Nathan T. Paine

Overview

Nathan Paine is an intellectual property (IP) litigator in Holland & Knight's Seattle office. Mr. Paine represents clients in high-stakes IP and commercial disputes across the country with a practice that spans patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret litigation.

Mr. Paine regularly advises and advocates for individuals, startups and multinational companies in complex matters, from pre-suit investigation through trial and appeal, in state and federal courts.

Mr. Paine has extensive experience litigating a broad range of IP matters, including cases involving name, image and likeness (NIL) rights, design and utility patent infringement, trademark and copyright disputes, and trade secret misappropriation. He also counsels clients on IP portfolio development, licensing, registration and enforcement strategies.

Beyond IP matters, Mr. Paine maintains a robust commercial litigation practice. He has handled multidistrict and nationwide class actions – on the plaintiff and defense sides – as well as antitrust disputes, software subscription service agreement litigation, partnership and shareholder conflicts, Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act (CEMA) class action defense, breach of contract and defamation claims. He also represents clients in regulatory and administrative proceedings involving government agencies. Mr. Paine has successfully represented clients in appeals in the state courts as well as in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Paine was a partner at a Seattle-based law firm, where he earned a strong reputation for successfully handling complex litigation locally and nationally.

Representative Experience

As lead counsel, secured more than $40 million in cash settlements and injunctive relief valued at over $60 million in a class action suit asserting Lanham Act claims on behalf of coffee farmers against more than 20 suppliers and retailers of fake Kona coffee products; the class was ultimately certified, with the court calling it one of "the most impressive class action cases I have dealt with in my time on the federal bench because there's a real harm here and a real result that makes people whole again"
As lead counsel in high stakes, bet-the-company litigation, successfully represented a virtual reality software developer against one the world's largest cloud computing platforms; the client asserted claims for breach of contract and copyright infringement and defended against counterclaims for millions of dollars in damages; case was settled with a substantial payment and other terms favorable to the client
As lead counsel, represented an individual defendant in litigation with a prominent online game developer asserting claims of copyright infringement, violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO); achieved early settlement of all claims on terms favorable to the client
As lead counsel, secured dismissal with prejudice of an eight-figure class action lawsuit filed against multiple defendants over purported violations of the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act (CEMA) after the court of appeals rejected the plaintiff's argument for a bright line rule in deciding whether the potential class members provided their consent to receive commercial text messages; the Washington Supreme Court denied the plaintiff's petition for review; without any payment to the plaintiff, obtained a dismissal with prejudice of the class action before any discovery was ever conducted
As co-lead counsel, at the pleading stage without any payment to the plaintiff or the class, successfully defended the client's refer-a-friend program in its cellular phone application by securing dismissal of the class action lawsuit asserting purported violations of the Washington CEMA
As lead counsel for a Washington-based software developer, obtained an early dismissal of a Fortune 500 company's patent infringement suit asserting multiple utility patents; this resolution was achieved without any payment to the patent holder and without any discovery
Achieved a $20 million settlement for a marine windshield manufacturer in its lawsuit against a ski boat manufacturer for infringement of its design patent and copyrights after prevailing on summary judgment on key issues concerning damages, specifically the appropriate application of Section 289 of the Patent Act
As lead counsel, obtained an early dismissal of a design patent infringement case where the plaintiff unsuccessfully attempted to leverage the sealed proceedings of a Schedule A case to obtain a temporary restraining order without notice to the clients
Litigated a series of lawsuits against numerous infringers of a software patent covering technology concerning download managers used to download music and video games on the internet, receiving millions of dollars in settlements for the client
As lead counsel in a name, image and likeness (NIL) dispute filed by 12 plaintiffs, successfully secured a voluntary dismissal of the plaintiffs' Lanham Act claims on favorable terms after convincing the clients' insurer to fund the entire settlement
As lead counsel, before any discovery was conducted and without any settlement payment to the plaintiff, obtained early dismissal of lawsuits asserting infringement of utility patents covering proprietary plant extraction equipment and methods
As lead counsel, successfully defended a home builder franchisor and its contractor against claims of copyright infringement of architectural works

As co-lead counsel, represented a company in a tortious interference lawsuit against a municipality, securing a settlement of millions of dollars on the eve of trial; in the course of the litigation, successfully excluded the city's damages expert from testifying at trial and defeated all of the city's challenges to exclude the client's damages expert from testifying
As co-lead counsel representing one of the nation's largest banks in a secured transaction case, prevailed on all issues on summary judgment against the client's debtor and its guarantor arising from the debtor's default on its multimillion-dollar line of credit
As lead counsel, defended a commercial tenant in a lawsuit filed by its former landlord; within eight days, obtained an order vacating the temporary restraining order the landlord had obtained in furtherance of its scheme to constructively evict the client and exercise ownership of the client's trade fixtures; additionally, achieved immediate dismissal of the lawsuit and secured a substantial award of all attorney fees and costs the client incurred in the litigation
As lead counsel, represented a limited liability company (LLC) in a lawsuit against its former managing member for breach of fiduciary duties and conversion; after the parties agreed to transfer the litigation to arbitration and while the company's motion for summary judgment was pending, settled the dispute on terms favorable to the company, including the former managing member's forfeiture of their entire membership interest
As co-lead counsel, in a $59 million contract dispute, achieved a summary dismissal of all claims asserted against a Fortune 500 client with the judgment affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; the 12 plaintiffs asserted various causes of action, including breach of contract, tortious interference, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair business practices
As lead counsel, convinced the Washington Court of Appeals to reverse a King County trial court's order vacating a judgment that was obtained in Texas and domesticated in Washington under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act
As lead counsel, represented a real estate investor in defending against claims asserted under the Distressed Property Conveyances Act through appeal on matters of first impression concerning the interpretation of multiple provisions of the act
As lead counsel, successfully represented a plaintiff in a boundary dispute with a neighbor, who then breached the parties' settlement agreement; the court ordered the defendants to specifically perform their settlement obligations and awarded plaintiff his attorney fees and costs as the prevailing party
Awarded a sanction of more than $140,000 against opposing counsel and their firm for their unreasonable and vexatious multiplication and obstruction of the proceedings
As lead counsel, recovered from a bank all funds that had been fraudulently transferred from a client's account
As lead counsel, after prevailing on numerous motions of summary judgment filed by defendants, obtained a favorable settlement for clients against 10 defendants on claims of defamation, invasion of privacy and outrage
As lead counsel, successfully represented a video game developer in a contract dispute concerning the development of a computer game

Credentials

Education

University of California, Berkeley School of Law, J.D.
Wesleyan University, B.A., with honors

Bar Admissions/Licenses

Washington

Court Admissions

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Spoken Languages

Japanese

Partner

Nathan T. Paine

Partner

Overview

Representative Experience

Credentials

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