Luann L. Simmons

When law students ask Simmons why she seems to enjoy patent litigation so much, she has a ready answer.

“I tell them I get to learn all sorts of new and interesting and cutting-edge and revolutionary technology all the time from the smartest people that we have in this country,” she said.

Simmons is the lead or co-lead partner in charge of defending Google LLC in many patent infringement lawsuits around the country that involve some of the company’s newest technology.

In one, the plaintiff claims Google’s Home/Nest and Cloud products infringe eight patents. It dropped five from the case after claims construction and then asked that the lawsuit to be stayed for Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions. Hammond Development International Inc. v. Google LLC, 6:19-cv-00356 (W.D. Tex., filed June 6, 2019).

In a second, the plaintiff contends the Pixel cell phone’s use of Google Assistant infringes two patents. Simmons challenged the patents before the PTAB, and the judge stayed the lawsuit. Parus Holdings Inc. v. Google LLC, 6:19-cv-00433 (W.D. Tex., filed July 22, 2019).

The third case also involves Google Assistant technology. The plaintiff dropped its lawsuit after Simmons convinced the PTAB to invalidate several of the patent claims involved. Mimzi, LLC v. ASUSTek Computer Inc., 1:19-cv-00273 (D. Del., filed Feb. 8, 2019).

“I’ll do any case anywhere for Google because they’re just an amazing client,” she said. “But I sure do love the voice assist stuff. … It’s really fascinating.”

Another of her regular clients is Niantic Inc., a Google spinoff that makes augmented reality games. A plaintiff claimed the hit game Pokémon Go infringed two of its patents, but Simmons and her team invalidated both in court. Barbaro Technologies LLC v. Niantic Inc., 3:18-cv-02955 (N.D. Cal., filed May 18, 2018).

Simmons was a physics major in college who taught herself programming and landed a job at O’Melveny in 1990 to help the firm develop its original, in-house computer network. She rose to be director of information technology while studying law at night.

— Don DeBenedictis