Brian Buss

Brian is a successful litigator and transactional attorney with over two decades of experience. Brian represents corporations in district courts throughout the United States in patent, trademark, copyright, trade dress, breach of contract, fraud, employment and trade secret cases. Brian has extensive experience in all aspects of pre-litigation strategy, preliminary injunction hearings, discovery, IPR’s, Markman hearings, trial preparation and trial.  Brian is also skilled in performing patent infringement and validity analysis and freedom to operate studies.  Brian’s experience includes drafting and negotiating of license agreements, software licenses, confidentiality agreements, asset sale agreements, non-disclosure agreements, non-compete agreements, and joint venture agreements. Brian has a chemical engineering degree, and has prosecuted patents in a wide variety of technical fields.  Brian also pursues trademarks for his clients and provides general business and employment counseling to his clients.  Brian also does estate planning and is a certified mediator.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Negotiated several substantial settlements on behalf of plaintiffs and obtained successful plaintiffs verdict of willful infringement with attorneys’ fees.
  • Obtained several take nothing verdicts on behalf of defendants, and in some cases, recovered attorneys’ fees. 
  • Recognized professionally as a “Texas Rising Star” in intellectual property litigation, Texas Monthly 2004 – 2008.
  • Authored five legal publications and made presentations of these publications in several states and foreign countries (ex. Spain, Portugal, and Italy).

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

Stage Completions, Inc., Grayhawk Tools International, LLC, ExactaFrac Energy Service, Inc., Gunner Energy Services, McAfee, Inc., Intel Corp., Apple Inc., Deere & Company, Microsoft Corporation, Starbucks Corporation, CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Target Corporation, Best Buy Corporation, Lubrizol Corporation, Dell Inc., ALE VSA, Inc., HP, Inc.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

BUSS & BENEFIELD, PLLC Austin TX (Lawyer)                                             2020-Present

  • Handles commercial litigation involving patent infringement and trade secret disputes, as well as estate-related litigation (such as will contests, trust disputes, etc.), and other commercial litigation.
  • Performs various transactional matters, including patent and trademark prosecution, contract review, business counseling, and estate planning work.

JACKSON WALKER, LLP, Houston, Texas (Partner)                                            2017 – 2019

  • Work with small team of attorneys to handle large scale patent litigations and other commercial disputes.
  • Address IPR proceedings, and perform due diligence associated with corporate transactions and negotiate various agreements related to the sale of businesses and IP assets.

WILLIAM MORGAN, P.C. Houston, Texas (Partner)                                            2010 – 2017

  • Worked with small team of attorneys to handle large scale commercial litigations (patent, trade secret, breach of contract, employment and fraud), primarily in federal district courts in Texas. Clients included CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Lubrizol Corporation, Starbucks Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Apple Inc., McAfee, Inc., Nordstrom, Inc., Target Corporation, Deere & Co., and Best Buy Corporation.
  • Managed IPR counsel and negotiated numerous license and non-disclosure agreements.

FLOYD & BUSS, LLP, Austin, Texas (Founding Partner)                                       2008 – 2010

  • Managed several litigations involving teams of 2-3 attorneys in patent litigations in various district courts.
  • Negotiated a take nothing dismissal on behalf of client for hearing aid products that were accused of infringing signal processing patents.
  • Reviewed numerous patents for licensing and litigation opportunities.

VINSON & ELKINS, LLP, Austin, Texas (Associate – Partner)                              1999 – 2008

  • Represented several clients in large scale litigations (patent, trademark, trade secret, trade dress, copyright, Lanham Act) from case instigation, through trial, and appeal. Handled all aspects of litigation, including discovery, experts, claim construction briefing and hearing, trial and appeal.
  • Represented clients in arbitration proceedings, negotiated joint venture agreements, negotiated license agreements, negotiated software agreements, authored numerous patent opinions, performed numerous freedom to operate studies, supported mergers through IP due diligence, and drafted patent applications.
  • Obtained plaintiff’s verdict of willful infringement and recovered attorneys’ fees; obtained several summary judgments of non-infringement and recovered partial attorneys’ fees in one instance; defended semiconductor manufacturer in arbitration and secured a take nothing award followed by a recovery of attorneys’ fees.

ARNOLD, WHITE & DURKEE, P.C, Houston, Texas (Associate)                       1997 – 1999

  • Assisted trial team in preparation of inventorship defense and taking of inventor depositions.
  • Part of trial team that secured jury verdict of invalidity because of prior invention.
  • Prosecuted patents in the chemical and medical device arts. Prepared patent opinions for patents related to wound care, oilfield technology, and chemical processes and compounds.

CHEVRON CORPORATION/CHEVRON CHEMICAL, Houston, Texas         1991 – 1996

  • Served as a Production Engineer responsible for oil and gas production and processing of numerous wells located in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
  • Process Engineer for the operation and new design modifications for two polyethylene production units in Baytown, Texas facility.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Juris Doctor (summa cum laude), South Texas School of Law

Bachelor of Science (Chemical Engineering), Iowa State University

Admitted to practice: Texas 1997; Southern District of Texas; Easter District of Texas; Northern District of Texas; Western District of Texas; Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; United States Patent and Trademark Office

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

  • “An Update on Tafas v. Dudas,” Federation Internationale Des Conseila En Propriete Industrielle, Charleston, South Carolina, June 2008 (speaker)
  • “Are We Returning to the Plague of Encouraging Unwarranted Charges of Inequitable Conduct, “21st Annual Intellectual Property Law Course, State Bar of Texas, Austin, Texas, March 6-7, 2008 (author and presenter)
  • “Patent Trolls,” Federation Internationale Des Conseils En Propriete Industrielle, Tenth Open Forum in Seville, Spain, October 2007 (speaker)
  • “Discovery, a Burden or a Benefit” Federation Internationale Des Conseils En Propriete Industrielle, Ninth Open Forum in Lisbon, Portugal, November 2005 (speaker)
  • “Discovery in the U.S.,” Federation Internationale Des Conseils En Propriete Industrielle, Eighth Open Forum in Venice, Italy, October 2004 (speaker)