Harper S. Batts

Batts is frequently asked by clients to step in when cases prove particularly tricky or have been moving forward unfavorably. He has represented patent challengers and patent owners in more than 40 covered business method and inter partes review trials.

“The problem solver role is a good fit for me,” Batts said. “I get called in when they feel like additional assistance is needed.” An upside: “There’s less budgetary pressure and more real substantive work to be done on those cases.”

Batts represented Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Hulu LLC in 10 IPR proceedings filed against patent litigation plaintiff Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC over asymmetric data decompression systems and other software patents. He said that although numerous IPRs have been unsuccessful against Realtime patents in previous cases, he successfully got a patent office decision finding all challenged claims likely unpatentable to date.

The cases included the first proceeding in which Realtime disclaimed all challenged claims rather than continue the litigation. Hulu LLC v. Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC, IPR2018-01090 (PTO, filed May 18, 2018).

In another complex case over video game software, a purported patent holder sued Wargaming Group Ltd. and Activision Blizzard Inc. for infringement. Blizzard filed inter partes review against the patent, which the PTAB declined to institute.

Batts then filed an IPR for Wargaming Group Ltd. which was instituted, with a final written decision in September finding all challenged claims unpatentable. Wargaming Group Ltd. and Activision Blizzard Inc. v. Game and Technology Co. Ltd., IPR2017-01082 (PTO, filed March 13, 2017).

To prevail in that case, Batts said he used the old Dungeons & Dragons game as prior art. “We managed to take out all the challenged claims,” he said. “Now I’ll be doing the appellate defense.”

Batts moved from Baker Botts LLP to Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in September.

— John Roemer