James Norman Willi

Biographical Information

Jim Willi focuses on civil and commercial litigation and appeals, intellectual property litigation and appeals, transactions, contracts, licensing, business formation, real property litigation, family law, wills, trusts, estate planning, asset protection, and collections. He has represented clients at all levels of Texas courts including Municipal Courts, Justice of the Peace Courts, County Courts, District Courts, Courts of Appeals, and the Texas Supreme Court. He has also represented clients at all levels of federal courts including District Courts, Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Willi has been practicing law since 1996. He is licensed to practice law in Texas, registered to practice law in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas. Mr. Willi is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, the Austin Bar Association, and the Austin Intellectual Property Law Association.

Before practicing law, Mr. Willi was an electrical engineer for 10 years involved in system operations and planning of electrical power distribution and transmission systems. He has been a Licensed Professional Engineer in Texas since 1990.

Education

Master of Laws in Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Houston Law Center (2005)

Doctor of Jurisprudence, Cum Laude, South Texas College of Law (1995)

Master of Business Administration, University of Houston (1989)

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin (1985)

Publications

James N. Willi, Proposal for a Uniform Federal Common Law of Attorney-Client Privilege for Communications with U.S. and Foreign Patent Practitioners, 13 Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 279 (Spring 2005).

Noted Cases

Samsung Electronics, Inc. v. Ericsson AB & Sony Ericsson, Inc. Patent matter involving rights to 3G telecommunications hardware and software technology. The litigation was resolved with a worldwide cross-licensing agreement reached between the telecommunications giants. The litigation was pending in two parallel investigations before the International Trade Commission, as well as district court proceedings in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. The resolution of the litigation and the agreement between the companies earned international press coverage in the business and technology media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

IAP Intermodal, L.L.C. v. Northwest Airlines, et al. Represented a number of domestic and international airlines in a patent infringement case in the Eastern District of Texas. The plaintiff stipulated to non-infringement following a claim construction ruling favorable to the airline defendants. The district court's claim construction was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Trilogy Software v. Selectica, Inc. Represented Trilogy in a patent infringement case involving complex pricing and configuration software patents resulting in a favorable settlement for Trilogy.

Sun Microsystems, Inc. v. Versata Enterprises, Inc. et al. Represented the Versata defendants in a patent infringement case involving seven U.S. patents relating to various methods, systems, processes, and apparatuses for managing different types of website user-generated data.

OPTi Inc. v. Apple Inc. Patent matter involving core logic chipset technology resulting in a favorable jury verdict for plaintiff OPTi, Inc.

Visto Corporation v. Seven Networks, Inc., Visto Corp. v. Microsoft Corp., Visto Corp. v. Good Technologies, Inc., Visto Corp. v. Research in Motion (RIM). Multiple patent infringement suits involving mobile email synchronization technology resulting in a favorable jury verdict for plaintiff Visto against Seven Networks and favorable settlements with all defendants including a business combination with Good and a publically disclosed favorable settlement with RIM.

FotoMedia Technologies, LLC v. AOL, LLC. et al. Patent action involving photo sharing technologies against multiple defendants resulting in favorable settlements for plaintiff FotoMedia.

Ciena Corp. v. Nortel Networks, et al. Represented Nortel in a patent infringement case involving multiple patents related to hardware and software for long-haul and metro WDM (wavelength division multiplexed) fiber optic networks and associated network equipment including multiplexers, demultiplexers, service channels and error-control coding used therein. The case resulted in a favorable settlement for defendant Nortel.

Edwards Lifesciences LLC v. Medtronic, Inc. Represented plaintiff Edwards Lifesciences in a patent infringement case in the District of Delaware involving heart valve repair and replacement techology. The case resulted in a favorable settlement for plaintiff Edwards Lifesciences.

Edwards Lifesciences LLC v. St. Jude Medical, Inc. Represented plaintiff Edwards Lifesciences in a patent infringement case in the Central District of California involving heart valve repair and replacement techology. The case resulted in a favorable settlement for plaintiff Edwards Lifesciences.