A partner in the Litigation Department, Steve Baughman focuses on intellectual property matters. For more than 23 years, Steve has worked with leading international companies to resolve their IP and technology-focused disputes in a broad array of litigation, licensing and counseling settings. These include patent and trade secret disputes as well as trademark, copyright and other complex commercial matters. He has appeared before trial and appellate courts, the International Trade Commission, domestic and international arbitration tribunals, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Steve’s patent litigation matters have involved both utility and design patents.
Steve is the leading practitioner nationally handling post-grant matters before the PTAB, created in 2011 as part of the America Invents Act. Since filing multiple proceedings in the first minutes of the PTAB's operation, he has been counsel of record in more than 150 covered business method (CBM), inter partes review (IPR), and Post-Grant Review (PGR) proceedings, including more than 50 proceedings argued through a final hearing, leading IAM Patent 1000 to dub him a "post-grant guru," and an "ace up [the] sleeve." Over the first 4 ½ years of PTAB trials, Steve amassed a 47-0 record in final written decisions on behalf of challengers, invalidating every claim ruled on by the Board. He has also obtained notable victories on behalf of patent owners, including in decisions rejecting institution or confirming the validity of key litigated claims and patents. Steve also conducts strategic ex parte patent reexaminations in connection with patent disputes.
Steve was counsel on 15 of the PTAB’s first 25 CBMs, and to date has been counsel on more CBMs than any other attorney, including the first post-grant trial to reach final decision—recognized by Managing IP as "Milestone Case of the Year." Steve was named Law360's first "IP MVP" for post-grant contributions in 2013 and was short-listed for Managing IP North America Award's "Outstanding IP Litigator (PTAB)" in 2016. His work has also been recognized by The Legal 500 and LMG Life Sciences Stars.
Prior to joining Paul, Weiss, Steve chaired the post-grant Patent Office trial practice at a leading firm, where he also opened their Tokyo office. Serving clients like Samsung, Fujitsu, Motorola, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Simmons Bedding Company, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Olympus, Spansion, Emerson Electric and NXP, Steve has handled subject matter ranging from semiconductors, satellites and GPS tracking systems to financial services, e-commerce and video games. He regularly works across jurisdictions, with multiple counsel and large groups of co-defendants. He has also advised on media-related disputes and claims of plagiarism.
