Rod Thompson has more than twenty five years of experience in high-stakes civil litigation and trials. His practice emphasizes complex commercial litigation, including intellectual property and antitrust cases. He serves as an arbitrator and mediator in technology-related controversies and as Judge Pro Tem. Mr. Thompson has been named among the 2009 and 2011 "Top 75 IP Litigators" in California by the Daily Journal.
Mr. Thompson recently won a rare early summary judgment of invalidity ending a patent action brought by the well-known NPE Acacia. He also achieved a complete victory by obtaining a final judgment on all five patents allegedly covering prepaid cards based on a favorable claims construction ruling on the first morning of a scheduled two-day Markman hearing. His trials have included disputes over patents covering cardiovascular stents, patents on wet processing methods and apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor chips, intermittent windshield wiper patents, valuation of a well-known international trademark, appropriate royalties owed under a software licensing agreement and the amount of commissions owed a terminated distributor.
Mr. Thompson's clients have included Visa Inc., Sabre, Inc, The Clorox Corporation, Dell Inc., Sonic Solutions, Travelocity.com and Stryker. He has successfully defended clients against charges of attempted monopolization of the GDS (computerized reservation services) market and alleged patent infringement by replacement refrigerator water filters. He has represented an inventor of a software security patent, a maker of chip sets for Global Positioning Systems (GPS) receivers, a Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturer, an Internet Service Provider, a CADCAM software company, a non-profit research institution and a biotech startup. He has litigated copyright disputes over software used on telephone call center switches, voice-messaging software, firefighter figurines from 9/11, gray market knickknacks imported from Asia, the rights to the Beach Boys catalog of songs, and the copyright on day-timers. In the trademark area, he has tackled domain name disputes for internet companies, trademark litigation for clients in the apparel, sugar, wine, hotel and telecommunications industries.
Mr. Thompson is a frequent speaker and author on intellectual property, antitrust and efficient dispute resolution. His expert commentary is frequently quoted by media outlets. Mr. Thompson is listed among Managing Intellectual Property’s 2013 IP Stars and has been recommended in PLC Which Lawyer? for Dispute Resolution.