Stanley M. Gibson

Stan Gibson is a seasoned trial lawyer and Chair of Jeffer Mangels Butler Mitchell’s Patent Litigation Group. Known for leading high-stakes, technically sophisticated matters he represents clients in complex intellectual property disputes, including patent and trade secret matters, and high-profile litigation involving cutting-edge technology. He is a go-to advisor in pivotal cases where strategic litigation outcomes are critical to success.

Some of Stan’s most high-profile matters include the jury trial BlueRadios, Inc. v. Kopin Corporation, Inc. where he obtained a multi-million verdict for his client. The case centered on Kopin’s misappropriation of BlueRadios’ trade secrets. BlueRadios designs and manufactures Bluetooth wireless communication products. A judgment was entered on the jury verdict that included exemplary damages and attorney’s fees that accompanies a finding of malice and willfulness. 

Additionally, Stan was one of the principal trial lawyers in Medtronic v. Michelson, in which his client Dr. Gary Michelson won $570 million after a multi-month jury trial in Memphis, Tennessee. The case was resolved as part of a $1.35 billion dollar acquisition of the Michelson patent portfolio, which the Los Angeles Times reported as the largest acquisition of patents in history. 

His experience also includes a $16.7 million arbitration award after a six-month arbitration that involved the engineering and design of direct broadcast satellites and satellite launch vehicles. 

Stan is recognized nationwide as a premier intellectual property attorney, including a Metropolitan First Tier ranking in U.S. News & World Report / Best Law Firms®.  The media frequently calls upon Stan for insight and analysis, and he has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Thompson Reuters, American Lawyer, National Law Journal, ABA Journal, Los Angeles Daily Journal and other publications. He is also the publisher of the firm’s widely read Patent Lawyer Blog, as well as the IP Health Checklist, designed to help smaller businesses and entrepreneurs protect their valuable IP assets from the start.

“As an avid endurance runner, I see incredible similarities between my work as a trial attorney and running marathons. In both pursuits, success depends on disciplined, thorough preparation and consistent daily effort. Just as I arrive at the starting line for every marathon ready, confident, and fully trained, I approach trial work with the same commitment, relying on rigorous preparation, accumulated skill, and hard-earned experience to overcome challenges and achieve the best possible outcome.”

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE  

Cases Involving Medical Devices 

• Represented the inventor of revolutionary medical devices, instruments and methods for spinal fusion surgery, in a three-month breach of contract and patent infringement trial, resulting in a total verdict valued at approximately $570 million, including $400 million in punitive damages.
• Represented numerous patent cases around the country as lead trial counsel, including a case against Boston Scientific over angioplasty catheters that settled favorably the day before jury selection. 

Cases Involving Manufacturing 

• Represented WCM Industries against IPS corporation as lead counsel in a patent infringement case. A favorable jury verdict found that IPS willfully infringed six patent claims across three of WCM’s patents directed to bath waste and overflow assemblies, and that all six patent claims were valid. The district court trebled the damages awarded by the jury and issued a permanent injunction. (Click here to watch video of Stan's opening statement.) (Click here to watch video of Stan's closing argument.)
• Represented Sealant Systems International ("SSI") as lead counsel in a patent infringement case against SSI. TEK Corporation filed a patent infringement action against SSI in the Southern District of New York. SSI filed its own action for declaratory judgment against TEK in the Northern District of California and successfully dismissed the New York action for lack of personal jurisdiction. SSI’s sister company, Accessories Marketing, Inc. (“AMI”), also asserted a patent against TEK in the California action. On summary judgment, SSI invalidated TEK’s patent based on prior art. AMI proceeded to trial on its patent and a jury awarded AMI damages based on a 7% royalty. 
• Represented Innolux as lead trial counsel in patent case filed by Semiconductor Energy Laboratories (“SEL”) alleging infringement of six patents pertaining to fabrication of LCD Modules used in flat screen TVs and computer monitors, among others. Innolux filed seven petitions for Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”). At the request of Innolux, the district court stayed the case pending the completion of the IPRs. The PTO accepted all seven of the IPRs, and the case later settled.
• Represented Innolux as lead trial counsel in a patent infringement action filed by Eidos, alleging infringement of a single manufacturing process for LCD modules. 
• Represented Celestron, a manufacturer of telescopes, in a patent infringement dispute against Meade, a main competitor, over software technology used to control the positioning of amateur telescopes. Successfully defeated Meade's attempt at a preliminary injunction and obtained summary judgment in favor of client. 

Cases Involving Other Technology & Products 

• Represented Emulex Corporation against Marvell Semiconductor as lead counsel in a three-week jury trial. Marvell failed to indemnify Emulex when a third-party, Broadcom, sued Emulex for patent infringement over a part Emulex purchased from Marvell, Emulex’s supplier. Emulex successfully obtained a jury verdict of $4.7 million in damages, plus prejudgment interest. 
• Represented a client after summary judgment entered against the corporation, in which the district court awarded $1.8 billion in damages. Stan took over case on appeal and convinced the Ninth Circuit to reverse the damage award. Aecom Energy and Constr. Inc. v. Morrison Knudsen Corp., 2021 WL 1117780 (9th Cir. 2021) Watch a video of the appeal here.
• Represented Metal Jeans after summary judgment of unclean hands entered against client. Stan took over case on appeal and succeeded in obtaining reversal of summary judgment by Ninth Circuit. Metal Jeans v. Metal Sport, 987 F.3d 1242 (9th Cir. 2021) (Click here to watch video of the appeal)
• Represented Diskeeper Corporation as lead trial counsel in defense against a patent infringement action brought by Uniloc over the use of activation software. Uniloc dismissed the case with prejudice with no payment from Diskeeper.
• Represented the leading designer of Hawaiian jewelry in a copyright and trade dress infringement claim against a rival jewelry company. After a bench trial, the Court awarded the client $2.3 million in disgorgement (representing all the defendants' gross sales) on the trade dress claim and approximately $700,000 in attorneys' fees finding that the case was exceptional. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the award in its entirety. 

Cases Involving Real Estate 

• Represented the owner of a Marin County shopping center as lead counsel, in a case alleging negligence, trespass, and nuisance, and won a six-week virtual jury trial in April 2022, as well as seeking over $6 million in damages and millions more in attorney’s fees. A neighboring landowner claimed that various dry cleaner tenants of the shopping center contaminated their property, and claimed the contamination was permanent; the client had already spent $3.2 million on remediation, resulting in the removal of most contaminants from the plaintiff's property, and committed to cleanup deadlines set by the regional water board. The jury rendered a unanimous verdict in the client’s favor and found that the plaintiff had no damages. 
• Represented an investor in a real estate venture, and completed a month-long jury trial in September-October 2021, suing for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The client bought an office building in Seattle in 2008; when the building was sold in 2019, the real estate syndicator took most of the money. The case settled during jury deliberations, after the jury asked whether they were supposed to add up all of verdicts as the total was over $65 million. 
• Represented Northern Resources, and won a directed verdict in a fraudulent conveyance case during a bench trial. Northern Resources was sued over the purchase of a residential property that allegedly was transferred to Northern without equivalent value. During a bench trial, the court determined at the close of plaintiff’s case that Northern had paid equivalent value for the property and that there was no fraudulent conveyance. Accordingly, the court granted a direct verdict motion in Northern Resources' favor. 

Cases Involving Aerospace 

• Represented Intraspace, one of the largest aerospace companies in the United States, as lead trial counsel in a jury trial against Lockheed Martin for intentional interference with contractual relationships in which Lockheed had Intraspace’s contract to build four direct broadcast satellites terminated so that it could give the contract to its own subsidiary. After a five-week trial, proving that Intraspace had the ability to manufacture the satellites, the jury found that Lockheed had interfered with the contract and awarded Intraspace with $8.5 million in damages.
• Represented an aerospace company successfully in an arbitration in which the arbitrators awarded the client $17 million in damages. 

Cases Involving Sports & Entertainment 

• Represented Aramid Entertainment as lead trial counsel in a breach of contract, intentional interference, fraud and fraudulent transfer case against Fortress Investments and Relativity Media over the orchestrated and improper termination of a Sony Pictures film slate financing structure. 
• Represented Key Brand Entertainment Inc. as lead trial counsel in a matter against Live Nation involving the £90 million sale of theatres in the United Kingdom (case settled) and in an arbitration over the sale of certain theatres in Toronto, Canada.
• Represented the owner of a major league baseball team in a Title VII discrimination case successfully, in which the jury returned a defense verdict, and the District Court awarded attorneys' fees and costs against the plaintiff. 

For more of Stan's representative cases by industry, click here.