Overview

John Campbell is a Principal in the Austin office of McKool Smith. His trial practice focuses on patent and complex commercial litigation and has included actions before United States District Courts, State Courts, US Supreme Court, Arbitration Panels, the International Trade Commission, the Patent and Trial Appeal Board, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is also registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. John has successfully managed and tried all phases of litigation from pre-filing investigation to appeal. He has substantial experience arguing and presenting both fact and expert witnesses before judges and juries on technical and damages issues. John handles a variety of technologies, such as servers, mobile devices, semiconductors, computer software, and telecommunications.

Prior to joining the firm, John clerked for the Honorable Sue L. Robinson for the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

While in law school, John was the Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal. He also received the Outstanding Senior Appellate Advocacy Award, the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal Best Note Award, the Dean’s Achievement Award, and numerous advocacy awards. Additionally, he has authored several articles on issues related to patent litigation.

Before attending law school, John worked as an engineer and product manager for a consumer power equipment company.

Experience

Representative Matters

  • Rovi/TiVo v. Comcast. Representing Rovi/TiVo in an International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation, as well as multiple district court cases, involving numerous patents related to interactive search, interactive television program guides, DVR technology, and related technologies.
  • Canyon Ridge Resorts. Represented plaintiffs Canyon Ridge Resorts, Singing Sisters Falls, and Scenic Land Company in a complex commercial case involving breach of contract and tort actions against investment bank Sterne Agee & Leach. After a 6-week trial, the jury awarded eight figures in compensatory damages and eight figures in punitive damages in the longest trial in county history and the largest verdict in county history.
  • Ericsson/D-Link. Represented Ericsson in its patent infringement action against Intel, Acer, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, Netgear, and D-Link involving 802.11n wireless technology. In mid-2013, a jury awarded eight figures to Ericsson for the defendants’ infringement of Ericsson’s patented technology.
  • Ericsson/Samsung. Represented Ericsson in its 2013 patent infringement dispute against Samsung comprising two ITC actions and two district court actions. After two ITC trials in fall 2013 (one offensive and on defensive) involving standard essential and implementation patents related to LTE, WCDMA, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and 802.11 wireless technology, the case settled favorably on the eve of the date for the ITC to release its initial determination. Also represented Ericsson and Sony Ericsson in a 2007 dispute against Samsung involving more than 50 standard essential GSM and WCDMA cellular patents. The litigation included simultaneous proceedings pending in the Eastern District of Texas, the International Trade Commission, and numerous European courts. This global litigation was settled on terms favorable to Ericsson on the eve of the first ITC hearing.
  • i4i. Represented i4i in a suit filed against Microsoft for patent infringement involving a method and system for manipulating architecture and content of a document separately from each other. After an eight-day trial, the jury found the patent valid and infringed, rendering a verdict in favor of i4i. On appeal to the Federal Circuit, the verdict was affirmed. On appeal to the United States Supreme Court, the verdict was affirmed by a unanimous Court.
  • Odyssey Wireless. Represents Odyssey Wireless as lead counsel against Apple, Samsung, LG, and Motorola in a patent infringement lawsuit involving technology related to the LTE standard, including frequency hopping and carrier aggregation.
  • Summit 6. Represented Summit 6 in a patent infringement suit against Research in Motion, Facebook, Samsung, Multiply, and Photobucket asserting infringement involving digital content processing and uploading technology. Summit 6 obtained favorable settlements from all parties except Samsung before trial. Following a jury trial in the Northern District of Texas against Samsung, the jury found infringement and awarded eight figures to Summit 6. The Court conducted a separate inequitable conduct trial and rejected Samsung's allegations of inequitable conduct.
  • Affiliated Computer Services. Represented Affiliated Computer Services and ACS State & Local Solutions in a patent infringement case against JPMorgan Chase involving check processing technology.
  • American Airlines. Represents American Airlines in patent litigation including cases filed by CyberFone Systems LLC (District of Delaware) involving telecommunications technologies; Loyalty Conversion Systems Corp. (Eastern District of Texas) involving exchanging rewards program credits; drafted covered business method petition; Macrosolve Inc (Eastern District of Texas) involving data management technologies; Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing (MDL proceeding, Central District of California) involving interactive call processing patents; Unified Messaging (MDL proceeding, Northern District of Illinois) involving website technology enabling email or email-like communications with customers or users; Walker Digital LLC (District of Delaware) involving ticket purchasing technologies and related features to customers.
  • American Video Graphics. Represented plaintiff AVG in patent infringement actions involving computer graphics and operating system software against Microsoft and video game companies.
  • Ericsson/Apple. Represents Ericsson in a global patent dispute against Apple involving district court cases in California and Texas, as well as actions in the ITC.
  • Ericsson/Syncor. Represented Ericsson is a patent infringement action filed by Syncor involving power converter technology.
  • EWI Holdings. Representing EWI in a patent infringement suit against PRE Solutions, involving patents covering methods and systems for PIN distribution involving pre-paid products and services.
  • Hammerhead Engineering. Represented Hammerhead Engineering as lead counsel in a patent infringement action against Ward Parts Werks involving motorcycle cooling devices.
  • Henry Jackson Foundation for Advancement of Military Medicine. Represented the Jackson Foundation and the doctors who invented the drug marketed by MedImmune as Synagis against allegations of breach of their license agreement with MedImmune.
  • Hybrid Audio. Represented Hybrid Audio in a patent infringement action against multiple defendants involving audio compression technology.
  • i2. Represented i2 in a patent infringement action against Oracle involving enterprise software patents, including factory planning, demand planning, and supply chain management software. The parties reached a settlement agreement following the pretrial conference.
  • Lockheed Martin Corporation. Represented Lockheed in a patent infringement suit involving patents covering non-destructive aircraft testing and methodologies of non-destructive testing.
  • Medical University of South Carolina. Represents Medical University of South Carolina Foundation for Research Development in a patent infringement action against AstraZeneca related to the drug Crestor concerning the use of statins in patients for treating inflammation.
  • Medtronic Inc. Represented Medtronic in patent infringement litigation related to cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators.
  • Parallel Networks. Represented Parallel Networks in cases against IBM and Microsoft involving patents related to improving the performance of web servers.
  • Regents of the University of California and Eolas. Represented the Regents of the University of California and internet technology provider Eolas in a patent infringement suit against Google, Apple, Yahoo, Adobe, Amazon, and others regarding advanced browser technology that allows websites to add fully-interactive embedded applications to their online offerings.
  • Safeway. Represented Safeway in a patent infringement case asserted by CodePro directed to the fuel rewards discount technology and fuel dispenser technology. John also represented Safeway, Randall’s Food & Drug, Blackhawk Network, and Blackhawk Marketing in a complex commercial and trade secret matter and patent infringement action asserted by Excentus involving fuel dispensing systems and product discount/incentive methods and systems.
  • Solid State Storage Solutions. Represented Solid State Storage Solutions in asserting patents involving solid state drives using flash memory against Stec, OCZ Technology Group, Corsair Memory, Texas Memory Systems, PNY Technologies, Patriot Memory, Fusion-IO, Other World Computing, and Mushkin.
  • Unwired Planet. Represents Unwired Planet in a patent suit against Apple involving technologies related to speech recognition, app store, location, and push messaging.
  • Amicus Matters. Filed several amicus briefs on behalf of companies in cases such as Apple Inc. v. Motorola Mobility LLC 2013-1150, 1182; Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. 2014-1802; and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization v. Cisco Systems, Inc. 2015-1066.

Recognition

Rankings & Honors

  • Ranked among the top 250 Attorneys representing patent owners by Patexia's Intelligence Report (2023)
  • Recognized by Best Lawyers in America for Litigation: Intellectual Property and Patent, 2020-2025
  • Named to the list of Texas Super Lawyers in Intellectual Property Litigation, 2013-2019
  • Named a Texas "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers, 2007-2013

Affiliations

Community & Professional Activities

  • Chapter Board Director, Texas General Counsel Forum
  • American Trial Lawyers Association
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Austin Intellectual Property Law Association

Media & Events

News

Education

J.D., with honors, University of Texas School of Law, 2002

  • Co-editor-in-chief, Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal
  • Board of Advocates, Order of Barristers

M.B.A., Xavier University, 1998

B.S., with high honors, Mechanical Engineering, Ohio Northern University, 1996

Clerkships

  • Hon. Sue L. Robinson, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware

Court Admissions

  • State of Texas
  • The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • The U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas
  • The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Bar Associations

  • American Bar Association
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