Martin J Black

Practice Areas

Martin J. Black leads Dechert’s national IP litigation team. He is an experienced trial lawyer who has tried dozens of cases, winning numerous multi-million dollar awards as a plaintiff and successfully defending his clients in others. As a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, he has been recognized by his peers as one of the preeminent trial lawyers in North America. He is also an experienced appellate advocate. In SCA Hygiene Products v. First Quality Baby Products, he persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-1 decision to overturn 100 years of precedent and bar the defense of laches to claims for patent damages.

Mr. Black has handled a wide range of litigation and strategic patent matters for a diverse array of companies, including Microsoft Corporation, Samsung Electronics, Hitachi, Endo Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Baxter Healthcare, PepsiCo, Citigroup, Monster.com and others. He regularly tries cases all over the country and has obtained numerous multimillion-dollar awards. He has had significant success for branded pharmaceutical companies and tech companies in protecting their patent rights at trial. He prevailed in a five-week trial for Endo Pharmaceuticals against seven generic companies, winning injunctions against all seven companies and protecting over US$2 billion in sales. He has won nine multi-million dollar awards in technology cases, including back-to-back jury verdicts three months apart in 2019 of US$43 million (Intellectual Ventures v. Ericsson and T-Mobile) and US$45 million (Hitachi and Mondis v. LG). He also has special expertise in computer-related litigation. In one matter relating to computer monitor technology, he led an international team that generated US$125 million in revenue, culminating in a trial in the District of Delaware, at which he won a US$9 million award, including willfulness damages. In the Eastern District of Texas, he prevailed in a case relating to display patents invented by Hitachi, resulting in an award worth more than US$30 million. In a trade secret and patent case relating to computer avionics, he tried a four-week trial to a jury in the Western District of Tennessee, resulting in a US$23 million award, including willfulness damages and attorneys' fees. Notably, Mr. Black successfully represented Microsoft against Hon Hai Precision a/k/a FoxConn, one of the largest companies in the world, in an extremely financially significant claim in unpaid royalties under Foxconn’s Android operating system patent license.

In addition to his extensive patent litigation experience, Mr. Black has served as lead trial counsel in numerous trademark, copyright, software and trade secret disputes. These include Richards v. CNN International, (E.D. Pa.), which he tried for CNN International in relation to its World Beat music news show, and QVC v. Home Shopping Network, (TTAB), relating to the rights in the phrase "home shopping." He prevailed in the Third Circuit in Scharle v. NASCAR and The Franklin Mint, obtaining the dismissal of a copyright claim brought in relation to the creation of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Trophy. He has also tried trade secret cases relating to packaging machinery, satellite antennae, and advertising materials.