Shane Nichols is a partner in Alston & Bird’s Intellectual Property Litigation Group. His practice is primarily devoted to patent litigation, but he also handles disputes related to trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition, as well as claims of copyright and trademark infringement. Mr. Nichols has been recognized by Georgia Trend magazine as one of "Georgia's Most Effective Lawyers" in the area of Intellectual Property Law, and has been identified by Law & Politics magazine's "Super Lawyers" survey as a "Rising Star" in Intellectual Property Litigation.
Licensed to practice in both Texas and Georgia, Mr. Nichols represents clients in federal district courts throughout the United States, the U.S. International Trade Commission, state courts in Texas and Georgia, and several international courts around the world. Mr. Nichols also is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Mr. Nichols received his B.S. in electrical engineering and mathematics from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from Emory University School of Law. He is the current Chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of Georgia.
- Covidien (Tyco Healthcare) v. Dornier MedTech America, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 08-cv-03129, United States District Court for the Northern District of California; lead counsel for defendant Dornier MedTech; litigated medical device patent infringement dispute through end of discovery; negotiated and secured favorable settlement six months before remaining defendants were hit with $46 million jury verdict.
- Diomed, Inc. v. Dornier MedTech America, Inc., Civil Action No. 07-cv-10612, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts; lead counsel for defendant Dornier MedTech; negotiated favorable settlement of medical device patent infringement after 20 months of litigation; client’s competitor settled its co-pending case involving the same infringement allegations for over $11 million.
- Greenlight Technologies LLC v. Cooper Wiring Devices, et al., Civil Action No. 6:10-cv-00458, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas; lead counsel for Cooper Wiring Devices in patent infringement litigation in the Eastern District of Texas; dispute involves microprocessor-controlled switching devices.
- 3M, et al. v. Avery Dennison Corp., Civil Action No. 10-cv-02630, United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, represented 3M in patent infringement litigation asserting 13 of 3M’s patents against chief competitor, Avery Dennison; dispute involves retroreflective optics technologies used in traffic safety market.
- ACS State Healthcare LLC v. Wipro Inc. et al., Civil Action No. 4385, Delaware Court of Chancery; lead IP counsel for plaintiff, ACS; reached favorable settlement within 11 months of filing by establishing evidence of misappropriation of ACS’s source code.
- Amstech Inc. v. Osprey International, Inc. et al., Civil Action No. 09-cv-00654, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia; lead counsel for plaintiff, Amstech; won preliminary and permanent injunctions against products infringing client’s trademark and trade dress rights.
- Conor Medsystems, Inc. – lead worldwide counsel for Conor Medsystems in multiple litigations around the world defending its CoStar-brand paclitaxel drug-coated coronary stent against claims of infringement by Boston Scientific Corp. and Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc.; litigation strategies enabled client to be acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $1.4 billion. International litigations included:
- Conor Medsystems, Inc. v. Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., et al., United Kingdom Court of Appeal
- Conor Medsystems, Inc. v. University of British Columbia, Federal Court of Australia
- Schneider (Europe) GmbH v. Conor Medsystems Ireland Ltd., The High Court of Ireland
- Conor Medsystems, Inc. v. Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., et al., The District Court of the Hague
- Petroleum Analyzer Company, L.P. v. Franek Olstowski and Atom Instrument Corporation, Civil Action No. 2006-53995, 269th District Court, Harris County, Texas; lead counsel for Petroleum Analyzer Company; successfully defeated $14.5 million claim related to allegations that PAC was violating a 2006 court order enjoining its use of certain excimer technologies to detect and measure trace amounts of sulfur in petroleum products.
- Risse v. Monessen Hearth Systems Co., Civil Action No. 1:08-cv-00937, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia; lead counsel for copyright infringement plaintiff; secured settlement from licensee for exceeding the rights granted under pre-existing copyright license.
- IMX, Inc. v. LendingTree, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 03-cv-01067; United States District Court for the District of Delaware; second chair at jury trial defending LendingTree through verdict; successfully litigated patent marking issue to diminish plaintiff’s jury verdict by over 70%; resulted in the first district court holding (Judge Sue Robinson) that compliance with the constructive notice provision of 35 U.S.C. § 287(a) requires a patentee to mark an Internet website that enables the download of patented software. IMX, Inc. v. LendingTree, LLC, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33179 (D. Del. Dec. 14, 2005); motion for reconsideration denied, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 551 (D. Del. Jan. 10, 2006)
- TradeCard v. S1 Corporation, Bank of America Corp., et al., Civil Action No. 03-cv-1468, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia; won total defense jury verdict in favor of client, S1 Corporation; demonstrated invalidity of asserted patent on the basis of a public use of similar technologies several years before. TradeCard v. S1 Corporation, Bank of America Corp., et al., 509 F.Supp.2d 304 (2007).
- Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. v. Gemstar International Group Limited, et al., Civil Action No. 98-CV-3477, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia; won six separate motions for summary judgments of non-infringement on six of eight patents in suit before securing favorable settlement in 2005 (before the remaining two summary judgment motions could be considered by the court).
- In The Matter Of Certain Products Containing Interactive Program Guide And Parental Controls Technology, Inv. No. 337-TA-747, International Trade Commission; obtained a complete defense verdict for respondent Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (now Cisco Systems), a major manufacturer of cable set-top boxes, in what was then the largest Section 337 proceeding ever tried before the International Trade Commission; proved non-infringement of each of four patents asserted by Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.
Past Events
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November 2011
Event
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February 16, 2011
Seminar
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May 7-8, 2010
Seminar
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January 2010
Seminar
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November 2008
Seminar
- The United States Supreme Court
- The United States Court of Appeals For the Federal Circuit
- Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
- Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia
- Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- State Bar of Georgia
- State Bar of Texas
- Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia (Executive Committee and current Chair)
- American Intellectual Property Law Association
- Atlanta Bar Association
- Houston Intellectual Property Law Association
- Emory Law School Intellectual Property Advisory Board
- Executive Board - North American Intellectual Property Law and Entertainment Law Conference
- Member, Board of Directors of Atlanta Educational Telecommunications Collaborative, Inc., the parent of Atlanta’s public broadcasting stations 90.1 FM (WABE radio) and PBA 30 (television)
- Devote a significant part of practice to pro bono matters including arguing a death penalty appeal before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, defending numerous indigent tenants against wrongful eviction, and assisting state courts in rural counties by representing indigent defendants in preliminary hearings
- Regularly represent Habitat for Humanity in connection with real estate disputes
- Annual Habitat for Humanity home-building volunteer