Thomas W.Ritchie (Tom)

Partner

Chicago + 1.312.269.4003

Tom Ritchie represents technology companies in intellectual property matters, with a particular emphasis on high-stakes patent litigation. Tom litigates in courts across the country (including the District of Delaware, Western District of Texas, Northern District of California, and Northern District of Illinois) and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Tom handles cases spanning a broad range of technologies, including semiconductors such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) and radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuits, wireless communication systems, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as natural language processing (NLP) systems.

Tom is also experienced in matters relating to standard-essential patents (SEP) that must be licensed on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND), including patents related to the Third Generation Partnership Project/European Telecommunications Standards Institute (3GPP/ETSI) for 4G and 5G wireless communication systems.

During his engineering career prior to joining Jones Day, Tom held leadership and technical positions at Motorola, WMS Gaming, and Novarra. His engineering background includes experience in the areas of cellular radio systems, digital communications, real-time embedded systems, software development, and internet-related technologies. Tom is a co-inventor on three issued patents relating to his Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular systems product development work at Motorola.

Tom is a member of the Richard Linn American Inn of Court and the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago. He also maintains an active pro bono practice representing clients in immigration court in conjunction with Jones Day's Border Project, which serves migrant children, women, and families fleeing life-threatening violence in their home countries.

Experience

  • Xilinx defeats all infringement claims brought by WSOU Investments asserting Alcatel-Lucent patent portfolioJones Day successfully defended Xilinx, Inc. against five patent infringement cases filed by plaintiff WSOU d/b/a Brazos asserting Alcatel-Lucent patents related to optical networks, power management, and clock generation.
  • McDonald's obtains dismissal after moving for summary judgment on BIPA claimsJones Day defended McDonald's Corporation against allegations that an artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) system for automating orders at a restaurant drive-thru violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by capturing Plaintiff's biometric information when he placed his restaurant order.
  • NXP litigates against competitor in 18-patent suit directed to RFID technologyJones Day represented NXP USA Inc. and NXP Semiconductors Netherlands B.V. in a patent infringement lawsuit against its competitor Impinj, Inc. in the Western District of Texas.
  • Qualcomm successfully defends patentability challenges in five IPR casesJones Day successfully defended challenges to Qualcomm Incorporated's U.S. Pat. No. 9,154,356 ("Low noise amplifiers for carrier aggregation") in five inter partes review ("IPR") proceedings filed by Intel Corporation.
  • NXP whittles down competitor's infringement suit involving RFID technology from 26 to four patentsJones Day defended NXP USA, Inc. in a lawsuit brought by its competitor Impinj, Inc. alleging infringement of 26 patents relating to different aspects of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
  • NXP challenges competitor's 14 RFID patents at PTABJones Day represented petitioner NXP USA, Inc. in several inter partes review (IPR) and post grant review (PGR) proceedings at the United States Patent Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
  • NXP sues Impinj for infringing patents relating to RFID technologyJones Day represented NXP USA, Inc. and NXP B.V. in their enforcement of six radio frequency identification (RFID) and wafer-layout patents against Impinj, Inc.
  • Qualcomm sues Apple for patent infringement on inventions for power saving techniques for mobile devicesJones Day represented Qualcomm Incorporated against Apple Inc. in a patent infringement lawsuit relating to power saving techniques for mobile devices.
  • Qualcomm defends Apple's patent infringement claims relating to processor power saving techniquesJones Day defended Qualcomm Incorporated against Apple, Inc.'s allegations that Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors – CPU/GPU/Baseband Modem System on Chip – infringe a number of Apple's patents directed to power saving techniques for use in processors.
  • Kyocera dismisses patent infringement claims relating to LTE telecommunications technologyJones Day obtained dismissal of two patent infringement cases brought against Kyocera Corporation and Kyocera International, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas.
  • SAS Institute win in Supreme Court is a game-changer for PTAB casesJones Day represented SAS Institute Inc. in its recent 5-4 win before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will fundamentally transform the way that patents are litigated before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent Office.
  • Kyocera obtains judgment of invalidity against patent asserted by Dutch telecommunications company Koninklijke KPN N.V.Jones Day successfully defended Kyocera Corporation and Kyocera International, Inc. against allegations that their mobile phones infringed a patent relating to error-checking telecommunications technology.
  • IBM successfully resolves copyright infringement and software licensing disputeJones Day successfully represented International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in a copyright infringement and software breach of license case involving IBM’s Informix software.
  • Synopsys reaches agreement with Mentor Graphics in competitor patent caseJones Day served as lead trial counsel for Synopsys Inc. in competitor patent litigation against Mentor Graphics Corporation following the Federal Circuit’s remand of the case to the district court.
  • Kyocera defends against patent infringement claims relating to instant messagingJones Day is defending Kyocera International, Inc. in a patent infringement action brought by Uniloc in the Eastern District of Texas.
  • Kyocera obtains stay of EDTX lawsuit accusing its camera phones of patent infringementAfter obtaining a stay of a patent infringement lawsuit against Kyocera Communications, Inc. based upon pending inter partes reviews of the two asserted patents, Jones Day subsequently secured a dismissal of the lawsuit.
  • Kyocera obtains dismissal of patent infringement claims related to thumbnail image technologyJones Day obtained dismissal of a patent infringement case brought against Kyocera Communications, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas.
  • Freescale defends against patent infringement action related to methods of wireless data transmissionJones Day defended Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. in a patent suit alleging infringement of five patents relating to interfaces for serially transmitting or receiving data, acquiring a GPS signal using data bit information, detecting jamming signals in wireless communication devices, and testing responses of radio transceivers.
  • Freescale defeats patent infringement lawsuit relating to semiconductor technologyJones Day successfully defended Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. against allegations that its semiconductors use clock source signal circuitry that infringe two patents.
  • Texas Instruments defends against claims of standard essential patent infringement involving Wi-Fi chipsJones Day represents Texas Instruments Incorporated in litigation brought by non-practicing entity, Innovatio IP Ventures, alleging infringement of 13 patents relating to IEEE 802.11 standards for Wi-Fi technologies.
  • PCMS successfully resolves software trade secret and breach of contract disputeJones Day successfully represented software companies PCMS International, Inc. and PCMS Datafit, Inc. (collectively, PCMS) in a trade secret and breach of contract case involving PCMS' BeanStore software. BeanStore is PCMS' flagship point-of-sale software.
  • Amsted protects its train axle bearings and assemblies against accusations of patent infringementJones Day defended Amsted Industries, Inc. against patent infringement allegations over its train axle bearings and assemblies.
  • Kyocera protects its cell phones against patent infringement allegationsJones Day defended Kyocera against allegations that its cell phones infringe patented CDMA technology.
  • Board of Trustees of Univ. of Illinois settles patent infringement dispute involving generic version of Prezista®Jones Day represented the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois in consolidated patent infringement actions against Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lupin Ltd., Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., relating to the defendants' submission of Abbreviated New Drug Applications to the FDA seeking approval of generic versions of Prezista® (darunavir), a market-leading protease inhibitor.
  • Heatcraft secures settlement in patent infringement action related to refrigerated display merchandisersJones Day represented Heatcraft Refrigeration Products, LLC and Heatcraft, Inc. in a patent infringement dispute with Hussmann Corporation.
  • Videx responds to patent infringement allegations related to electronic lock system technologyJones Day defended Videx, Inc. in a patent infringement suit involving nine patents relating to electronic lock and electronic key access control system technology.
  • Jones Day prevails before United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Prisoners’ Establishment Clause Claim allowed to proceedA Jones Day team of lawyers, led by David Kiernan and Thomas Ritchie, along with co-counsel Barbara McGraw, prevailed before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 
  • Major university conducts investigation into statistical data disseminated by law schoolOn behalf of a large public university, Jones Day conducted an investigation into the accuracy of grade point averages, LSAT scores, acceptance rates, career placement data, and other information that the university's law school had reported to the American Bar Association, U.S. News & World Report, and other third parties.
  • Additional Speaking Engagements

    • June 6, 2019
      Using and Protecting Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data (Jones Day University)