Brett J. Williamson

Brett is also a longtime member of the firm’s administrative leadership team. He co-founded O’Melveny’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice group, and currently heads that group in the Newport Beach office. Brett also served a five-year term (2006-2011) as managing partner of the Newport Beach office.

Brett has maintained a robust pro bono practice for more than three decades, most recently securing major victories for clients in the areas of low-income housing and homeless rights, criminal-justice reform, equal protection, and data privacy. He currently serves as O’Melveny’s firmwide partner in charge of pro bono and Community Legal Services Committee chair.

• Brett and his team prevailed in a three-week trial for Allergan, a global leader in the development of innovative pharmaceutical and medical device products, in a case involving misappropriation of trade secrets against a major competitor relating to the marketing of the client's leading pharmaceutical product. The court entered an injunction preventing the competitor from selling or marketing its product anywhere in the United States for an entire year following the judgment, an extraordinary remedy in a trade secrets case. Brett also represented the company in a Lanham Act case against the same competitor.
• Brett served as lead counsel for an international consumer electronics company in defense of a series of patent infringement actions filed in the “rocket docket” Eastern District of Virginia, collectively alleging infringement of eight patents directed to smartphone technology and a system for processing and transmitting multimedia content received via wireless networks onto alternative display devices. In the first phase of litigation at the trial court, Brett and his team obtained final judgments of non-infringement on all patents-in-suit, after which all cases settled on favorable terms to the client.
• Brett represented a global leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of computerized gaming machines and systems in defending a patent infringement claim involving multi-line slot machines. Following a favorable claim construction after the Markman hearing, the client prevailed on a motion for summary judgment resulting in a full dismissal of all claims, which was affirmed by the Federal Circuit on appeal (521 F.3d 1328 (2008)). Brett also served as lead litigation counsel for the client in other major patent cases, including successful infringement claims against a competitor in the District of Delaware, and prevailing on antitrust claims brought in the District of Nevada.
• Brett was lead trial counsel for the successor-in-interest to a pioneering Internet services company in enforcement of a patent covering web-based video conferencing systems and methods against multiple defendants. Following district court rulings that effectively precluded our client from establishing infringement of any valid claims, Brett argued the appeal to the Federal Circuit which resulted in a reversal of the non-infringement judgment and remand to the district court.
• Brett represented plaintiff, a subsidiary of B. Braun Medical Inc., in a case involving a patent for intravenous pharmaceuticals used during open heart surgery to minimize heart muscle damage caused by the interruption of blood flow. At trial, Brett successfully proved willful infringement, and defeated counterclaims alleging false advertising under the Lanham Act and Walker Process monopolization under Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The Court entered a permanent injunction, estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars in recovered sales revenue.
• Brett represented the largest Southern California retail banking and lending institution in multi-defendant patent infringement litigation involving patents on a process for evaluating the credit of prospective home mortgage borrowers, obtaining a dismissal with prejudice on all claims.
• Brett represents a leading retailer of office supplies in defending an infringement complaint on a patent that claims a method for authentication of Internet-based transactions. He has previously defended several other companies in similar cases, all of which settled on favorable terms for the clients.
• Brett represented a leading provider of infrastructure solutions for wireless communications networks in the enforcement of patents covering an innovative method of connecting components to a multi-layer printed circuit board while minimizing power demands.
• Brett serves as lead litigation counsel for FutureLogic, a leader in thermal printer design and technology. In bi-coastal patent litigation brought by FutureLogic's principal competitor, Brett successfully defeated a motion for a preliminary injunction at the outset of the case and, after defeating a renewed request for a preliminary injunction a year later, the case settled on very favorable terms with FutureLogic obtaining a worldwide, perpetual license to the patents at issue and all related applications, patents and foreign counterparts. Brett also represents FutureLogic in other litigation, including cases to enforce the client's innovative “dual port” promotional printing patent against another competitor.