Don Geiger

Don Geiger is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's San Diego (Del Mar) office. 

Areas of Practice

Don practices primarily in patent litigation, with additional experience in patent prosecution, trademark litigation, trademark prosecution, and corporate transactional work. He defends clients in the software, electronics, and entertainment spaces from all kinds of patent infringement claims, including those raised by non-practicing entities. Don has current, in-depth experience in standard essential patent (SEP) litigation and in analyzing the legal issues underlying standardization processes and fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing.

With a technical background in electrical engineering and computer science, Don has litigated, drafted, and prosecuted patents across a range of technologies: from automotive software, to telecommunications hardware, to AI and machine learning algorithms. In addition, Don’s legal education emphasized patent and trademark law, IP transactions, corporate law, and corporate transactions, which he draws from to analyze licensing agreements and overall IP portfolio strategies.

Don earned both his JD and his LLM degree in Law and Entrepreneurship from Duke University. In addition to being admitted to the State Bar of California (#347233), Don is a USPTO registered patent attorney (#81406).

Prior to his legal career, Don earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho and worked in a diversified mix of engineering roles, including designing avionics modifications for commercial aircraft, prototyping wearable electronics, and directing a team of software developers.

Articles

Intellectual Property Law Blog Posts

• "Federal Circuit Clarifies Test for Exception to Increasingly Rare Interference Proceedings," September 16, 2024
• "Federal Circuit Clarifies Requisite Analysis for Unclean Hands, Inequitable Conduct, Summary Judgement Determinations of Obviousness, and Awards of Fees and Costs," August 14, 2024
• "Federal Circuit Weighs in on Temporal Rigidity of the Bayh-Dole Act’s Licensing Provisions," February 28, 2024

• "Federal Circuit Rules on Inventor-as-Lexicographer Definitions and the Proper Scope of Reply and Sur-Reply Briefing Following Patent Owner Responses to IPR Institution Decisions," February 14, 2024
• "Federal Circuit Rules on Written Description Requirement and Prior Art Statements Supporting a Motivation to Combine," February 13, 2024
• "Federal Circuit Weighs in on Relevance of Primary Reference’s Intended Purpose to a POSITA’s Motivation to Combine," December 14, 2023
• "Cyntec Company, Ltd. v. Chilisin Electronics Corp., Chilisin America Ltd. Nos. 2022-1873, (Fed. Cir. October 16, 2023)," November 7, 2023
• "Axonics, Inc. v. Medtronic, Inc. Nos. 2022-1532, 2022-1533, (Fed. Cir. August 7, 2023)," November 7, 2023
• "UCB, Inc. v. Actavis Laboratories UT, Inc. No. 2021-1924, (Fed. Cir. Apr. 12, 2023)," July 31, 2023
• "2023 Federal Circuit Case Summaries," April 24, 2023