent infringement trials against Wells Fargo. The suits involved mobile remote deposit capture technology. Jurors found willful infringement in each case. USAA was able to take the cases to the jury after the Irell team blocked initiation of seven covered business method and inter partes review petitions in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
• Immersion v. Apple (ITC, D. Del.). Represented Immersion, a longtime developer of tactile feedback, or “haptic,” technology, in a Section 337 investigation against Apple and AT&T and a related district court case in Delaware and advised Immersion regarding parallel litigation in China. Apple also filed 14 inter partes review petitions challenging the asserted patents; all but four were denied at the institution stage. Tony took the lead role in developing Immersion’s technical domestic industry case, including examining Immersion’s technical domestic industry expert at trial. Tony also argued at the Markman hearing and cross-examined several Apple engineers. Apple and Immersion reached a confidential settlement and license agreements just days before the Chief ALJ’s decision was set to be issued.
• Intel v. Future Link Systems (D. Del.). Represented Future Link Systems in a declaratory judgment action originally brought by Intel seeking relief with respect to nine patents. Future Link counterclaimed for infringement of 15 patents related to performance, power efficiency and security features in Intel’s processor architectures. Tony joined the Future Link team after summary judgment to assist with trial strategy and handle the examination of one of Future Link’s damages experts. With every one of Intel’s high-volume processors accused of infringing multiple patents, Future Link’s damages demand was on the order of $10 billion. Shortly before trial, Intel agreed to a confidential settlement.
• Represented a former employee of a large telecommunications company in a contract dispute relating to a corporate acquisition, resulting in a mediated settlement.

News

Honors & Awards

• Selected to the inaugural edition of The Lawdragon 500 Leading Global IP Lawyers list (2025)
• Recognized on the list of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch (2025-2026)
• Named to the Southern California Rising Stars list (2022-2024)
• Listed among the “Rising Stars” in Managing Intellectual Property’s IP Stars (2019-2024)