Nicholas Clifford

Practice Areas

• Intellectual Property Litigation, including patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement, and trademark infringement

• Business Litigation

• Mass Tort & Product Liability

• Health & Life Sciences

Career

Nicholas Clifford handles intellectual property, commercial, and product liability litigation in state, federal, and appellate courts throughout the United States.

An accomplished trial lawyer, Nick has first-chair experience in numerous jury and bench trials and other proceedings. He prosecutes and defends litigation and counsels clients in patent, copyright, and trademark infringement matters, as well as trade secret misappropriation, along with advising clients on non-infringement and invalidity opinions, patentability, licensing, registration, and other due-diligence issues. Nick also regularly handles complex commercial litigation matters involving contract and business tort claims and defends manufacturers in product liability claims.

Nick’s strategic, value-driven counsel has benefited clients in many different industries, involving dozens of types of technologies, such as mechanical devices used in automotive aftermarket service products, chemical engineering for biomass treatment, electrical signaling for LED signal lights, and computer databases and telecommunication systems.

Work Highlights

• Won an appeal in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming the Western District of Missouri’s grant of summary judgment and award of attorney’s fees to the defendant in a copyright infringement lawsuit involving architectural plans

• Obtained a complete defense verdict in a two-week jury trial as lead trial counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in a case before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri involving claims of copyright infringement, breach of contract, the Missouri Computer Tampering Act, and civil conspiracy

• Obtained summary judgment in the Western District of Missouri in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by a client’s former vendor alleging that an online system developed by one of the client’s vendors infringed its copyrights and seeking damages potentially in the hundreds of millions of dollars from the client and other users of the platform

• Won a preliminary injunction against defendants for violating the terms of a settlement agreement in a breach of contract case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

• Obtained summary judgment of invalidity of all means-plus function claims for a payment provider in a patent infringement case involving telecommunications patents before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

• Won dismissal of complaint, leading to a favorable settlement in a patent infringement action involving a business method patent in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

• Obtained a denial of a preliminary injunction following a bench trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in a patent infringement litigation action involving concrete flooring technology

• As lead trial counsel for a major tobacco company, prevailed in a jury trial in a commercial negligence action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, resulting in an award of 97.5 percent of the damages sought plus interest

• Obtained reversal of a preliminary injunction for an IT maintenance provider in a bet-the-company case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in the client’s favor on copyright, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and trade secret claims, approving the client’s use of diagnostic software for computer maintenance

• Prevailed in a four-day bench trial for a freight-hauling railroad in a lease dispute in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, resulting in the client’s control of the property

Professional Memberships

• The Missouri Bar

• Illinois State Bar Association

• Defense Research Institute, Intellectual Property Litigation, Steering Committee

• Intellectual Property Owners Association, Trade Secrets Committee

• Mentor St. Louis, Board of Directors

Education