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Bill Hector

Partner

Venable LLP

Bill Hector is a Partner with Venable‘s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group, where his practice focuses on complex patent litigation, patent prosecution, intellectual property licensing, and trademark prosecution. Bill’s patent litigation experience includes pre-trial diligence, motion practice, discovery, claim construction, and trial. He has litigated patents related to a diverse set of technologies, including telecommunications, networking hardware, business methods, and internet advertising. Bill has substantial experience preparing and prosecuting patent applications in the software, electrical, and mechanical arts. He has prepared and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and various foreign patent offices.

Prior to his legal career, Bill worked as an aircraft engineer, designing small carbon composite propellers and jet aircraft.

Recent Articles by Bill Hector

Northern District of California revises local patent rules, requires damages disclosures early and often

Damages discovery in patent cases is usually contentious, expensive, and non-uniform in application by the courts. The patent owner, on one hand, wants to discover all possible revenue streams for settlement and resource allocation. The accused infringer, on the other hand, wants to minimize disclosure, because of the sensitivity of financial information and the belief that the suit is meritless. And the courts are caught in the middle. Compounding these issues, fulsome damages contentions typically are not defined until expert reports are presented, meaning the parties (and the court through a Daubert motion) will not know whether there is sufficient basis for the damages sought until late in a case.