Darren Matthew Franklin

Practice Details

• Firm Information
  Position

  Partner

  Firm Name

  Sheppard Mullin
• Representative Cases & Transactions
  Cases

  Experience: Representative Matters: Won institution of inter partes review proceedings in the U.S. Patent
  Trademark Office (USPTO) to pursue invalidat ion of a patent asserted against client Frameless Hardware Company, a glass-industry supply company. Frameless Hardware v. C.R. Laurence Co., No. IPR2022-00356 .
  Obtained a favorable patent claim construction in the District of New Jersey in a patent infringement case filed against client Cochlear Ltd., a global leader in implantable hearing devices . Case ended with a favorable settlement. Cochlear Ltd. v. Oticon AB, No. 3:18-cv -06684 (D.N.J.) .
  Argued as lead counsel before the Patent Trial
  Appeal Board at the trial proceeding in an inter partes review of a telecommunications patent asserted against client HTC Corporation, a leading consumer electronics company. HTC Corp. v. INVT SPE LLC, No. IPR2018-01555 (USPTO).
  Represented Diodes, Inc. as lead counsel in a seven-patent case involving semiconductor s in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Case settled favorably after filing of a petition for inter partes review. North Plate Semiconduct or v. Diodes, Inc., No. 4:17-cv-00618 (E.D. Tex.).
  Argued
  won judgment on the pleadings
  the resulting Federal Circuit appeal based upon the patent ineligibility of abstract ideas on behalf of marketing company Clickbooth.com, LLC in a case involving affiliate systems. Essociate, Inc. v. Clickbooth.com, 641 Fed. Appx. 1006 (Fed. Cir. 2016).
  Represented Centrify Corporation, a leading cybersecurity company, in a multi-defendant patent infringement case involving multi-factor authentication in the U.S. District Court f or the District of New Jersey. StrikeForce, Inc. v. Centrify Corp., No. 2:16-cv-03574 (D.N.J.).
  Represented ZTE (USA) Inc., a smartphone manufacturer, in a five-patent, multi-defendant case involving smartphone cameras in the Eastern District of Texas. Case settled after the institution of inter partes review proceedings. Papst Licensing GmbH v. Apple, Inc., No. 6:15-cv-01095 (E.D. Tex.).
  Represented a patent owner against AT&T Mobility at a patent infringement trial involving a patent pertaining to data security for location-based services on smartphones. Enovsys LLC v. AT&T Mobility LLC, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179798 (C.D. Cal. 2015).
  Won summary judgment of patent non-infringement
  the resulting Federal Circuit appeal on behalf of client MasterCard International in a case involving systems for connecting to a computer network. SmartMetric, Inc. v. MasterCard Int'l Inc., 568 Fed. Appx. 897 (Fed. Cir. 2014).
  Represented LendingTree, Inc . at a patent infringement trial involving a patent pertaining to coordinating loans over the Internet . Led bench trial portion pertaining to issues of laches
  equitable estoppel . LendingTree, LLC v. Zillow, Inc., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45450 (W.D.N.C. 2014) .
  Represented Lotes Co., a manufacturer of electronic connectors, in a patent infringement
  breach-of-contract case involving CPU connection sockets in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Cali fornia . Lotes Co. v. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., No. 3:11-cv-01036 (N.D. Cal.).
  Argued
  won summary judgment of patent non-infringement
  the resulting Federal Circuit appeal on behalf of Maury Microwave, Inc. in a case involving microwave tuners for testing electrical components. Maury Microwave, Inc. v. Focus Microwaves, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189290 (C.D. Cal.).
  Obtained a favorable patent claim construction in the Middle District of Florida in a patent case involving spinal facet-joint fusion surgery filed by client minSURG International, Inc., a spinal-fusion device company . minSURG Int'l, Inc. v. Frontier Devices, Inc., 2011 WL 1336395 (M.D. Fla.).