Molly A. Jones

Molly A. Jones has been an IP litigator for her entire career. Even as a summer associate at a small plaintiffs-side patent litigation firm, she was drafting complaints and engaging in pleadings-stage motion practice.

"I gained confidence and practice experience learning to take big swings against some of the heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley," she said.

Now, she's a technology litigator handling IP litigation, including patents, trade secrets, trademarks and copyrights and has taken multiple cases to verdict.

Jones has experience representing clients on both sides of litigation and has recently been involved in a notable case for ScentAir Technologies. She contributed to a defense verdict in the District of Delaware, where the plaintiff accused ScentAir's product of patent infringement. Prolitec Inc. v. ScentAir Technologies, LLC, 1:20-cv-00984-WCB (D. Del., filed July 24, 2020).
Her strategic focus on damages played a role in challenging the plaintiff's apportionment theory, which was a factor in the case's outcome.

"Though the law entitles a prevailing patentee to no less than a reasonable royalty, my view was that the plaintiff nonetheless bears the burden of production so that the Delaware jury would have at least some idea about how to calculate damages," Jones said. "Judge Bryson granted our Daubert challenges and excluded the bulk of the experts' apportionment opinions and the damages expert's ultimate conclusion as to a reasonable royalty."

Jones also represented Molson Coors, the maker of Keystone Light, against plaintiff Stone Brewing Co.'s trademark infringement and trademark dilution allegations. Stone Brewing Co., LLC v. MolsonCoors Brewing Company, 3:18-cv-00331-BEN-MDD (S.D. Cal., Ct., filed Feb. 12, 2018).

Stone Brewing sued Molson Coors in the Southern District of California, alleging that the Keystone brand refresh created a likelihood of consumer confusion.

"While the hometown jury may have partially credited Stone Brewing's infringement theories, it agreed with Molson Coors that much of Stone Brewing's decline came from its own making, and therefore, it awarded Stone Brewing a mere fraction of the recovery it sought," Jones said. "This case is a great example of knowing the case strategy, the story you want to tell the jury, and being relentless about developing the facts necessary to tell that story through the evidence at trial."

In discussing AI and other trends, Jones said outside of the regulatory and litigation space, she is particularly interested in protection of trade secrets through robust counseling around clients' use of generative AI in the development of their products and services.

Beyond that, she said she will "be keeping an eye on whether other venues intend to follow Judge Connolly in the District of Delaware by setting out their own stringent requirements for disclosure of litigating funding sources, and if so, whether there will be any measurable effect on the quality of patent cases."