Kurt G. Calia

Kurt G. Calia joined Covington & Burling LLP in 1995 to perform patent infringement and trade secrets litigation. He has chaired the firm’s patent group and served as vice chair of the trade secrets committee of the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association.

He has taught IP courses at Stanford Law School, UC Berkeley School of Law and Howard University School of Law.

“Things are busy,” he said, following a post-COVID slowdown. He also noted a longer-term trend toward trade secret litigation. “In recent years, there’s been some patent eligibility uncertainty following Alice,” he said, referring to the 2014 U.S. Supreme Court holding that nixed patents for abstract ideas. “So companies have recalibrated toward trade secrets as a source of IP protection.”

For Calia client Elbit Systems of America, an Israeli-based defense contractor, several matters are on the docket.

Calia leads the Covington team defending Elbit in a long-running pending case at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims over allegations of patent infringement related to border surveillance technology and real-time communication of items of interest to emergency response agencies. 3rd Eye Surveillance LLC and Discovery Patents LLC v. U.S. et al., 15-501C (Ct. F. Claims, filed May 15, 2015).

The matter has been stayed while the Patent Office reviews the validity of the plaintiffs’ patents. Calia’s team previously defeated summary judgment motions regarding infringement and invalidity.

Calia was lead counsel in a patent infringement case targeting satellite communications technology. A federal jury awarded Elbit $21.1 million in damages and the court found the case to be “exceptional” under the patent statute — resulting in a total recovery of $33 million, including fees. Elbit Systems Land & C4I Ltd. and Elbit Systems of America LLC v. Hughes Network Systems LLC, 2:15-cv-00037 (E.D. Texas, filed Jan. 21, 2015).

In an even earlier matter, Calia sought sanctions against a litigation foe that sued Elbit over patents for technology used in fighter pilot helmet-mounted display systems. The case — after seven years of litigation — settled with no payment owed by Elbit. Thales Visionix Inc. v. U.S. et al., 1:14-cv-00513 (Ct. F. Claims, filed June 16, 2014).

Calia is on appeal defending a positive result for a drugmaker client that sued 15 generic manufacturers over patents for the blockbuster antidepressant Trintellix. A trial judge found that several of the asserted patents were valid and infringed. H. Lundbeck A/S v. Apotex Inc. 1:18-cv-00088 (D. Del., filed Jan. 12, 2018).

“I joined the team late to defend two patents, and I got to put on an excellent witness who six months later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry,” Calia said. That was David W.C. MacMillan, who teaches at Princeton. “Needless to say, he was dynamite on the stand.”

—John Roemer