Eric Huang
erichuang@quinnemanuel.comEric Huang is a partner in Quinn Emanuel's New York office. He specializes in intellectual property litigation, with an emphasis on patents, and crypto related business litigation. He has litigated patent cases involving a wide range of technologies – blockchain, smart contracts, tokens, wireless communications(cellular, LAN, bluetooth), smartphones, user interface software, touchscreen technology, circuits, semiconductor processing, various aspects of error control coding including turbocodes and low density parity check codes, digital video/audio compression, pharmaceutical formulations, fiber optics, liquid crystal displays, power tools, battery technology, mechanical measurement devices, electronic engine control, e-commerce, and computer systems. He also has handled patent and other civil disputes involving automated market makers, decentralized finance, smart contracts and crypto wallet retrieval.
His practice includes patent cases in U.S. federal district courts and before the U.S. International Trade Commission. He recently represented defendant Coinbase in a patent infringement case in Delaware federal court filed by Veritaseum, alleging that Coinbase infringed a patent that purported to cover smart contract transactions and decentralized finance. That case resulted in a dismissal after strong motion papers. He served as counsel for defendant KeyMe in a patent case tried in Marshall, Texas, brought by a competitior, for Sony in ITC investigation 337-TA-1058 initiated by FujiFilm against Sony’s magnetic storage media used by data centers, for respondent Samsung in ITC investigation, 337-TA-796, initiated by Apple against Samsung's smartphones, tablets and media players, and for Marvell Semiconductor in a case brought by France Telecom in San Francisco federal district court alleging infringement by Marvell’s 3G baseband chips.
Eric also has experience litigating inter partes review petitions for both petitioners and patentees and prosecuting patents and is admitted to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Eric served as counsel for NantWorks in successfully defeating petitions for inter partes review against six patents, including two denials of institution and four final written decisions that rejected the challenges against the claims. Those decisions were affirmed on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
He has also represented clients in non-IP cases involving the freezing of crypto assets by Tether. He was part of a team that successfully resolved a dispute for client Tiger Mines involving over US$160M worth of USDT in wallets frozen by Tether, which resulted in a very favorable result.
He is a 1997 graduate of the George Washington University Law School, and has a materials science & engineering degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Prior to law school, Eric worked for National Semiconductor in California as an electronic packaging engineer.
Eric is a Board Treasurer for the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, president of the Council of the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, board member for Young Advocates for Fair Education (New York City) and a founding Trustee of the Blue School in New York City.
Recent News
Practice Areas
Notable Representations
- Representing Plaintiff Workco, Inc. d/b/a Toku, the leading provider of customized employment and compensation compliance solutions specifically serving the crypto market, in an action for breach of contract, violation of the Delaware Uniform Trade Secrets Act, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, with prospective economic advantage, unfair competition, violation of the Delaware Deceptive Trade Practices Act, aiding & abetting breach of fiduciary duty against defendant LiquiFi and/or defendant Benjamin Snipes, based on Mr. Snipes’ prior employment with Toku and subsequent employment by LiquiFi and his taking of over 25,000 confidential and trade secret documents without authorization on his way out the door. The mattter is pending in Delaware Chancery Court.
- Advising client DeFi blockchain technology company on patent matters relating to automated market makers(AMMs) used in decentralized exchanges.
- Representing plaintiff patentee NantWorks in a patent infringement case against Bank of America. The dispute involves foundational computer vision patents owned by NantWorks that cover object recognition techniques used by Bank of America in its mobile check deposit solutions. After a stay pending IPR was lifted in May 2023, the case is pending in the Central District of California.
- Representing defendant Harbor Freight Tools in a multi-venue patent infringement dispute involving 13 patents owned by Champion Power Equipment that purport to claim multi-fuel engines and generator. Successfully opposed motion to dismiss Harbor Freight’s declaratory judgment action in the Central District of California. There is also a mirror image case pending in the Eastern District of Washington. The cases are pending.
- Represented Plaintiff Tiger Mines in a civil action seeking remedies relating to the unwarranted freezing by Tether of crypto wallets worth over $160M. Successfully negotiated favorable resolution for client.
- Represented patentee NantWorks in fighting six inter partes review (“IPR”) petitions brought by Bank of America. Successfully persuaded PTAB to deny institution of two petitions. Successfully obtained final written decisions rejecting the challenges to the patents for four petitions, and defended decisions successfully before the Federal Circuit, who issued Rule 36 summary affirmances.
- Represented defendant Harbor Freight Tools in a patent infringement matter brought by Graco alleging that certain airless paint sprayers infringed Graco’s patents. The case was pending in the District of Minnesota. The case settled favorably to Harbor Freight.
- Represented defendant Coinbase in a patent infringement action brought by Veritaseum. The case was one of the first patent infringement cases brought relating to smart contract technology. Obtained dismissal of the action after a strong set of papers.
- Represented respondent MediaTek in a patent-based investigation before the ITC (Inv. No. 337-TA-1287) brought by NXP and guided the case toward a favorable settlement.
- Represented respondent MediaTek in a patent-based investigation before the ITC (Inv. No. 337-TA-1222) brought by complainant DivX and guided the case toward a favorable settlement.
- Represented Sony in a multifront battle against Fujifilm arising from Fujifilm’s attempt to exclude Sony from the Linear Tape-Open magnetic tape market. LTO tape products are used to store large quantities of data by companies in a wide range of industries, including health care, education, finance and banking. Successfully, obtained an initial determination from the ITC (Inv. No. 337-TA-1058) based on a complaint based on Fujifilm’s infringement of Sony patents covering various aspects of magnetic data storage technology. The case resolved favorably for the client.
- Represented BlackBerry in two patent lawsuits brought by PanOptis Patent Management LLC in the Eastern District of Texas, where plaintiffs are asserting six patents that purport to be LTE standard essential, a patent that purportedly covers MMS communications, and a patent that purportedly covers moving an object on a touchscreen with a gesture.
- Represented BlackBerry in a patent lawsuit brought by VStream Technologies, LLC in the Eastern District of Texas, where plaintiff is asserting five patents that purport to cover digital video compression and decompression against BlackBerry’s BB10 and Android handsets that support HD video capture and playback.
- Represented BlackBerry in a patent lawsuit brought by SPH America, LLC in the Southern District of California, asserting nine patents that purportedly relate to the fields of spreading and modulation for 3G cellular communications, slotted CDMA random access systems, and wireless communications under IEEE 802.11g.
- Represented BlackBerry as a plaintiff in a design patent, utility patent and trade dress infringement case against Typo Products, relating to a keyboard case sold by Typo that copied the design of BlackBerry’s iconic Ergo Surf keyboard. Successfully obtained a preliminary injunction.
- Represented Marvell Semiconductor in a patent suit brought by France Telecom in the Southern District of New York asserting a patent purporting to cover turbo-coding. The accused products are chips capable of communicating with 3G cellular telephone networks. Successfully moved to transfer the case to the Northern District of California. Prevailed on claim construction and is winning partial summary judgment that eliminated 80% of sales from the damages calculation. After a trial in September 2014, successfully obtained a favorable damages verdict more than five times less than what plaintiff sought and successfully obtained a defense judgment after post-trial motions. Plaintiff dropped its appeal before briefing, leaving intact Marvell’s defense judgment.
- Represented the California Institute of Technology as plaintiff in a patent lawsuit asserting four patents covering a novel channel coding technology known as “Irregular Repeat Accumulate” codes, a form of low density parity check code that is used by the DVB-S2 satellite standard. The patents are being asserted against certain satellite gateway and remote terminal equipment and services used to provide broadband satellite access to the internet.
- Represented Canon as a defendant in a patent suit brought by Intellectual Ventures in the District of Delaware involving three patents that purport to cover aspects of IEEE 802.11 wireless communications.
- Represented MediaTek as respondent in an investigation (337-TA-897) initiated by the U.S. International Trade Commission based on a complaint filed by Optical Devices LLC. The patent-in-suit related to a digital servo control system that uses a digital signal processor to determine error signals used to control an optical drive systems such as a CD player. Successfully obtained a final determination terminating the investigation for lack of standing.
- Represented Samsung in a multi-jurisdictional dispute with Apple relating to smartphone and tablet technology. Part of trial team that defended Samsung in an investigation (337-TA-796) in the U.S. International Trade Commission based on a complaint by Apple asserting design patents and utility patents. Coordinated technical defense on utility patents. Utility patents related to user interface software, button configuration and jack and headset detection circuitry. Successfully obtained a final determination that limited the effect of the exclusion order. To date, no Samsung product has been excluded pursuant to the exclusion order.
- Represented Marvell Semiconductor, Ralink Technology Corp., Canon, and Lexmark in a patents suit brought by MOSAID Technologies in the Eastern District of Texas asserting six patents that purported to cover WiFi technology against products capable of IEEE 802.11 wireless communications. The case settled favorably for each client.
- Represented Sony in a multi-jurisdictional dispute with LG relating to Sony's digital televisions, digital cameras, and bluray disc players. The dispute involved two lawsuits in San Diego federal district court as well a consolidated investigation before the U.S. International Trade Commission, involving a total of 15 patents. The case settled favorably.
- Represented MediaTek in a patent-based ITC investigation brought by Optical Devices, LLC alleging patent infringement related to optical disk drive technology. (No. 337-TA-897) Optical Devices alleged that optical disc drives that used MediaTek’s semiconductor chips infringed its asserted patent and sought an exclusion order on these products based on this alleged infringement. We obtained a complete victory for MediaTek by winning summary determination of lack of standing before the evidentiary hearing, thereby terminating the Investigation in its entirety.
- Represented Motorola, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas in a lawsuit brought by Personalized Media Communications LLC asserting five patents that purported to cover various aspects of digital video distribution including pay per view, digital video recording, video on-demand, and conditional access. The accused products included cable set-top boxes and other equipment used in distribution of cable television.
- Represented Sony Ericsson (now Sony Mobile) in a lawsuit in San Diego federal court after successfully leading the effort to transfer the case from the Eastern District of Virginia. The case involved five patents asserted against 3G WCDMA technology. The case settled favorably.
- Represented Sony Computer Entertainment America and Sony Electronics Inc. as defendants in a lawsuit in Eastern District of Texas involving Sony PlayStation 3 game consoles and Sony Vaio computer products. Plaintiff asserted a patent that purports to cover packet based communications within computer systems.
- Represented as trial counsel Monolithic Power Systems in a patent infringement and breach of contract action brought by Linear Technologies in Delaware federal district court.
- Represented MediaTek in a series of patent lawsuits in San Francisco and Marshall, Texas against Matsushita Electric and Panasonic involving semiconductors and consumer electronics products. After obtaining favorable rulings on claim construction, summary judgment, and other key motions, the case settled on very favorable terms.
- Represented HTC Corp. in lawsuit filed in Eastern District of Virginia asserting three patents in CDMA technology.
- Represented Duracell, a Gillette subsidiary, at trial in Madison, Wisconsin involving Rayovac's assertion of three patents relating to zinc-air hearing aid batteries. Obtained a complete defense jury verdict.
- Represented MediaTek as a third party at a number of ITC hearings in which MediaTek testified as well as at deposition.
- Represented eSpeed as plaintiff in asserting patent covering electronic futures trading systems in the Southern District of New York against major commodity futures exchange.
- Represented Northrop Grumman as defendant in lawsuit brought by JDS Uniphase relating to fiber optic gyroscope technology in the Southern District of New York.
- Represented Reliant Pharmaceuticals in a declaratory judgment action brought under the patent laws regarding branded cholestorol lowering agents.
- Represented AstraZeneca in a Paragraph IV case in the Southern District of New York against Faulding Pharmaceutical Co. (ne Mayne Pharma) relating to the injectable anesthetic propofol (Diprivan).
Representative Clients
- AstraZeneca
- Avaya
- BlackBerry
- California Institute of Technology
- Compaq
- Canon
- Coinbase
- eSpeed/Cantor Fitzgerald
- Expedia/Hotels.com
- Harbor Freight Tools
- HTC Corp.
- Lexmark
- Marvell Semiconductor, Inc.
- MediaTek
- Monolithic Power Systems
- Motorola Mobility
- Mutual Pharmaceuticals
- Northrop Grumman
- Ralink Technology Corp.
- Reliant Pharmaceuticals
- Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
- Sony Computer Entertainment America
- Sony Electronics Inc.
- Sony Mobile Communications
- Tiger Mines
- Workco, Inc. d/b/a Toku
Education
- George Washington University Law School
(J.D., with honors, 1997) - University of Michigan
(B.S.E., Materials Science & Engineering, 1990)
Admissions
- The State Bar of New York
Prior Associations
- Law Clerk to the Hon. Eric G. Bruggink:
- United States Court of Federal Claims, 1997‑1998
- United States Court of Federal Claims, 1997‑1998
- Fish & Neave, Associate
- 1998 - 2004
Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America, Litigation - Patent, 2024
Publications and Lectures
Professional Activities
- Member, Asian American Bar Association of New York
- Member, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
- Member, New York Intellectual Property Lawyers Association
- Member, Association for the Bar of the City of New York
- Treasurer, Board of Directors, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest