Amy E. Proctor

An experienced patent litigator, Amy E. Proctor advises clients on intellectual property issues and handles patent infringement disputes across a wide range of technologies. Amy has helped obtain hundreds of millions of dollars for patent holders. Amy also defends clients against patent infringement claims, protecting the accused from significant liability. With technical and industry expertise, Amy provides solution-oriented advice to overcome the unique challenges facing each of her clients.

Among several high-profile awards, in 2023, Amy was selected to The Recorder’s “Lawyers on the Fast Track (under 40)” for the second year running. In 2022, she was named to Bloomberg Law’s nationwide “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40” list for her “intelligence, drive and common sense thinking on complicated matters” and selected to the Daily Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40” lists. Law360 also named her as one of only five “Technology Rising Stars” in 2021.

Amy has particular expertise in proving patent damages, including by carefully apportioning complex technology to a patented invention’s footprint. She believes in applying innovative scientific and econometric approaches to quantify the specific benefits created by her clients’ inventions, and then distilling those benefits into value that is easily recognized.

Amy is involved in many aspects of firm management, including serving as vice chair of Hiring and a longtime member of Irell’s Mentoring and Diversity Committees. Amy is passionate about recruiting and retaining diverse talent to continue Irell’s legacy of creativity and client success.

Amy earned her J.D. from the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, where she graduated Order of the Coif and received the Malcolm Lucas Award. As an undergraduate, she worked as a research assistant in the University of Florida Chan Physics Lab, where she helped implement a method for measuring the quantum forces associated with the Casimir effect. Her research focused on refining fabrication techniques to improve microelectromechanical system performance. Amy also completed an REU program at the University of California, Los Angeles Physics Department, where she assisted with high-speed tracking of membrane proteins.

Experience

• VLSI Technology LLC v. Intel Corporation (W.D. Tex.). Represents VLSI Technology in a patent infringement lawsuit against Intel. The suit involves two patents that improve the speed and performance of microprocessors. In March 2021, a jury found that Intel infringed the patents in suit, rejected Intel’s invalidity defense, and awarded $2.18 billion in reasonable royalty damages. In April 2022, a judge issued a $2.3 billion final judgment in the case. Developed VLSI’s damages case and examined VLSI’s primary damages expert before the jury.
• General Electric Co. v. Vestas-American Wind Technology, Inc. et al. (C.D. Cal.). Represented Vestas, one of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturers, in patent infringement litigation brought by GE involving patents on remaining connected to power grids during faults. Involved in all aspects of the district court case, which included claims by GE and counterclaims by Vestas, and in inter partes review (IPR) challenges to the patents. After the PTAB instituted IPRs of GE’s patents, the case settled and all claims were dismissed.

• Intel Corp. v. Future Link Systems, LLC (D. Del.). Represented Future Link in a declaratory judgment action originally brought by Intel seeking relief with respect to nine patents. Counterclaimed for infringement of 15 patents—including patents relating to on-chip interconnect architectures, integrated circuit thermal monitoring systems, computer security, power saving techniques and processing performance optimization—and obtained favorable claim construction and summary judgment outcomes. Developed detailed damages analyses for all asserted patents, each of which survived any Daubert challenges. The case settled shortly before the first trial.

• Santarus Inc. v. Par Pharmaceutical Inc. (D. Del.). Obtained a $100 million settlement for Santarus, an innovative pharmaceutical company based in San Diego, in this case involving Santarus's drug Zegerid, which is used to treat disorders relating to excess stomach acid. After Par won at the district court level and launched a generic version of Zegerid at risk, the Federal Circuit found for Santarus, leading Par to voluntarily withdraw its infringing generic from the market in 2012. On remand, designed a detailed lost profits case to quantify Santarus’s damages for Par’s two years of infringing sales. The case then settled shortly before trial.

• Rockstar Consortium v. Cisco Systems (D. Del.). Represented Rockstar Consortium in a set of infringement and declaratory relief actions involving dozens of telecommunications patents acquired by five of the world’s largest technology companies from the estate of Nortel Networks.

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology v. Vizio Corporation (D. Mass.). Represented MIT in a patent infringement lawsuit involving its portfolio of fundamental patents in digital television technologies developed in the early 1990s and adopted by the industry. Obtained a successful resolution prior to completion of discovery or claim construction.

News

Honors & Awards

• Selected to Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Women of Influence: Attorneys” list (2024)
• Named to the Southern California Super Lawyers list (2024)
• Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America (2024-2025)
• Named among the “Top Women Lawyers in California” by the Daily Journal (2023-2024)
• Selected to The Recorder’s “Lawyers on the Fast Track (under 40)” list (2022-2023)
• Selected to the Daily Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40” list (2022-2023)
• Listed among the “Rising Stars” in Managing Intellectual Property’s IP Stars (2018, 2021-2024)

Publications

• “Patent Lost Profit Damages and Apportionment,” The Intellectual Property Strategist (October 2017)
• “Walker Process Antitrust Claims: The Jurisdiction Question,” Law360 (January 30, 2013)

Speaking Engagements

• “Apportionment in Patent Damages,” USC IP Institute (March 20, 2023)
• “Patent Litigation Strategies,” University of California, Los Angeles (March 6, 2019)
• “Beyond the District Court: Patent Litigation at the ITC and Federal Circuit,” University of California, Los Angeles (March 21, 2018)
• “Strategies for Long-Term Success,” University of Southern California (March 5, 2018)
• “Insights on Clerking,” University of Southern California (February 18, 2016)
• “Women in Tech,” University of Southern California (February 24, 2015)

Professional Activities

• Board of Directors, Los Angeles Innocence Project
• Board of Directors, Bet Tzedek Legal Services
• Fellow, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (2020)
• Board of Governors, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles
• Planning Committee, USC Intellectual Property Institute
• American Intellectual Property Law Association