Potter Minton attorneys, Mike Jones and Shaun Hassett, and a team of Gibson Dunn attorneys, led by Brian Rosenthal, have now won two patent trials in a row in Waco, Texas before U.S. District Judge Alan Albright for Cisco Systems, Inc., a longtime client. The Cisco team won by jury verdict in February 2025 wherein the jury found no infringement, that Plaintiff’s patent was invalid, and that the patent could not be asserted against Cisco due to Cisco’s prior commercial use over a year before the patent was filed. It is quite possibly the first ever jury verdict finding wherein a patent could not be asserted under 35 U.S.C. § 273.
Plaintiff WSOU Investments, LLC, a non-practicing entity that does business as Brazos Licensing and Development, originally filed suit against Cisco in 2021 for infringement of five patents, seeking damages of nearly $50 million. The Cisco team’s vigorous defense led to WSOU voluntarily dismissing three of the asserted patents before summary judgment. The Cisco team won summary judgment on the fourth patent, leaving only a single patent and about $19 million in damages for trial. The decisive win means plaintiff will take nothing.
Case: WSOU Investments, LLC d/b/a Brazos Licensing and Development v. Cisco Systems Inc.
Case number: 6:21-cv-00128 [ADA]
Court: The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Additional reporting:
Law360® – Jury Clears Cisco In IP Trial Over Routers, Axes Patent
