Overview

Amy E. Simpson is a patent litigator and inter partes review (IPR) attorney in Holland & Knight's Century City office. Ms. Simpson has more than two decades of experience strategically guiding technology companies in their offensive and defensive patent disputes. She has litigated high-profile cases across the United States in federal district courts and before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) involving a wide range of technologies, including LEDs, printers, wireless and cellular communications, software, semiconductor manufacturing and packaging technologies. Representative of her business-focused litigation approach, Ms. Simpson recently secured early wins on summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas for a Dutch multinational lighting corporation and a Fortune 500 power management company, gutting the plaintiff's case and compelling the judge to cancel both the bench trial on 31 correction of inventorship claims and the patent infringement jury trial involving LED and heat-sinking technologies for stadium lighting.

In addition, Ms. Simpson has represented clients in IPR before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), since their introduction in 2012. She has been lead counsel on more than 50 IPRs, with technologies ranging from conditional access schemes and database software to virtual reality, printer and collision avoidance. Ms. Simpson was recently named a Top 25 Performing Attorney Representing Patent Owners before the PTAB. Ms. Simpson's track record helping patent owners defeat IPR petitions at institution is particularly striking. She obtained an all-out win for an enterprise printing company, defeating institution of 10 IPR petitions, and recently helped a Danish multinational cooperative defeat institution of two IPRs challenging the validity of whey protein patents.

When not in court, Ms. Simpson helps clients understand, manage and improve the strength of their multimillion-dollar intellectual property investments by assessing the competitive landscape and building patent portfolios into strategic assets for companies to leverage to accomplish crucial business goals. She also regularly guides companies in identifying, growing and acquiring key patent assets used to execute business and legal strategies.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Simpson worked in the San Diego office for an international law firm, where she served as the patent litigation practice chair for five years.

Following law school, Ms. Simpson served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Paul Michel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Representative Experience

  • Representing a Fortune 500 semiconductor company against the plaintiff's assertion of three patents directed to semiconductor packaging technologies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho
  • Representing a Fortune 500 semiconductor company in a bad faith litigation assertion against the plaintiff in the District of Idaho
  • Representing a power management company against four separate complaints asserting 16 wireless printing patents in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
  • Won summary judgment of noninfringement and summary judgment denying 31 correction of inventorship claims in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas resulting in judge canceling the bench and jury trials
  • Represented an enterprise printer company against 16 patents directed to various printer technologies in the U.S. District for the Southern District of Florida
  • Representing plaintiffs in the assertion of two patents related to synthetic diamonds via microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) and annealing of diamonds in the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York
  • Represented a power management company in resolution of patents asserted relating to wireless data recovery in the U.S. District Court for the North District of Ohio
  • Represented a multinational lighting company against patents related to wireless light automation in the Western District of Texas
  • Representing a power management company and a multinational lighting company as defendants against the assertion of five patents related to LED lighting in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
  • Representing a power management company and a multinational lighting company as defendants against the assertion of six patents related to LED lighting in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware
  • Defended a multinational cellphone manufacturer in actions in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware alleging infringement of 20 patents relating to operating systems and mobile handsets
  • Represented a Fortune 100 company as an intervenor in a case alleging infringement of three patents related to DVR technology in the Eastern District of Texas
  • Represented a large electronics company in a patent infringement matter in the Eastern District of Texas involving hot-swappable blade server technology
  • Represented a multinational electronics company in its defense against claims of patent infringement covering certain ethernet standards, including IEEE 802.3 and IEEE 802.11; products accused of infringing the asserted patents included computers, laptops and routers having circuitry for implementing 802.11 capabilities in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
  • Defended a California-based software company against allegations of patent infringement involving rules-based technology for monitoring and identifying database operation problems in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
  • Represented a California-based software company in asserting its patented technology for managing and delivering leads over the internet against a direct competitor; the case settled the first day of trial in the Eastern District of Texas
  • Defended China's largest semiconductor foundry, in its defense against infringement claims involving 14 U.S. patents covering a variety of semiconductor fabrication processes, SRAM designs and related technology in the Northern District of California

  • Represented patent owner in defeating institution of two IPR petitions filed against Arla patents directed to whey proteins
  • Represented patent owner in defeating institution of 10 IPR petitions
  • Represented petitioner in multiple IPR involving patents directed to database technologies; challenged more than 120 claims and achieved 90 percent institution rate; large majority of instituted claims were found invalid upon final written decision
  • Represented petitioner in an IPR challenging the validity of a patent directed to techniques for maintaining scalable encrypted network communications; final written decision
  • Represented petitioner in challenging the validity of patents directed to conditional access and signal distribution; case was settled
  • Represented a patent owner against an IPR challenging the validity of LED-related patents; case was settled
  • Represented petitioner in an IPR challenging the validity of a patent directed to conditional access control schemes; case was settled
  • Represent patent owner in an IPR directed to a ratchet device patent for cargo tie down; trial instituted
  • Represent petitioner in an IPR to invalidate a patent directed to a software and sensor system for detecting and avoiding collisions; all claims canceled
  • Represent petitioner in an IPR to invalidate a patent relating to a multicable exercise machine with a magnetic flywheel and electronics for tracking a user's workout; trial instituted
  • Represent petitioner in an IPR challenging the validity of a patent directed to virtual reality technologies; pending institution

  • Represented a large electronics company in its acquisition of patents and patent applications related to social media
  • Represented a Fortune 100 company in its acquisition of patents and patent applications related to location-based service technologies
  • Represented a large electronics company in its acquisition of patents and patent applications related to analog front-end circuitry for mobile devices
  • Represented a Fortune 100 company in its acquisition of patents and patent applications related to data replication software
  • Represented a large electronics company in its acquisition of patents and patent applications related to user interface and multimedia software
  • Represented a Fortune 100 company in its analysis of more than 800 software patents for acquisition

Credentials

Education
  • The George Washington University, M.S., Computer Science
  • University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, J.D.
  • University of Idaho, B.S.
Bar Admissions/Licenses
  • California
Court Admissions
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
  • U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
  • Supreme Court of California
Honors & Awards
  • Leading Litigators in America, Lawdragon 500, 2024
  • Top 50 Women in PTAB Trials, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Bar Association, 2021
  • Inter Partes Review Leader, Patent Litigation Intelligence Report, 2021, 2022
  • IAM Global Leaders, 2020
  • Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Strategy 300, The World's Leading IP Strategists, 2017-2019
  • IAM Patent 1000, Recommended, Prosecution, 2019-2023; National: Post-Grant Proceedings, 2022, 2023
  • Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing, Law360, 2019
  • The Recorder, Top Women Leaders in Tech Law, 2013

Publications

Speaking Engagements

News