Andrew Mace

In May 2015, Cooley convinced a panel of judges at the PTAB to cancel claims of an online messaging patent asserted against Facebook by plaintiff EveryMD. A three-judge panel ruled that the challenged claims of the patent are invalid and also threw out EveryMD's proposed new claims finding that the plaintiff failed to prove the validity of those claims in light of prior art. In March 2016, the Federal Circuit upheld the PTAB's decision in its entirety.

Cooley defended Facebook in a patent infringement suit that targeted one of Facebook's most prominent features – the "Like" button. Rembrandt Social Media filed the case in the Eastern District of Virginia, accusing Facebook of willfully infringing two patents covering social media.

Originally, Rembrandt accused Facebook of willfully infringing two patents but we convinced the court to dismiss willful and indirect patent infringement claims early in the case. We also persuaded the judge to exclude the testimony of two Rembrandt expert witnesses, including, significantly, an expert tasked with calculating damages. As a result of this ruling, Rembrandt filed an appeal with the Federal Circuit, which was denied, and the case proceeded to trial.

In June 2014, following a five day trial, Cooley secured a complete defense verdict - the jury issued a ruling of non-infringement and also invalidated the two patents. To date, Facebook has had only two patent jury trials, both of which Cooley has resolved successfully.