Our first runners-up this week are Tom Melsheimer and his team at Winston & Strawn who brought home a defense verdict last week for U.S. Well Services LLC in a patent showdown with electric fracking rival Halliburton Energy Services Inc. Not only did jurors in Waco, Texas, find that U.S. Well Services did not infringe any of the three patents Halliburton asserted at trial, but also they found two of those patents invalid due to obviousness, putting a serious hamper on what Halliburton can seek in two future trials currently scheduled for next June. The Winston team also included partners Danielle Williams, Rex Mann, Rich McCarty, Jervonne Newsome, Brian Nisbet, and associates Tyler Boyce, Patrick Clark, Devin Garrity, Steven Laxton, Rick Quarles, Tracea Rice, Austin Saathoff, Jackson Smith, Brooke Wilson and Alex Wolens.
Runners-up honors also go to Melissa Reinckens and her team at DLA Piper. After a four-day trial in Delaware federal court, jurors took just one hour last week to side with their client Goli Nutrition, finding that the gummy vitamin company didn’t use its “Goli” name to create confusion with the trademarked GOLO For Life diet plan. The DLA team representing Goli also included Tamar Duvdevani, Safraz Ishmael, of counsel Susan Acquista, associates Colin Steele, Josh Schwartzman, Oscar Orozco-Botello, Maegan Stanley and Perry Wu with local support from Delaware-based partner Brian Biggs, of counsel Stephanie O’Byrne, and associate Matt Middleton.
