Charles K. Verhoeven

Verhoeven has been a prominent warrior in what has come to be called the "Smartphone Wars" - a battle for control of this multibillion dollar market.

He is lead counsel for Motorola Mobility LLC against Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., HTC Corp. against Apple, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. against Apple in the war that pits Microsoft and Apple against adopters of the Google Android operating system. The battle has generated more than 30 lawsuits. Verhoeven led a vast team of lawyers for Samsung in the month-long jury trial against Apple over patent infringements. It ultimately ended in a loss for Samsung, but Verhoeven and his team plan to appeal.

"There has been a spike in the amount of litigation by competitors in the smartphone industry," he said.

The reason?

"If you look back historically, it's because of disruptive technologies," Verhoeven said. "Smartphone technology impacted the business models of established companies, such as Microsoft. When you have situations involving disruptive technologies, it's not uncommon for companies to enter into litigation."

And, he said, it's usually the more established companies that are initiating the litigation.

But, disputes aside, innovation is good for consumers, he said.

"Part of what we're doing, in representing various smartphone manufacturers, is helping consumers to have more choices," Verhoeven said. "The theme I'm hearing from my clients is that it's better for consumers to have competition in the marketplace, rather than fighting in the courtrooms."

Last year, Verhoeven had eight separate trials, including six before the International Trade Commission.

Among them, he obtained a trial win for MediaTek Inc., Broadcom Corp., NVIDIA Corp., Freescale Semiconductor Inc. and STMicroelectronics NV and their customers in an ITC investigation initiated by Rambus Inc.

On behalf of Cablevision Systems Corp., Verhoeven successfully obtained an ITC finding of no violation with respect to all patents asserted by Verizon Communications Inc. against Cablevision.

- PAT BRODERICK AND HADLEY ROBINSON