Christopher DeCoro, Ph.D.'s headshot

Christopher DeCoro, Ph.D.

Partner

Chris focuses on intellectual property litigation in federal courts, the International Trade Commission, and the PTAB.  He additionally assists clients in targeted prosecution to build the strength of their patent portfolio, as well as having experience in copyright, trade secret, and commercial litigation.

Biography

Chris has represented clients across a wide range of industries including semiconductor design and fabrication, wireless communications (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi, and digital two-way radio), application and operating system software, internet communications and e-commerce, medical devices, and automobiles, and e-commerce, on matters involving pre-litigation advice, patent infringements and assertions, trade secrets, exclusion orders, inter partes review, and ITC investigations.  Chris has experience in all phases of litigation, including pre-suit analysis and strategy advising, discovery and depositions, claim construction, summary judgment, trial and post-trial, mediation, and appeals.

Chris draws on his background in computer science, the field in which he holds a Ph.D, to provide technical analysis.  Chris is uniquely positioned to serve clients on matters that require legal analysis of source code and other highly technical documentation.  He has published numerous scholarly articles and presented at international academic conferences on machine learning and computer graphics.  He also serves on the Board of the New York City Bar Association Fund, which expands access to justice for people underserved by the legal profession in New York City and advances global justice by engaging lawyers across borders to support civil society, among other programs.

Experience

Chris’ representative matters include:

Berall v. Verathon, Inc., et. al. Representing individual inventor in 11-year patent litigation over a life-saving medical device known as a video laryngoscope.

Red Hat, Inc. v. Invention Investment Ireland, LLC. Represented Red Hat in a declaratory judgment action against an Intellectual Ventures-associated patent assertion entity on patents related to cloud computing, and successfully achieved a highly favorable settlement for client.

Red Hat, Inc. & IBM v. Sequoia Technologies, Inc; Sequoia v. HPE, Hitachi, and Super Micro.  Represented Red Hat, IBM, and their customers in defensive action against patent assertion entity on a patent related to storage management.  Achieved favorable claim construction that forced patentee to stipulate to non-infringement.

Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Litigation.  Technical lead on all aspects of VW’s response to EPA enforcement proceedings related to allegations of emissions-testing defeat devices in diesel engines.  Had primary responsibility for interviewing engineers and reviewing technical documentation (both in English and in German) regarding VW’s engine-control software and emissions-control devices, as well as drafting technical disclosures to EPA documenting the functionality of the cars at issue.

Ericsson Inc. v. Samsung Electronics, Co. Ltd. Represented Samsung in standards-essential patent litigation brought by Ericsson related to 5G wireless communications standards.

RetailMeNot, Inc. v. Honey Science LLC and eBay.  Represented RetailMeNot in a multi-patent litigation in the District of Delaware concerning e-commerce transaction technologies.  Also represented RetailMeNot in parallel proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

PayPal, Inc. v. RetailMeNot, Inc. Represented RetailMeNot in a multi-patent litigation in the Western District of Texas concerning e-commerce transaction technologies.

Hytera Corp. v. Motorola Solutions Inc. Represented Motorola in defensive patent litigation in N.D. Ohio brought by competitor, alleging Motorola’s two-way radios infringe audio-processing patent.  Achieved summary judgment of non-infringement.

Samsung v. NVIDIA.  Represented Samsung before the International Trade Commission (ITC) in a trial alleging infringement of patented manufacturing technology for small-sized devices.  Responsible for two patents from complaint through trial.  After a two-week trial, the Court ruled in favor of client and recommended an exclusion order barring importation of infringing products.  Also represented before the US Patent and Trademark Office in connection with inter partes review of the patents asserted in the ITC.

Sycamore Technologies LLC v. AT&T Corp. Represented AT&T in defensive patent litigation in E.D. Texas regarding encodings for optical communications.  Primarily responsible for technical analysis, non-infringement, and invalidity.  Achieved summary judgment of non-infringement for an allegedly standards-essential patent after a favorable claim construction, which was affirmed on appeal.

IPCS v. AT&T Corp. Represented telecommunications provider in defensive patent litigation in D. Delaware regarding Voice-over-IP technologies.  Primarily responsible for technical analysis, non-infringement, and validity.

Provides pre-litigation and patent prosecution advice and analysis for prominent computer-technology companies considering patent infringement actions against competitors.

Represented veteran pro bono before Dept. of Veterans Affairs, achieving compensation for injuries suffered during active duty, thus reversing 37-year-old wrongful denial of compensation.

Prior to joining Gish PLLC, Chris worked at Kirkland & Ellis LLP for over 10 years.

Clerkship

  • The Honorable Barry T. Albin, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of New Jersey (2013-2014)

Law Intern

  • United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut (2010)

Education

2012

Yale Law School

J.D.

2009

Princeton University

Ph.D., Computer Science

2002

University of California, Irvine

B.S., Computer Science, summa cum laude

Admissions

State Bar of New York

State Bar of New Jersey

District Court for the District of New Jersey

Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit