James L. Davis

With more than 15 years of litigation practice, Ropes & Gray partner James L. Davis has built a résumé that has garnered him and his team wins before district courts across the country, the International Trade Commission, the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Patent Office and the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We’re challenged on a day-to-day basis to understand and litigate a whole variety of technologies and you get to spend time learning about them, which I find incredibly interesting, challenging and enjoyable,” Davis said.

Thanks to his degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois in 2002, along with his interest in the law, Davis knew that he was destined for a career in intellectual property litigation. In 2005, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law and began working.

“In the beginning, after clerking, I started work at a different firm where I mostly did litigation, but also some patent prosecution,” Davis said. “And then after the first couple years of really just focusing on IP litigation, it was a natural shift given both my interest in law and technology.”

Throughout his career, Davis has successfully represented clients across a broad range of technologies, including semiconductors, network security, wireless technology, consumer electronics and medical devices. He has secured wins for industry leaders such as Emerson Electric, Samsung, SAP, and LG Electronics.

He has represented Emerson Electric in a number of matters. “They’re actually where I had my first, if you will, real job,” Davis explained. “I was a summer intern there in one of their subsidiaries doing website design, so it’s been wonderful to see that come full circle years later… to be able to represent them in a series of different matters.”

As lead, co-lead and second chair across multiple proceedings over the years, Davis and his team prevailed in numerous findings of non-infringement and invalidity on behalf of Emerson Electric in many international disputes against SIPCO regarding Emerson’s Smart Wireless products.

“We had a lot of significant success invalidating over 100 claims through various different proceedings,” Davis said. “Those claims are related to a bunch of different patents SIPCO then filed in an ITC case against Emerson that we successfully handled.”

The claims against Emerson were ultimately found by the ITC to be not infringed.

“All these cases are immensely complex. They deal with a lot of different issues. Working with a great team that understands the technology and legal questions really makes the job enjoyable,” Davis said. “And combine that with wonderful clients, who are also fully invested, this makes the whole process worthwhile.”

—Devon Belcher