O’Melveny Worldwide

Shawnna Yashar

Partner

Washington, DC Office
Areas of Focus
Areas of Focus
Intellectual Property & Technology
Intellectual Property: Patent Law
Litigation & Investigations
Overview Experience Insights News Credentials

Shawnna Yashar is a seasoned global intellectual property litigator and license negotiator having served as lead counsel and chief negotiator in disputes spanning six continents.

For over 20 years, Shawnna has advised innovative technology and software companies on high-stakes IP litigation and complex commercial litigation, successfully handling matters and resolving disputes in various district and federal courts, as well as before the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board and the US International Trade Commission (ITC). She has deep experience with Standard Essential Patents, particularly those involving LTE, 5G, HEVC, H.264, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7, VVC (H.266). ACC, xHE-AAC, and Opus. Shawnna is a frequent speaker and lecturer on global FRAND/RAND disputes, injunctive remedies at the ITC and Unified Patent Court (UPC), China IP litigation, and global antitrust remedies. Shawnna routinely advises clients on strategies surrounding global rate setting actions and interim licenses, having brought some of the very first global SEP rate setting actions in the UK and China.

Shawnna also advises on matters involving international trade secrets, IP portfolio management, enterprise IT compliance, antitrust, and global privacy concerns. She has particular experience in bringing IP matters before the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division & Federal Trade Commission, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) in Brazil, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) in China, the Directorate-General for Competition (DG Competition) in the European Union, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC).

Prior to joining O’Melveny, Shawnna served as the former Director of Global IP Litigation and IP Enforcement at Lenovo, where she managed global IP litigation and enforced the company’s IP portfolio, overseeing hundreds of matters in jurisdictions across the globe including Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Brazil, Colombia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Canada, and the People’s Republic of China.

Before attending law school, Shawnna was a software engineer for a business analytics and mobile software company.

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Get to Know Shawnna

Get to Know Shawnna

  • Representing a major entertainment company in in an ongoing global patent and antitrust litigation dispute relating to SEPs, specifically the H.264/H.265 standards.
  • Represented a major entertainment company in a global patent litigation before courts in the U.S., Germany, Brazil and the U.P.C. on worldwide streaming platforms and managed global litigation strategy resulting in a favorable settlement.
  • Representing a large consumer electronics corporation in a patent litigation involving touch screen technologies.
  • Representing a large consumer electronics corporation in a patent litigation involving 5G technology.
  • Representing a global entertainment company in multiple patent infringement actions in Germany, the UPC, and Brazil; the cases involve patents declared essential to the H.265/HEVC video compression standard.
  • Represented a large consumer electronics corporation in ITC matter relating to semiconductor processing and packaging technology.
  • Represented two large consumer electronics corporations in this ITC matter involving three patents related to metal oxide semiconductor transistors.
  • Represented a large consumer electronics corporation in a suit asserting infringement of six patents covering a variety of technologies.
  • Representing a large consumer electronics corporation in an appeal of an ITC decision.
  • Served as in-house counsel representing Motorola Mobility in a series of litigations in India concerning camera lenses in mobile devices.
  • Served as in-house litigation counsel to Lenovo managing global defensive and offensive IP disputes adverse to many patent assertion entities.

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Virginia
  • USPTO

Court Admissions

  • United States Supreme Court
  • United States Courts of Appeals for the Federal, and Fourth Circuits
  • United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Northern and Central Districts of Illinois and Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia
  • United States Court of International Trade
  • United States Court of Federal Claims

Education

  • George Washington University Law School, J.D.: with honors
  • University of Illinois, B.S.

Honors & Awards

  • Recommended by The Legal 500 US for Patents: Litigation (Full Coverage) (2026)
  • Virginia Access to Justice Commission, Pro Bono Service Honor Roll (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025)
  • University of Illinois Senior 100 Honorary Inductee

Professional Activities

Clerkships

  • Hon. S. Jay Plager of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Memberships and Boards

  • Virginia State Bar Board of Governors, IP Section
  • Federal Circuit Bar Association
  • ChIPs (Chiefs in Intellectual Property)
  • Ad Idem Network (Founder)

Speaker/Lecturer

  • “When Courts Collide: Interim SEP Licenses from the UK to the EU to the WTO” American Bar Association Webinar May 2026
  • “Global Litigation Management” Federal Circuit Bar Association Global Series April 2026
  • “Convergence or Fragmentation in the World SEP Order?” Fordham Law School 33rd Annual IP Conference April 2026
  • “Coordinating Global Litigation: Aligning the ITC with the UPC, UK, Germany, District Courts, and the USPTO” ABA-IPL Section Annual Meeting April 2026
  • IPWatchDog Live Panel: Global SEP Litigation & Licensing March 2026
  • “How Standards Licensing is Migrating Throughout the Economy, and Associated NPE Abuses” SAS NPE Forum February 2026
  • “Antitrust and IP – The Policy Updates” – American Bar Association Webinar January 2026
  • “Admissibility, Credibility & Weight of the Evidence: Strategy and Trial Considerations for Daubert Motions and Motions in Limine” Federal Circuit Bar Association Patent Litigation Committee CLE October 2025
  • Standard Essential Patents CLE Webinar Ad Idem Network October 2025
  • “4 Key Questions for A Successful Global Strategy” Munich 3rd Global Patent Litigation FORUM 2025 October 2025
  • “EcoFactor and Rule 702 Developments” American Bar Association CLE September 2025
  • “Domestic Industry Requirement at the ITC” Intellectual Property Owners Association Annual Meeting September 2025
  • “Global IP Litigation: Trade Secrets, SEP/Frand, and Patents” Federal Circuit Bar Association Bench & Bar Conference June 2025
  • IP Litigation Lecture Southern Illinois University Law School April 2025
  • “The Unified Patent Court and Its Impact on International Patent Litigation” Federal Circuit Bar Association Global Series April 2025
  • “Strategies For Effective Management of ITC Proceedings and Considerations for External Counsel” ACI’s ITC Litigation Think Tank March 2025
  • IPWatchDog Live Panel: In-house Patent Litigation March 2025
  • “Enforcement of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) at the ITC” Giles S. Rich Inn of Court Meeting February 2025
  • “Impacts on Global Patent Litigation Practice and SEP Disputes Brought by the UPC” Licensing Executive Society China-Taipei Annual Conference December 2024
  • “Patent Litigation & the U.S. International Trade Commission,” SABA-DC IP Section Meeting November 2024
  • “SEPs and International NEP Campaigns,” SAS Forum on NPE Litigation November 2024
  • “Exclusion Order Process and Enforcement,” International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association Annual Meeting October 2024
  • “In-House Perspective of Pressing Legal Issues,” Practicing Law Institute September 2024
  • “Protecting IP in China,” Ad Idem Network CLE September 2024
  • Federal Circuit Bar Association Bench & Bar Conference: Corporate Panel June 2024
  • “Strategies For Effective Management of ITC Proceedings and Considerations for External Counsel,” ACI’s 16th Annual Practitioners’ Think Tank on ITC Litigation & Enforcement Conference June 2024
  • “Seeking FRAND: The Licensing and Litigation of SEPs,” Patent Litigation Masters™ 2024 May 2024
  • “Managing Juror Perceptions in High-Stakes, Complex Litigation,” Ad Idem Network CLE April 2024
  • "Litigation in 2024 and beyond,” IAM Connect: Patent Policy & Litigation November 2023
  • “What’s keeping corporate counsel awake at night,” Patent Law Institute 2023: Critical Issues & Best Practices October 2023
  • “An In-House Perspective on Patent Litigation,” Patent Litigation Masters 2023 May 2023
  • “Creating Opportunities for Diverse Lawyers,” ChIPs Accelerators February 2023
  • “PTAB on trial,” IAM Connect: Patent Policy and Litigation USA 2022 November 2022
  • Virginia Law Foundation, 33rd Annual Intellectual Property Section Seminar 2022 September 2022
  • “What if Litigators Were in Charge of Protecting Company Information?,” “Global IP Landscape,” IP Watchdog LIVE 2022 September 2022
  • “New Risks for 2021 and Beyond," Ad Idem Network Panel May 2021
  • “Reducing Litigation Costs in the Covid-19 Era” Magna Legal Services Webinar August 2020
  • “If Litigators Drafted Contracts—Protecting Company Information,” Association of Corporate Counsel CLE June 2020 Corporate & Government Experience
Related Practices
Intellectual Property & Technology
Intellectual Property: Patent Law
Litigation & Investigations