Leonard E. Davis (born 1948) is an American lawyer and former judge. He served as Chief Justice of the

Twelfth Court of Appeals of Texas The Texas Courts of Appeals are part of the Texas judicial system. In Texas, all cases appealed from district and county courts, criminal and civil, go to one of the fourteen intermediate courts of appeals, with one exception: death penalty cases. ...

, from 2000-2002, and was nominated by George W. Bush on January 23, 2002 to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas until his retirement May 15th, 2015.

Background

Born in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, Texas, Davis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1970, and his Master of Arts degree from Texas Christian University in 1974. Davis was also in the

Texas Army National Guard The Texas Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army, the United States National Guard and the Texas Military Forces (along with the Texas Air National Guard and the Texas State Guard). Texas Army National Guard units are train ...

from 1970 to 1973, and worked as a

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

and

systems analyst A systems analyst, also known as business technology analyst, is an information technology (IT) professional who specializes in analyzing, designing and implementing information systems. Systems analysts assess the suitability of information syst ...

for the Texas Electric Service Company prior to entering law school in 1974.Gavin Broady, Law360, https://www.law360.com/articles/588528/captain-of-the-patent-rocket-docket-judge-leonard-davis, https://www.law360.com/articles/588528/captain-of-the-patent-rocket-docket-judge-leonard-davis He graduated ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' and first in his class from Baylor Law School with a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1976, where he was editor-in-chief of the ''Baylor Law Review'' and a member of Baylor's interscholastic moot court and mock trial teams.Baylor University, 2012 Baylor Lawyer of the Year: Judge Leonard E. Davis, http://www.baylor.edu/law/news.php?action=story&story=124736 At Baylor Law, he also received American Jurisprudence Awards for Excellence in Contracts and Federal Courts. Davis was in private practice as a civil trial

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

in Tyler, Texas, for 23 years, from 1977 to 2000, and was Chief Justice of the Twelfth Court of Appeals of the State of Texas from 2000 to 2002.Jess Krochtengel, Law360, Departing Eastern District Judge Joins Fish & Richardson, https://www.law360.com/articles/636983/departing-eastern-district-judge-joins-fish-richardson

Judicial service

On January 23, 2002, Davis was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated by Paul N. Brown. Davis was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 9, 2002, and received his commission on May 10, 2002. He was sworn in on May 15, 2002. He served as Chief Judge from 2012 to 2015. He retired from active service on May 15, 2015. He was primarily assigned patent lawsuits in the U.S. district court. Davis has served on the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council and the Federal Circuit Advisory Committee on Case Management. He was also Co-Chair of the Federal Judges Committee of the

Federal Circuit Bar Association Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Federal Circuit Bar Association (FCBA) is an organization for the bar of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. ...

. In August 2015, Davis was appointed by Chief Judge Sharon Prost of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to serve a three-year term on the Federal Circuit’s Advisory Council. Davis received the

New York Intellectual Property Law Association The New York Intellectual Property Law Association, also known as NYIPLA, is a professional association composed primarily of experienced lawyers interested in intellectual property law. NYIPLA has a membership base of more than 1,500 intellectual ...

’s "Outstanding Public Service Award" in 2016 for his contributions to intellectual property law

Patent law

During his tenure on the federal bench, Davis presided over 1,700 patent casesJoe Mullin, Ars Technica, East Texas judge who oversaw 1,700 patent cases joins biggest IP law firm, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/east-texas-judge-who-oversaw-1700-patent-cases-joins-biggest-ip-law-firm/ and more than 250 Markman hearings (or claim construction hearings).Leonard Davis, Fish & Richardson, Bio, http://www.fr.com/judge-leonard-davis/ Among the significant patent decisions Davis ruled on during his tenure on the bench included the case of ''i4i v. Microsoft''

I4i i4i (Infrastructures for Information) is an independent software company specializing in the delivery of XML / SGML document processing software in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, founded by Michel Vulpe in 1993. Patent dispute In 1994, Michel V ...

, which resulted in a $290 million willful infringement jury verdict against Microsoft, and which was further upheld on appeal by both the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.Ballotpedia, Judge Leonard Davis, https://ballotpedia.org/Leonard_Davis In the case of ''VirnetX v. Apple'', the jury rendered a $368 million verdict which was later overturned on appeal to the Federal Circuit. In the ''Eolas v. Adobe Systems, et al'' case, a patentee seeking a royalty on the entire "interactive web" was defeated in a trial in which Web inventor

Tim Berners-Lee Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profess ...

testified for the defense.Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet, Judge hands Web patent troll Eolas a shovel, orders it to dig own grave, http://www.zdnet.com/article/judge-hands-web-patent-troll-eolas-a-shovel-orders-it-to-dig-own-grave/ From 2015 and on, Davis serves as of counsel at the law firm

Fish & Richardson Fish & Richardson P.C. is a global patent, intellectual property litigation, and commercial litigation law firm with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists across the U.S. and Europe. Fish is one of the most sought-after firms for both ...

.Judge Leonard Davis Joins Fish & Richardson, http://www.fr.com/news/federal-judge-davis-joins-fish/

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Leonard E. Living people 1948 births Lawyers from Fort Worth, Texas People from Marshall, Texas Baylor University alumni University of Texas at Arlington alumni Texas Christian University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush 21st-century American judges