Dirk D. Thomas

With a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1982 and his law degree from George Washington University in 1986, Mr. Thomas began his career at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett and Dunner in Washington DC. Under the tutelage of the very experienced patent prosecution and trial lawyers at Finnegan, Henderson, Mr. Thomas became a Registered Patent Attorney (Reg. No. 32,600) and mastered the procedural and substantive areas common in patent and trade secret litigation.  Desiring to apply his patent litigation expertise in contingent fee patent litigation, but recognizing that his partners at Finnegan, Henderson were unlikely to invest deeply in such cases, Mr. Thomas parted ways with Finnegan, Henderson and in 1999 joined the firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller, and Ciresi, one of the preeminent contingent-fee patent litigation firms in the country.

At Robins, Kaplan Mr. Thomas first chaired multiple patent jury trials and arbitrations on behalf of clients in the medical device and computer fields, and obtained damage awards and settlements of over $200 million dollars. Mr. Thomas also successfully sought a preliminary injunction on behalf of his client, Medtronic Sofamor Danek, on a spinal implant device invented by the renowned inventor and Los Angeles spine surgeon Dr. Gary Michelson. At the time, it was the only reported preliminary injunction granted in a patent infringement case on a medical device subject to the FDA’s IDE/PMA protocols.

Mr. Thomas also first chaired a patent infringement trial on behalf of a small, Dutch computer company, Tulip BV, against Dell Computer Corporation that resulted in a cash settlement after trial in the mid eight figures.

While at Robins, Kaplan Mr. Thomas argued numerous appeals at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of his client Medtronic, which appeals included the reversal of a liability finding that had been entered against Medtronic and for its competitor, Cross Medical, at the District Court.

In 2009, Mr. Thomas joined McKool Smith, another preeminent litigation firm that focused on patent litigation and undertook contingent and hybrid fee matters, where he was managing partner in the Washington DC office and continued his patent litigation work in the fields of telecommunications, computer hardware and software, digital rights management, and other technologies.

Mr. Thomas is a Registered Patent Attorney authorized to represent clients in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where he has defended multiple Inter Party Review (IPR) challenges to his client’s patents.

Most recently, Mr. Thomas recognized the significant change that legislation such as the America Invents Act and Supreme Court rulings such as Alice have brought to the field of patent litigation. Right or wrong, positive or negative for patents and the industries they touch, these changes required, in Mr. Thomas’ view, a change to how patent litigation is pursued, and particularly, how contingent and hybrid fee patent cases are litigated. That change includes finding ways to litigate the cases on a significantly reduced budget without sacrificing quality or effort. Large law firms with their significant overhead expenses (but highly qualified lawyers) have limited ability to reduce their fees, as Mr. Thomas experienced firsthand. Whereas, operating as an independent lawyer and teaming with other, like-minded and experienced patent trial lawyers, Mr. Thomas can pursue these types of cases on a significantly reduced budget and, potentially, with funds provided by litigation funding entities with whom Mr. Thomas has well-established relationships.

Education

J.D., George Washington University Law School, 1986
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, 1982

Court Admissions

District of Columbia
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Bar Associations
District of Columbia Bar Association
American Bar Association

Representative Matters

In addition to the matter noted above, and prior to joining McKool Smith in 2009, Mr. Thomas handled the following notable matters:

Medtronic, Inc. Cross Medical Products, Inc. v. Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc. and Medtronic Sofamor Danek USA, Inc.Lead counsel against Cross Medical, a subsidiary of Biomet, Inc., in a patent infringement case where Biomet asserted four patents and Medtronic asserted two patents against multiple products. Obtained summary judgment rulings invalidating three of the Biomet patents and summary judgment rulings that both Medtronic patents were infringed and not invalid. Argued against the adverse judgment on the remaining Biomet patent to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the court reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment on infringement and validity.

Tulip Computers. Lead trial counsel in a patent infringement case for Tulip Computers against Dell Computer Corp., resulting in a favorable settlement after trial.

Patent Owner and Licensee. Lead trial counsel for patent owner and licensee in Sofamor Danek Group, Inc. and Karlin Technology v. U.S. Surgical Corp. and Tyco, Int’l, Inc. The patents covered inventions made by Dr. Gary Michelson. After obtaining a jury verdict of liability, the case settled during the damages phase of trial.