In joining Saul Ewing’s Minneapolis office, Courtland Merrill draws on 20 years of experience as a trial lawyer to help clients with claims involving patent enforcement and intellectual property rights. He joins the firm as a partner in the Intellectual Property and IP Litigation practices.
Mr. Merrill represents businesses across the country in intellectual property disputes, including claims of willful patent infringement under the doctrine of equivalents and defense of patents challenged in the inter partes review process before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He also handles allegations of theft of trade secrets and enforcement of non-compete agreements and contracts. Medical device manufacturers, makers of consumer products and technology manufacturers are among the many types of clients he represents.
Mr. Merrill also has extensive experience handling business and contract disputes concerning real estate and construction projects as well as banking and lender liability issues.
“We are thrilled to welcome Courtland to Saul Ewing,” said Al Coleman, managing partner of the Minneapolis office and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. “The industry-leading companies headquartered in the Twin Cities understand that protecting their patents and trade secrets, along with enforcing non-compete agreements and other contracts, are key to their competitiveness. Courtland has two decades of experience handling these types of matters, which represents a significant enhancement to our already strong intellectual property and related litigation practices.”
Some of the notable deals that Mr. Merrill handled prior to his move to the firm include:
- Winning a $1.5 million jury verdict and permanent injunction for Johnstech International Corp. in a claim against a Malaysian competitor for willful patent infringement under the doctrine of equivalents, including an award of enhanced damages.
- Winning a $1.85 million jury verdict for Circuit Check, Inc. in a claim against a competitor for willful patent infringement. In the appeal before the Federal Circuit, he also secured a reversal of the trial judge’s decision setting aside the jury verdict for obviousness.
Mr. Merrill earned his J.D. from the University of North Dakota School of Law and his B.S. from Arizona State University.