Tony Downs is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department and chair of the Patent Litigation Practice. He joined Goodwin Procter in 1988 after clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Downs was elected a partner of the firm in 1994. Since 2000, his practice has focused on intellectual property litigation, with specialization in patent matters. He also has experience in antitrust and competition law, securities and other complex commercial litigation. Mr. Downs has represented individuals and entities in a wide variety of commercial disputes and business litigation. In addition, he has extensive trial experience and also regularly uses arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution procedures.
WORK FOR CLIENTS
In the area of patent and other intellectual property litigation, Mr. Downs has represented clients as lead counsel in a wide range of patent disputes involving many different technologies. He has represented both patent owners and patent defendants in federal courts throughout the country, including in the Eastern District of Texas, the Eastern District of Virginia, the District of New Jersey, the District of Massachusetts, the various districts in California, the Northern District of Illinois and the District of Columbia. He has also appeared as lead counsel in the International Trade Commission, and has supervised proceedings in multiple overseas venues in conjunction with local counsel. In addition, Mr. Downs has participated in multiple reexamination proceedings, both ex parte and inter partes, in the U.S. Patent Office.
Representative clients for which he has acted as lead counsel include: Hewlett-Packard Company, Cisco Systems, Inc., Applied Materials, General Electric, Inverness Medical Innovations, Boston Scientific Corporation, New Balance, Freedom Wireless and Teva Pharmaceuticals.
The technologies at issue in the intellectual property litigation matters handled by Mr. Downs include remotely operated security systems, optical systems for evaluation of burner flames, explosives detection equipment for airport security systems, internet telephony routing equipment and methods, ATM switching devices, wireless routing systems, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and methods, flat panel display technology, occlusive coil implants for treating brain aneurysms, pharmaceuticals, immunoassay test devices, prepaid telephone systems, electric power converters, micro-optical computer devices, imaging software, athletic shoes and computer systems for various different industries.
Mr. Downs has also represented a number of companies in patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret disputes, including trans-border disputes involving litigation in the UK, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Netherlands.
In addition to his trial experience, Mr. Downs has considerable appellate experience. He has briefed or argued cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit, the First, Second and Ninth Circuits and in various state appellate courts.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Downs served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist at the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1987-1988 term. Prior to his clerkship at the Supreme Court, Mr. Downs served as a law clerk to Judge James L. Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1986-1987.
BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS
Mr. Downs is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, and is a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the First and Second Circuits, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the Eastern District of Texas, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has also been admitted pro hac vice at various locations around the country. Mr. Downs has appeared in civil and criminal trial matters and pre-trial proceedings in Massachusetts, Texas, California, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Virginia, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Illinois, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Florida and elsewhere.
RECOGNITION
Mr. Downs is a member of the American, Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations. He has been listed for several years in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and The Best Lawyers in America.
While attending law school, Mr. Downs served as Executive Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review.