Clarence Rowland is a staunch advocate for his clients with over fourteen years of experience representing clients in high stakes technology and intellectual property litigation. He has a broad view of the challenges facing clients, having litigated diverse cases involving patents, trademarks, trade secrets, contracts, torts, crimes, and government investigations across the country in federal and state court, the US ITC, private arbitration, and the USPTO.
Clarence has extensive trial experience, having been first chair trial counsel in two criminal matters from voir dire through successful verdict, as well as trying complex patent and contract disputes in federal court and private arbitration through final judgment and appeal.
Clarence has a strong technical background spanning software, microprocessors, computer memory, artificial intelligence, displays, video coding, navigation and communications systems, signal processing, and many others. Before attending law school, Clarence worked as an engineer at Edwards Air Force Base and at Boeing Aerospace Corporation, and received a B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College and a B.A. in Economics from Claremont McKenna College.
- Defended Hyundai Motor Company in patent litigation related to wireless communication technology, resulting in all seven asserted patents being eliminated from the case either through favorable claim construction or IPR proceedings, and costs paid by the Plaintiff; set Federal Circuit venue precedent (W.D. Tex. and C.D. Cal.)
- Defended a consumer electronics manufacturer in a patent infringement case brought by a competitor, resulting in a jury verdict of non-infringement, invalidity due to anticipation and obviousness, improper inventorship, patent misuse, laches, equitable estoppel, and unclean hands, and eventually an award of US$4.6 million in attorneys’ fees (C.D. Cal.)
- Defended telecommunications company in private arbitration over antitrust issues with customer, prepared witnesses for testimony, resulting in final arbitrator decision fully in favor of the company (JAMS)
- Defended LG Electronics in a patent infringement lawsuit regarding artificial intelligence technology used for face detection in smartphones, resulting in invalidation of the asserted patent and dismissal (E.D. Tex.)
- Defended a television manufacturer in state court breach of contract litigation, requiring dozens of depositions and extensive motion practice regarding complex software licensing agreements, resulting in a favorable settlement (San Diego Sup. Ct.)
- Lead trial counsel prosecuting two separate criminal DUI defendants on behalf of the City of Redondo Beach, both resulting in guilty jury verdicts
- Defended Kia Corporation in patent litigation related to driver authentication and automated driving technologies, resulting in swift and favorable settlement (E.D. Tex.)
- Represented technology company in IPR proceeding challenging patent on interactive television technology, resulting in invalidation of patent (PTAB)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation related to wireless communications, resulting in favorable settlement (E.D. Tex.)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation related to stylus and display technology in smartphones (W.D. Tex. and E.D. Tex.)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation matter related to optical measurement technology, resulting in favorable settlement (E.D. Tex.)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation matter related to image and video processing technology, resulting in favorable settlement (E.D. Tex.)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation related to camera technology, resulting in favorable settlement (E.D. Tex.)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation related to semiconductor bonding, resulting in favorable settlement (D. N.J.)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation regarding capacitive touch sensors (ITC, W.D. Tex.)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation regarding smartphone user authentication system (S.D. Ala.)
- Defended Samsung in patent litigation regarding computer user interface technology (W.D. Tex.)
- Represented Samsung in patent litigation regarding artificial intelligence algorithms used to detect faces in images, resulting in favorable settlement (E.D. Tex.)
- Represented Samsung Display in competitor patent litigation related to OLED panel technology
- Defended Advanced Micro Devices in patent litigation related to JTAG test circuits, circuit interconnects, packet-based communications, and memory access requests, drafted successful IPR petition, resulting in favorable settlement
- Defended Advanced Micro Devices in patent litigation related to network on chip communications and power management (D. Del.)
- Represented JPMorgan Chase Bank in patent litigation regarding financial instruments, resulting in favorable settlement (W.D. Tex.)
- Represented American Broadcasting Corporation in patent litigation regarding video compression technology, resulting in favorable settlement (C.D. Cal.)
- Represented a software company in asserting software patents related to electronic design automation
- Advised large healthcare insurer regarding intellectual property risks in merger transaction with healthcare technology company
- Advised large computer hardware and software company regarding intellectual property risks associated with acquisition of cloud computing and virtualization company
- Defended government contractor in government investigation connected with whistleblower complaint regarding aerospace technology development contract
- Represented large national homebuilder in fraud and negligence litigation over homes built in formerly radioactive but remediated naval superfund site
- Represented an artificial intelligence company in breach of contract dispute with terminated employee/founder, resulting in favorable settlement
- Represented a television manufacturer in patent litigation related to wireless communication technology, resulting in favorable settlement
- Represented a criminal defendant pro bono in litigation over the government’s attempt to establish DNA matches using relatively new probabilistic genotyping software
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- US District Court, Districts of Central and Northern California
Registered to Practice
- US Patent & Trademark Office
Education
- University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 2012
- Claremont McKenna College, B.A., 2007
- Harvey Mudd College, B.S., 2007
Professional Activities
Externships
- Northern District of California, Judge Charles Breyer
Author
- “Your Claim Is Invalid — My Expert Says So,” Law360 (May 31, 2013)
- “My Expert Translates Better Than Yours: A Guide to Using Translated Documents in Patent Litigation,” California State Bar Association New Matter, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Winter 2013)
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