On May 15, 2019, Jackson Walker successfully concluded an appeal before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of Packers Plus Energy Services Inc., a worldwide technology solutions company in the energy industry. The appeal was handled by Jackson Walker partners Wasif Qureshi, who argued the appeal, and Chris Cravey.

At issue was U.S. Patent No. 6,848,505, assigned to Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations. Prior to the appeal, Baker Hughes sued Packers Plus in the Southern District of Texas for alleged patent infringement of the ’505 Patent, and Packers Plus in response initiated a challenge to the validity of the ’505 Patent through an inter partes review proceeding before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The PTAB found all claims of the ’505 Patent unpatentable in view of certain prior art. Baker Hughes appealed the PTAB’s decision to the Federal Circuit, arguing that the PTAB erred in construing the claims of the ’505 Patent and that the ’505 Patent was valid under the claim constructions Baker Hughes argued should have been adopted by the PTAB. After appellate briefing and oral argument, the Federal Circuit agreed with Packers Plus and affirmed the PTAB’s decision, thereby confirming the invalidity of all claims of the ’505 Patent.

Meet Our Team

Wasif Qureshi has over 15 years of experience representing and counseling businesses from start-ups to Fortune 100 and other worldwide companies in various types of IP legal matters, including in over 200 patent litigation matters. His work has been nationally recognized. For example, Managing Intellectual Property describes Wasif as a “[skilled] patent litigator” and selected him to be on its “Outstanding IP Litigator” Shortlist, a recognition received by less than 100 of the top IP litigators in the country and less than 10 in Texas.

Chris Cravey has extensive experience representing clients in patent disputes related to highly technical and complex technology. Chris has served as trial counsel in numerous patent infringement lawsuits in various jurisdictions, including the Eastern District of Texas, the Southern District of Texas, the Northern District of California, the United States International Trade Commission, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.