Mr. Atkins is a trial lawyer who focuses on intellectual property and related areas in trial and appellate courts, the International Trade Commission (“ITC”), arbitrations, mediations, and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

His objective is to efficiently find a business solution. If that is unobtainable, Mr. Atkins has extensive litigation experience as lead counsel in trials, arbitrations, mediations, and appellate matters. He is a registered patent attorney who personally handles his cases using the latest trial management techniques and software with attorneys who are carefully selected for their technical and legal expertise. In addition to current ongoing litigation and appellate matters, some examples of his cases include:

• A successful jury verdict and JMOL decision for a patentholder in the Eastern District of Virginia – asserted two patents of behalf of U.S. company against Taiwanese company with a Chinese factory and a U.S. sales company; KSR obviousness case was decided shortly before trial and applied; client’s patents found to be infringed and not invalid; case settled shortly after trial;
• A successful jury defense verdict and favorable summary judgment decision for accused infringer in Southern District of Florida – Florida patent-holder sought over $400 million in damages for alleged trade secret theft, Lanham Act (false advertising) violation, breach of contract, and patent infringement from European client and related companies; jury verdict and summary judgment decision was affirmed on appeal at the Federal Circuit; client awarded $200,000 in costs on remand;
• Representing a health care company in a complex MRI patent infringement litigation;
• Obtaining a favorable jury verdict in a five week patent infringement trial between a tier one OEM auto parts supplier and a competitor;
• Obtaining a quick and successful settlement for an accused infringer in a preliminary injunction case on a trademark;
• Representing major radio manufacturer as a respondent at the ITC—case involved HD radio and was settled before trial;
• Settling a complicated inventorship and contract case involving an inventor, pharmaceutical drug research, and a major university shortly after taking over the case;
• Filing an amicus petition on behalf of Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco for a case at the Federal Circuit;
• Negotiating a favorable settlement in a federal trademark litigation after being brought in on the final day of discovery;
• Successfully defending a foreign manufacturer of television components in an antidumping case at the ITC by getting the allegation dismissed during the preliminary review by the ITC Commissioners;
• Successfully representing a Canadian car parts manufacturer in a contentious 337 action at the ITC; and
• Assisting in courtroom on many-months multi-patent infringement trial in which client was awarded over $200 million in damages, and more in follow-on litigation.

Mr. Atkins has been a member of the firm’s Managing Board, the co-chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Section, managing partner of the Northern Virginia office, and a member of the firm's compensation committee. He has also been President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia (2005-06) and a member of the ABA's House of Delegates. He was recently recommended again by Chambers USA as a leading intellectual property attorney and has just finished a chapter for BNA's Patent Litigation Strategies Handbook.

Mr. Atkins has also chaired the ADR Committee of the IP Law section of the ABA as well as the Antitrust and Inequitable Conduct Committees for a number of years. He is the past chair of the Patent, Trademark, and Copyright section of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.

Education

LL.M., Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law, George Washington University Law School, 1996

J.D./M.B.A., University of Baltimore School of Law, 1992
Editor-in-Chief, University of Baltimore Law Forum

B.S., Physical Sciences (Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Robotics), University of Maryland, College Park, 1986

Admissions

District of Columbia, State of Maryland, Commonwealth of Virginia

U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Federal, District of Columbia, and Armed Forces Circuits; U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Maryland, District of Columbia, the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia, and various other districts; International Trade Commission

Registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Affiliations

Bar Association of the District of Columbia, District of Columbia Bar, Maryland Bar Association, Virginia Bar Association, American Bar Association, Giles S. Rich Inns of Court

Firm Publications

Federal Circuit Hears Arguments on Revival of “Unintentionally” Abandoned Applications, 09-Jun-2008

External Publications

A Firm's Fun, Page-Flipping Battle, Legal Times, Vol. XXX, No. 28, 09-Jul-2007

Will eBay Bring Down the Curtain on Automatic Injunctions in Patent Cases?, 15 Federal Circuit B.J. 587, 2006

Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine in the Context of Patent Litigation, BNA Patent Litigation Strategies Handbook, (also annual supplements), Spring 2000

Appreciating 337 Actions at the ITC: A Primer on Intellectual Property Issues and Procedures at the U.S. International Trade Commission, 5 U. Balt. Intellectual Property Law Journal 103, Winter 1997

Damage Experts: Procedural and Substantive Tools for Attacking Their Theories, with William K. West, Intellectual Property Litigation Techniques program for the ABA, 01-Jun-1996

The History and Subsequent Demise of Vacatur Upon Settlement by the Federal Circuit, 78 Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society 295, 01-May-1996

New Antitrust Exemption: The National Cooperative Production Amendments of 1993, AIPPI 38: 24, 1993

Standing at The Crossroads, An Empirical Analysis of No-Fault Automobile Insurance and Its Potential Consequences for Maryland, 21.2 U. Balt. L.F , 10, 1991

Minnick v. Mississippi: Right to Counsel During Custodial Interrogation Bars Police Initiated Discussions Unless Counsel Is Present, 22.1 U. Balt. L.F. 39, 1991