Andrew N. Thomases

With nearly 30 years of litigation experience in complex patent and trade secret cases throughout the country, Andrew Thomases has been able to build and maintain a career that has rewarded him as one of the most successful intellectual property litigators in the nation.

In 2019, he was recognized by his peers as Silicon Valley’s Intellectual Property Litigation Law “Lawyer of the Year.”

“I’ve always been an IP litigation attorney,” Thomases said. “I went to law school knowing I was going to do it. I learned about IP and patent litigation in undergrad and applied it to law school, knowing that I would be wanting to do IP work in my career.”

Thomases is the co-head of Ropes & Gray LLP’s technology, media and telecommunications group and has achieved success for companies in the fields of analog circuits, computer technology, semiconductors, wireless technology and video streaming. In recent years, he has successfully represented clients such as Exactech, Roku, MACOM and Extreme Networks.

Due to what he credits as an “innate curiosity” for new technology, his passion is what keeps him motivated.

“I love what I do because I’m really interested in technology. And every case has new technology,” he said. “It’s fun to dive into that tech, learn about it and meet with the clients, especially the scientists and engineers who helped me understand the technology.”

Thomases also credits collaboration as a key to his success. “I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to have just very, very solid attorneys by my side helping me out. All of my successes have been team successes.”

In 2022, Thomases led a team that achieved a positive settlement for Exactech in multifaceted litigation against Zimmer Biomet. His team filed a suit for Exactech for misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, copyright infringement and other claims related to Zimmer’s use of Exactech technology related to a tool that would help surgeons perform knee replacement surgery. Exactech Inc. et al. v. Zimmer Inc. et al., 3:21-cv-00105 (S.D. Cal., filed Jan. 20, 2021).

Not too long after, Zimmer countersued Exactech in the middle district of Florida, alleging that certain Exactech products infringed six patents owned by Zimmer and its subsidiaries.

Thomases questioned the validity of these patents by filing inter partes review at the U.S. Patent Office, which reviewed five of the six patents. This resulted in Zimmer’s Florida litigation to be stayed. After discovery and depositions of Zimmer’s key witnesses, the parties agreed to settle the case.

“Zimmer then assigned the patent applications to Exactech,” Thomases explained. “The patent applications that filed just weeks after its diligence are now owned by Exactech, so it was a great outcome for our clients.”

—Devon Belcher