Combining nearly 20 years of intellectual property (IP) and technology lawyering with over a decade of information technology (IT) industry experience, Christopher (“Chris”) Adams advises emerging entities and global companies on navigating complex legal issues unique to IP, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology matters. Innovators, service providers and clients across the technology industry seek Chris’ counsel to help them thoroughly exploit their IP, AI and other technological assets. He guides clients in creating and protecting patents and other forms of IP through commercialization, licensing and, when needed, enforcement.

Before joining the firm, Chris gained hands-on IT industry experience at several Northern Virginia federal government IT solutions providers. His experience extends across all phases of the software development life cycle, as well as other IT areas, and he holds numerous industry certifications.

Although Chris has vast experience in IT, his chemistry background often comes into play in his legal work. As a result, Chris also has substantial IP experience in the life and health sciences.

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Litigation

  • Successfully represented a patent owner as plaintiff in multiple patent infringement suits relating to clinical trials.
  • Successfully represented a patent owner as plaintiff in a multi-defendant patent infringement suit relating to e-commerce relational databases.
  • Key member of a team prosecuting a patent infringement action on behalf of a radiation therapy equipment innovator client against its archrival, ultimately leading to a global resolution of various infringement actions between them in several countries.
  • Successfully defended a mining company in a patent infringement suit relating to on-road and off-road vehicles.
  • Successfully defended an airline in a patent infringement suit relating to the online ticket reservation process.
  • Successfully defended a software anti-virus company in a multi-defendant patent infringement suit related to the centralized management of software and licenses across a network. Successfully invalidated a majority of the asserted claims by a motion to dismiss.
  • Represented an educational software company in a breach of licensing agreement dispute.
  • Represented the defendant in a software copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secret dispute. Negotiated favorable settlement terms for our client.
  • Defended a software company in a patent infringement suit relating to access rules. Negotiated favorable settlement terms for client prior to the files being transferred out.
  • Represented an IT solutions provider with pre-action discovery related to an alleged misappropriation of trade secrets.
  • Successfully defended a satellite television provider in multiple arbitrations before the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) and the International Chamber of Commerce.
  • Prepared an inter partes review petition (IPR) as part of a defendant’s litigation strategy for invalidating the asserted patents, which resulted in the invalidation of all claims in US Patent Application No. 8,667,992.
  • Filed several IPR petitions as part of a defendant’s litigation strategy for invalidating asserted patents related to optimization methods used in radiation therapy treatment planning.

Transactional IP 

  • Drafted patent freedom-to-operate opinions for multiple technologies, including interactive kiosks and predictive modeling AI technology.
  • Counseled clients on transactions related to a broad range of commercial or technology matters, including reviewing and analyzing licensing opportunities; structuring, negotiating and drafting appropriate technology agreements; and conducting due diligence, as appropriate, including IP agreements related to joint ventures, strategic partnerships, outsourcing, intercompany licenses, university sponsored research and consortiums.
  • Assisted with an emerging technology and materials company with negotiating a Data License Agreement for the use of its dataset to train the licensee’s AI model.
  • Assisted a European venture fund with IP and technology diligence related to its investment in target entities with AI platforms including technology such as computer vision, robotics, AI training models and AI-powered glasshouses.
  • Counseled a European multinational automotive parts manufacturing company on Open Source Software (OSS), licensing concerns related to AI models/algorithms, and prospective commercial use of its AI technology.
  • Counsel clients on policies related to the responsible use of generative AI or large language models by personnel or user community.
  • Counsel clients on a variety of OSS concerns, including, OSS clearance and compliance, OSS audits, corporate policies on use of OSS, OSS diligence and remediation in M&A transactions and other OSS licensing concerns.

Prosecution

  • Assisted a former telecommunications company with maintaining and developing an extensive patent portfolio covering technologies in the telecommunications and mobile device industry.
  • Assisted a foreign university with maintaining and developing an extensive patent portfolio covering technologies in multiple areas.
  • Drafted or prosecuted patent applications with respect to various patent technology matters, including telecommunications, AI, chemicals, software, social media, semiconductors, neural networks, storage tanks and medical devices.

Education

  • University of Baltimore School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 2006
  • College of William & Mary, B.Sc., American Chemical Society Certified, 1997

Admissions

  • Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales, 2013
  • District of Columbia, 2008
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 2008
  • Virginia, 2007

Courts

  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

Memberships & Affiliations

  • American Bar Association
  • Lawyers of Color Hot List (2014)
  • Certificate of Achievement from the Maryland National Guard J6/Chief Information Officer (2005)

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  • Co-author, “Who Invented This? The Continuing Importance of Human Ingenuity in Patenting AI-Related Inventions”, The Licensing Journal, Volume 44 Number 5, May 2024.
  • Moderator, “Open Source Series: Beyond License Compliance,” American Bar Association, Webinar, October 10, 2018.
  • Moderator, “Open Source Software Series: Understanding the Risks of Open Source for Technology Clients,” American Bar Association, Webinar, April 26, 2018.
  • Guest, “Changes Regarding the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers,” Capital Thinking Radio Show, April 24, 2014.

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