Clayton is “technically excellent and able to dig in and get all the relevant details from witnesses.”
IAM Patent 1000 (2018)

Overview

B. Clayton McCraw is a partner in Mayer Brown's New York office and is a member of the Intellectual Property practice.  He is a registered patent attorney who focuses primarily on district court patent litigation, Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings, and International Trade Commission proceedings.  Clayton represents clients in all phases of patent litigation from pre-filing investigations through trial, including jury trials, bench trials, and PTAB oral hearings.  

Clayton's practice also includes patent prosecution, licensing, due diligence, and strategic patent portfolio assessment.  He has worked with numerous U.S. and international companies to pursue important patent applications ranging from mobile device applications, medical implants, and automated manufacturing technologies.  Clayton also has extensive experience providing clients with intellectual property opinions, including freedom-to-operate, infringement, and invalidity opinions.  Clayton serves as IP deal counsel in corporate transactions. 

Clayton's experience spans a wide array of technologies including electrical and computer arts such as RFID and contactless communication technologies, semiconductors, database management systems, SIM cards, wireless electric meters, and business method patents.  Clayton also has experience with medical devices such as medical linear accelerators, intervertebral implants, and dermal injections, consumer products such as single-serve coffee and espresso machines, as well as automotive components and design patents. 

Clayton also uses his technical background to litigate antitrust matters, including monopolization, attempted monopolization, and unfair competition claims that center around technology and product design.  He has successfully defended allegations of anticompetitive technical design in consumer products.

Prior to his career as an attorney, Clayton was a Patent Examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office.  He examined domestic and international patent applications in technologies such as semiconductor manufacturing, refrigeration and heat exchange systems. 

Clayton has been repeatedly selected as a New York “Rising Star” in Intellectual Property by Super Lawyers.

Areas of Focus

Practices
Industries

Experience

  • Galderma Laboratories LP v. Medinter US LLC, et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-01892-CFC (J. Connolly). Representing Galderma in patent infringement litigation enforcing two patents directed to dermal implant medical devices.
  • Giesecke + Devrient v. United States, Case No. (COFC) (J. Williams). Representing Third-Party Defendant Gemalto, Inc. against allegations of patent infringement related to contactless communication and reader technologies for electronic passports (ePassports).
  • Nespresso USA, Inc. v. Ethical Coffee Company SA, Case No. 1:16-cv-00194-GMS (D. Del.) (J. Connolly). Represented Nespresso USA and Nestlé Nespresso SA in a declaratory judgment action against competitor’s patent infringement and antitrust counterclaims accusing the design of Nespresso’s single-serve coffee and espresso brewing devices.  Obtained dismissal with prejudice on all counterclaims, with Nespresso deemed the prevailing party.
  • Sharpe Innovations, Inc. v. TracFone Wireless, Inc. et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-05462 (N.D. Ill.) (J. Kendall). Represented TracFone Wireless, Inc. in action alleging infringement of two patents directed to SIM card adaptor technology. Obtained stay of case pending IPR, which led to favorable settlement.
  • Sharpe Innovations, Inc. v. Cricket Wireless LLC, Case No. 2:17-cv-00412-RGD (E.D. Va.) (J. Doumar). Represented Cricket Wireless LLC in action alleging infringement of two patents directed to SIM card adaptor technology. Obtained stay of case pending IPR, which led to favorable settlement
  • Elekta Ltd. et al. v. Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Case No. 2:15-cv-12169-AC (E.D. Mich.) (J. Cohn). Represented Elekta in patent litigation involving medical linear accelerator and flat-panel imaging technologies against competitor. 
  • Petitions for Inter Partes Review by Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Proceeding Nos. IPR2016-00160, IPR2016-00162, IPR2016-00163, IPR2016-00166, IPR2016-00169, IPR2016-00170, IPR2016-00171, IPR2016-00187.  Represented Elekta Ltd. against IPR challenges brought by competitor against patents directed to medical linear accelerator and flat-panel imaging technologies. Obtained Final Written Decision upholding the validity of 85 out of 98 total challenged claims, including a finding that secondary considerations overcame Petitioner’s obviousness challenges.
  • Petitions for Inter Partes Review by Elekta Ltd., Proceeding Nos. IPR2015-01401, IPR2016-00315, IPR2016-00317, IPR2016-00341, IPR2016-00380, IPR2016-00476, IPR2016-00551, and IPR2016-00547. Represented Elekta Ltd. in IPR challenges to competitor patents involving medical linear accelerator and flat-panel imaging technologies.  Obtained Final Written Decisions canceling the majority of challenged claims.
  • May Patents v. Mattel, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-00354 (D. Del.) (J. Burke). Represented Mattel, Inc. and Fisher-Price, Inc. in infringement action alleging infringement of six patents directed to signal processing in modular toys.
  • Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. v. Curtis International Ltd., Case No. 2:14-cv-09466-ODW (C.D. Cal.) (J. Wright). Represented Curtis International in action alleging infringement of seven LED semiconductor patents related to television displays.
  • In re Certain Toy Figurines and Toy Sets Containing Same, Investigation No. 337-TA-948 (ITC). Represented Mattel subsidiary MEGA Brands, Inc. against design patent litigation brought by competitor LEGO A/S and LEGO Systems. 
  • Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. v. Airbus Helicopters, Case No. 1:10-cv-789-RLW (D.D.C.) (J. Wilkins). Represented Airbus Helicopters in assertion of its patent on landing gear technology against competitor Bell Helicopter, including a one week bench trial resulting in a finding of infringement and injunction against Bell Helicopter.
  • DATATRAK Int'l, Inc. v. Medidata Solutions, Inc., Case No. 1:11-cv-00458 (N.D. Ohio) (J. Gaughan).  Represented Medidata in a patent litigation alleging infringement of a database system for managing clinical trials. Obtained Rule 12 dismissal of asserted patent based on invalidity pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 101.
  • Segin Sys. Inc. et al. v. Stewart Title Guaranty Co. et al., Case No. 2:13-cv-00190 (E.D.Va.) (J. Jackson). Represented patent owner Segin in patent infringement and breach of contract action involving real estate settlement software.
  • Nxegen LLC et al. v. Sensus USA, Inc., Case No. 3:11-cv-01197-SRU (D. Conn.) (J. Underhill). Represented Sensus in patent litigation alleging infringement of two patents relating to systems and methods for monitoring and controlling energy usage.
  • TransData, Inc. Smart Meter Patent Litigation, MDL Case No. 2309. Represented utilities Alabama Power Co., Georgia Power Co., and Mississippi Power Co. in multidistrict proceeding alleging infringement of three patents relating to wireless electric meter technology.
  • XpertUniverse, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., Case No. 1:09-cv-00157 (D. Del.) (J. Andrews). Represented XpertUniverse in a patent infringement and fraud case, including two week jury trial resulting in a jury verdict of over $70 million, finding XpertUniverse's patents valid and infringed.  The National Law Journal ranked the verdict in the top 5 IP verdicts in 2013.

News

Education

University of Virginia School of Law, JD
Executive Editor, Virginia Journal of Law & Technology

University of Virginia, BSME
Pi Tau Sigma, National Mechanical Engineering Honor Society

Admissions

  • New York

Court

  • US Court of Federal Claims
  • US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
  • US District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • US District Court for the Eastern District of New York
  • US Patent and Trademark Office