Blair A. Silver

Blair A. Silver focuses his practice on complex intellectual property disputes at all stages. He has extensive experience with proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, federal district courts, the International Trade Commission, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Blair has represented clients in a wide variety of high-stakes appellate matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit. He also has provided strategic appellate advice and counseling to Fortune 500 companies preparing for trial and possible appeal in patent cases with more than $1 billion at stake. At the trial court level, Blair has briefed, argued and won dispositive motions and litigated cases from filing through trial on behalf of companies ranging from technology startups to industry leaders. He has also handled more than 100 inter partes review and covered business method review proceedings before the PTAB.

With a background in electrical engineering, Blair has significant experience with a wide range of technologies and industries, including electronics and computers, financial technology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and consumer products. His practice also includes copyright and trademark litigation.

Experience

• Centripetal Networks, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc. (Fed. Cir.). Advised Centripetal on appellate strategy in defending a nearly $2.7 billion willful infringement verdict against Cisco on networking technology.
• Palo Alto Networks, Inc. v. Centripetal Networks, Inc. (PTAB). Represented Centripetal in defending against 17 inter partes reviews and managing a team of attorneys and staff.
• Albany Int’l Corp. v. Kimberly‐Clark Worldwide, Inc. (PTAB). Successfully defended Kimberly-Clark as lead counsel against 19 grounds of invalidity in a post-grant review involving laminated papermaking belts, including against allegations of invalidating prior sales to Georgia Pacific.
• Mexichem Amanco Holdings SA de CV v. Chemours Co. FC, LLC (S.D. Tex.); Rao v. Smith (Fed. Cir.); Chemours Co. FC, LLC v. Mexichem Amanco Holding SA de CV (PTAB). Successfully represented Mexichem (Smith) in an appeal from an interference against Chemours (Rao) involving manufacturing of refrigerants. When Chemours later filed an inter partes review against the same patent, successfully argued that collateral estoppel and interference estoppel barred those proceedings. 
• Return Mail, Inc. v. United States Postal Service (S. Ct.). Primary author of an amicus brief on behalf of the American Intellectual Property Law Association on whether the government is a “person” who can petition for a post-grant proceeding under the America Invents Act.
• Ledenev v. Adest (PTAB, Fed. Cir.). Successfully represented SolarEdge (Adest) against Ampt (Ledenev) in a complex interference involving solar panel power converters and two appeals.
• Comcast Commc’ns Corp. v. Rovi Guides, Inc. & Veveo Inc. (PTAB, Fed. Cir.). Represented Comcast in 18 appeals and 65 petitions for inter partes review filed against Rovi Guides and Veveo, including managing large teams assigned to each case, drafting numerous filings, and successfully arguing multiple IPRs and appeals. The cases settled globally and every challenged patent was invalidated.

News

Honors & Awards

• Named to the Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers list (2024)
• Recognized as among the top 1-2% of practitioners before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in Patexia’s PTAB Intelligence Report (2023)
• Recognized as among the top 2% of practitioners before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Patexia’s CAFC Intelligence Report (2023)
• Named to the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list (2016-2022)
• Recognized as the 27th Most Active Petitioner in Patexia’s IPR Intelligence Report (2020)
• Recognized as the 11th Most Active Petitioner by Managing Intellectual Property (2018-2019)

Publications

• “Supreme Court: Government Agencies Cannot Petition for AIA Reviews,” Law firm publication (June 10, 2019)
• “Federal Circuit Year in Review (2015-2017),” Law firm publication
• “TC Heartland-A Renewed Opportunity to Challenge Venue in Patent Infringement Cases,” Law firm publication (June 15, 2017)
• “Controlling Patent Trolling with Civil RICO,” Yale Journal of Law & Technology (2009)
• “Transform Coefficient Histogram Based Image Enhancement Algorithms using Contrast Entropy,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing (July 2006)
• “Contrast Entropy Based Image Enhancement and Logarithmic Transform Coefficient Histogram Shifting,” Proceedings, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 2005 (March 2005)
• “Logarithmic Transform Coefficient Histogram Matching with Spatial Equalization,” Proceedings, SPIE Defense and Security Symposium 2005 (March 2005)

Speaking Engagements

• “Practical Tips for Oral Argument,” 2021 Virtual Patent Trial and Appeal Board Bench & Bar, American Intellectual Property Law Association (August 2021)
• “In‐house Counsel Perspectives on Post‐Grant Proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board,” Law firm Corporate IP Roundtable (May 2021)

Professional Activities

• Member, Georgetown Law IP Advisory Board
• Member, Amicus Briefs Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law
• Former professor for Patent Trial Practice, Georgetown University Law Center