Mark A. Lemley

Lemley isn’t shy about saying he’s had a good year — he’s scored seven straight victories at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The intellectual property attorney frequently takes on patent assertion entities, and one of his noteworthy ones involved his client, Commonwealth Edison Inc., and the company’s electric smart meters.

In May, a Federal Circuit panel affirmed a district judge’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s infringement claim.

Atlas IP LLC alleged that the smart meters ripped off a patent for a handheld device a meter reader would use on the go — two totally different things, according to Lemley. Atlas IP LLC v. Commonwealth Edison Co., 2016-2203 (Fed. Cir., filed May 9, 2017).

“The claim wasn’t particularly plausible,” he said. “They were trying to stretch the language of their patent claims to cover something it didn’t cover.”

And in another big win, Lemley persuaded a panel of Federal Circuit judges in July to order a plaintiff that had dismissed its own case to pay attorney fees.

Adjustacam LLC was going after Lemley’s client Newegg Inc.

The plaintiff sued dozens of defendants, including Newegg, but dropped its claims against Newegg shortly before a summary judgment hearing.

Two Eastern District of Texas judges rejected Newegg’s bid for attorney fees, but the Federal Circuit reversed the latter decision and ordered Adjustacam to pay.

“Based on the totality of these case-specific circumstances, we hold that the district court abused its discretion in denying Newegg’s motion for fees,” Federal Circuit Judge Jimmie V. Reyna wrote, remanding the case to the district court. Adjustacam LLC v. Newegg Inc., 2016-1882 (Fed. Cir., filed July 5, 2017).

It took a few years to get the favorable ruling, but Lemley’s push for attorney fees prevailed.

“That’s an important case,” Lemley said. “You can’t just sort of run up a cost on the other side and cut and run to your benefit.”

— Arin Mikailian