Kurt G. Calia

Covington & Burling LLP

Palo Alto

Intellectual property litigation and investigations

Calia has been a trial lawyer at Covington & Burling LLP for nearly 25 years, focusing on intellectual property and patent disputes. Throughout the years, he has worked with clients whose technologies involve genetically modified crops, software, pharmaceutical products, light-emitting diodes and many other products.

He faced an unusual challenge for Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems in its claims that a U.S rival, Hughes Network Systems LLC, infringed on Elbit's patents in the satellite communications equipment field. Elbit's federal suit was lodged in the Eastern District of Texas.

"You have this Israeli firm suing an iconic American company deep in the heart of Texas," Calia said. "I had the strong impression that Hughes was trying to play up the contrast between itself and ourselves as a foreign company." Elbit Systems Land & C4I Ltd. v. Hughes Network Systems LLC, 2:15-cv-00037 (E.D. Tex., filed Jan. 21, 2015).

Calia prevailed for his client when the jury awarded Elbit $21.1 million in damages. Following the verdict, U.S. District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III of Texarkana, Texas, found the case to be "exceptional" under the patent statute, adding sums that ultimately totaled $33 million to Elbit. In July 2019 the Covington team defeated Hughes' effort to reverse the outcome at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

But first Calia had to deal with some creative courtroom gamesmanship by his opposing counsel, he said. "They'd shipped in some show-and-tell exhibits, and they placed the white cardboard shipping box with a big U.S. flag and 'Made in USA' printed on it right in front of the jury box," he said. "So I asked our company representative on the stand whether this was a case of the U.S. versus Israel. He said 'no,' and I think the jury got the point. The other side didn't object to the question. I think they knew they got caught. And we never saw that box again."

He said the Texas jurors were excellent. "It's a pretty red state, and Texas people do care about the military, and they appreciated our client and its efforts to aid Israel's defense in the Middle East," Calia said.

His clients had not been in a U.S. courtroom before. "They asked whether they should wear boots and cowboy hats and try to look American," he laughed. "I said no, guys, the last thing we need is you with thick Israeli accents wearing big belt buckles. Instead, we presented the technology through a personal narrative of invention. And we explained that the other side was simply trespassing on our patent."

The five hours of deliberations passed slowly. "My ritual is to play cards with my colleagues, so under the circumstances we played Texas hold 'em," Calia said. "I lost, and I have learned that the quality of the outcome tends to be inversely proportional to my luck at cards."

-- John Roemer