Nicholas Mathews

Nick Mathews is a trial lawyer who focuses on intellectual property and complex commercial litigation, including standard-essential patent, antitrust, and contract disputes.

His recent courtroom victories include successfully defending Ericsson in a first-of-its-kind FRAND jury trial against HTC related to cellular essential patent licensing. Nick also played a key role in helping Ericsson secure a $75 million willful patent infringement jury verdict against TCL, resulting in a $110 million judgment.

Nick routinely handles matters alleging competitive violations in patent licensing related to standard essential patents subject to FRAND or RAND obligations. He represents clients in patent infringement matters across a wide range of technology fields, including cellular communications, speech coding, video compression, and medical devices. Nick is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and has experience prosecuting patents and in inter partes review proceedings.

Nick has been recognized as a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” for the last four years and has been named to its Up-and-Coming 100 list for 2019. He is also recognized among the “Best Lawyers Under 40” by D Magazine.

Prior to joining the firm, Nick served as a law clerk for the Honorable J. Rodney Gilstrap during his first year on the bench of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division.

• HTC v. Ericsson. Represents Ericsson in a dispute over FRAND terms for a license to cellular essential patents. In February 2019, Nick presented and cross-examined witnesses in a five-day trial resulting in an important win for Ericsson. The jury found that Ericsson’s offers of $2.50 per 4G device, or 1% of the net device price with a $1 floor and $4 cap did not breach Ericsson’s FRAND commitment. Following the verdict, the Court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law in connection with Ericsson’s request for a declaratory judgment that it complied with FRAND. The declaration affirmed the jury’s findings and conclusively rejected HTC’s efforts to require Ericsson to license its cellular patents as a percentage of the profit margin, or cost, of a baseband processor.
• Ericsson v. TCL. Represents Ericsson in matters involving patent infringement and a dispute over FRAND terms for a license relating to LTE, WCDMA, and GSM technologies. In December 2017, Nick presented and cross-examined witnesses in a four-day trial in the Eastern District of Texas that resulted in a finding of willful infringement and a jury award of $75 million for Ericsson. After trial, the Court enhanced the verdict, resulting in a judgment of more than $110 million.
• Sol IP v. Ericsson. Represents Ericsson in a patent infringement action involving 20 patent related to LTE wireless technology.
• University of Minnesota v. Ericsson. Represents Ericsson in a patent infringement action involving five patents related to LTE wireless technology.
• Powermat v. Belkin. Represents Powermat in a breach of contract action related to the underpayment of patent royalties.
• Nokia v. Apple.  Represented Nokia in two district court cases and one ITC case relating to patent infringement of 8 H.264 standard essential patents, 10 wireless implementation patents, and defense of breach of RAND and unfair competition allegations.
• Ericsson v. Apple. Represented Ericsson in a global patent infringement dispute against Apple at the International Trade Commission and in district court regarding standard essential and implementation patents related to LTE wireless technology.
• Ericsson v. Samsung. Member of the trial team that represented Ericsson in its patent infringement dispute against Samsung, including proceedings at the ITC and litigation in district court regarding a number of standard essential and implementation patents related to LTE, WCDMA, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and 802.11 wireless technology.
• Norred v. Medtronic. Defended Medtronic in a patent infringement lawsuit related to aortic valves. Obtained a stay of the district court litigation based on IPR petitions that had been filed but not yet instituted.
• Unwired Planet v. Apple/Blackberry. Represented Unwired Planet in a patent infringement dispute against Apple and Blackberry related to wireless internet technologies.
• Rockstar Consortium v. Google/Samsung. Represented Rockstar Consortium in a patent infringement suit against Google, Samsung, and others involving a number of patents related to mobile handset technology.

• Named among the World's Leading IP Strategist in the 2024 edition of IAM 300
• Named among Lawdragon 500's Leading Global Plaintiff Lawyers (2024)
• Ranked in Chambers USA as a leading intellectual property lawyer. The 2024 edition states that he is "noted for his skills in IP disputes." 
• Recognized among the "40 & Under" by Benchmark Litigation, (2023-2024)
• Named among the Top Most Active and Performing Attorneys Representing Complainants by the Patexia ITC Intelligence Report, 2024
• Ranked by IAM Patent 1000 as bronze in Texas for patent litigation (2022-2024)
• Recognized as a "Rising Star" by Law360, (2020)
• Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a "Future Star" (2024, 2025)
• Recognized by "Best Lawyers in America" for Commercial, Antitrust, and Patent Litigation, (2022-2025)
• Recognized as a leading lawyer in Patent Litigation by The Legal 500, (2021-2022)
• Named a Texas "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers, (2016-2019)
• Named to Up-and-Coming 100: 2019 Texas Rising Stars by Super Lawyers (2019)
• Named to D Magazine Best Lawyers Under 40 in Dallas (2018, 2020)