Luann L. Simmons

Luann L. Simmons has worked in IP law for 25 years, but before that she was a software developer for a decade and earned an undergraduate degree in physics.

"I had always loved teaching others about science, math and technology," she said. "And I saw that being an IP litigation attorney offered me (and still does) the chance to do that on behalf of my clients."

Patent litigation encompasses most of her work, including the AGIS matters, where AGIS accused clients such as Google, Waze and Samsung, along with several device manufacturers, of infringing on patents related to an integrated communications system utilizing location services on mobile devices.

Simmons said these matters were significant because they implicated more than 50 Google products and services, and hundreds of Samsung products and services, spanned across multiple venues - Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of California, ITC and PTA, and involved numerous defendants, almost all of whom were facing accusations tied back to client's, Google's, underlying technology.

"Just two weeks before a scheduled June 2022 trial in E.D. Tex., the Federal Circuit granted our request for a writ of mandamus to transfer three of AGIS's cases to N.D. Cal.," she said. "Faced with starting over in a new court, AGIS filed a new Complaint in the USITC, which it withdrew after we uncovered weaknesses, including potential inequitable conduct."

Meanwhile, in the Northern District of California litigation, Simmons secured several victories, including the dismissal of one patent and thwarting AGIS's attempt to re-assert it in another Texas case. These consistent wins across various fronts culminated in a favorable, global settlement of all matters in January 2024.

Simmons said one of the most challenging aspects of the AGIS cases was the need to develop an overall strategy that took into consideration and was coordinated across all of the different fronts on which this fight was being fought.

"In particular, because different matters were at different stages and implicated different products and issues, we had to develop a strategy that would ensure that the key disputes would be decided before those that were more tangential -- to avoid a 'tail wagging the dog' kind of problem," she said. "This required close coordination amongst all of the defendants and maybe a few late nights putting together preemptive filings."

Simmons said one of the most interesting trends she has seen more recently is the increase in large jury verdicts, particularly in patent cases, and the increase in scrutiny being applied to the review of those verdicts at the Federal Circuit.

"I think it will be very interesting to see how the courts navigate these competing trends as they assess challenges to damages theories at the Daubert and pretrial stages of cases," she said.