Robert Gunther is a partner in the firm's Litigation/Controversy Department, and a member of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group. He joined the firm in 2007. Mr. Gunther has extensive experience representing technology and pharmaceutical clients in intellectual property litigation at both the trial and appellate level.
Practice
Mr. Gunther has successfully litigated patent and other intellectual property cases in numerous federal district courts. He has also argued appeals before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and litigated patent disputes before the US International Trade Commission. He has handled cases involving an array of technologies, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, computer hardware and software, telecommunications and networking, video game and graphic display hardware and software, optical discs and consumer products, among others. His intellectual property clients have included AOL, Affymetrix, C-COR (formerly nCUBE), Chugai Pharmaceutical, Mentor Graphics, Nintendo, Playtex Products, QinetiQ, Roche Diagnostics, Sumitomo Electric and WebMD.
Prior to joining WilmerHale, Mr. Gunther was vice chair of the Global Litigation Department of Latham & Watkins, LLP, where he also previously served as co-chair of the Global Intellectual Property, Media and Technology Group.
Representative Federal Circuit Experience at Prior Firm
- C-COR, Inc. (formerly nCUBE) v. SeaChange, Int'l, 436 F.3d 1317 (Fed. Cir. 2006) (argued): affirming district court judgment that SeaChange willfully infringed C-COR's patent on a flexible video on demand server architecture.
- SeaChange, Int'l v. C-COR, Inc. (formerly nCUBE), 413 F.3d 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (argued): reversing district court judgment of infringement of SeaChange's patent by C-COR and finding no infringement as a matter of law.
- Playtex Products, Inc. v. Proctor & Gamble Co., 400 F.3d 901 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (argued): reversing and vacating summary judgment of non-infringement of Playtex's patent on a popular consumer product.
- Jacobs v. Nintendo of America Inc., 370 F.3d 1097 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (argued): affirming summary judgment of non-infringement by Nintendo on implied license grounds of patent relating to a tilt-sensitive control device.
- Wang Labs, Inc. v. America Online, Inc., 197 F.3d 1377 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (argued): affirming summary judgment of non-infringement by AOL of patent that, according to Wang, represented the invention of the Internet browser.
Representative Patent Litigation Experience at Prior Firm
- QinetiQ,, Ltd. v. Samsung (E.D. Tex.): Counsel for QinetiQ, a privatized portion of the UK Ministry of Defence. Following trial, QinetiQ was awarded $18 million plus interest for Samsung's infringement of QinetiQ's patent relating to LCD display technology.
- C-COR, Inc. (formerly nCUBE) v. SeaChange Int'l (D. Del.): Counsel for C-COR. Obtained jury verdict and judgment of willful infringement of C-COR's patent by SeaChange. C-COR awarded double damages and attorney's fees.
- In re Hardware Emulation Systems (U.S.I.T.C.): Counsel for Mentor Graphics. Obtained advisory opinion that Mentor's remote access to hardware emulation devices located outside the US did not violate a prior ITC exclusion order.
- Roche Diagnostics v. Enzo Biochem; Affymetrix v. Enzo Biochem (S.D.N.Y): Counsel for Roche and Affymetrix in ongoing declaratory judgment actions seeking determinations that Enzo patents relating to nucleic acid labeling reagents are not infringed and invalid. Summary judgment motions are pending following a favorable claim construction ruling.
- Anascape, Ltd. v. Nintendo of America Inc. (E.D. Tex.): Counsel for Nintendo in this ongoing claim for infringement of multiple patents relating to video game controller technology.
- Northern Patent Management v. WebMD (E.D. Mich): Counsel for WebMD. Following a favorable claim construction, the patent holder voluntarily dismissed the case against WebMD with prejudice.
Professional Activities
Mr. Gunther is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Honors and Awards
- Recognized as a New York leader in the patent field in the 2010 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers in Business
- Named to the Legal 500 US for intellectual property
- Chosen as a "New York Super Lawyer" for intellectual property litigation (2006-2009)