Christina Von Der Ahe Rayburn

Christina Von der Ahe Rayburn litigates high-stakes technology disputes for companies of all sizes, and she clearly has fun doing it. For instance, she finally secured a $55 million settlement for an audio-conferencing company late last year after the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a finding of contempt against a much larger microphone maker for continuing to infringe her client’s patents.

She said the hearing before the appeals court was “in my humble opinion … the most entertaining oral argument before the Federal Circuit of all time.” Shure Inc. v. ClearOne Inc., 21-1024 (Fed. Cir., dec’d July 20, 2021).

One of the large companies she represents regularly is Amazon. In September, she won an important summary judgment motion that ended claims by a serial patent plaintiff that had challenged the online retail giant’s auto-complete function in searches. MasterObjects Inc. v. Amazon.com, 5:20-cv-08103 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 17, 2020).

Getting there required “a long series of aggressive litigation plays to force them to narrow and hone their infringement theory,” she said. “It seems like some patent plaintiffs’ goal is to never get pinned down on a theory and then just to get in front of a jury and wave their hands. We did not allow them to do that.”

Rayburn said the company filed an appeal but then dropped it in December.

She currently is defending Amazon against three other patent infringement actions. One case in East Texas involves technology Amazon warehouse workers use to “pick” and “stow” items. Rayburn has moved to dismiss the case because Amazon doesn’t use that technology at its fulfillment center in East Texas. LightGuide Inc. v. Amazon.Com Inc., 2:22-cv-00433 (E.D., Tex., filed Nov. 7, 2022).

Another case concerned patents about buttons and touch screens on cellphones and, in this case, Kindles. The statute of limitations and patent expiration dates restricted damages in the case to 2017, but “Kindles just didn’t have that technology back in 2017,” she said. The plaintiff recently voluntarily dismissed the case while Amazon’s second motion to dismiss was pending. DataQuill Ltd. v. Amazon.com Inc., 1:22-cv-00610 (D. Del., filed May 6, 2022).

In an important win in May 2021, Rayburn, as co-lead counsel obtained a $25 million jury verdict against Samsung for a small semiconductor company concerning its groundbreaking patents that greatly improve tiny FinFET transistors that are used “in every semiconductor chip and every telephone there is.” The parties announced a settlement in early January. Acorn Semi LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co., 2:19-cv-00347 (E.D. Tex., filed Oct. 23, 2019).

— Don DeBenedictis