Peter J. Chassman

"Peter goes above and beyond for us, I can't speak highly enough of his capabilities and supports he provides."
Chambers USA, Intellectual Property client

"Pete possesses excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, which have been invaluable in effectively presenting facts, the law and negotiating settlements."
Chambers USA, Intellectual Property client

Pete is the firmwide chair of Reed Smith's Intellectual Property (IP) Group and focuses on IP litigation, commercial litigation, and other IP matters. Leveraging his background in electrical engineering, Pete is a distinguished trial lawyer who serves as lead counsel in high-tech patent infringement disputes, patent licensing disputes, trade secret disputes, and commercial contract disputes. Pete also has developed a specialty in litigating and trying cases in in the managed care space, representing a large managed care provider in the arbitration of significant disputes. Outside of litigation, Pete represents clients in IP and transactional matters, including IP licensing, IP aspects of reorganizations and joint ventures, technology transfers, IP audits, and offensive and defensive patent portfolio review, among others.

Experience

Representative matters

Lead counsel for leading innovator of scientific instrumentation in case pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware against a competitor, asserting three patents on cell impedance analysis technology, along with claims of trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition. Case scheduled for initial trial in January 2026.

Lead counsel for oilfield technology company in patent license contract dispute with competitor in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and assertion of three patents against same competitor on polycrystalline diamond cutters (PCDs) used in oil well drill bits.

Counsel in high stakes trade secrets case in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey between competitors that own nine of the seventeen U.S. stock options exchanges. Trial anticipated to occur in 2026.

Centripetal Networks v. Keysight Technologies. Served as trial counsel to Keysight as a respondent in a 3-patent investigation concerning network security technology at the International Trade Commission (“ITC”), resulting in a finding of no violation (all 3 asserted patents found invalid and 2 patents found not infringed) by the ALJ, which was affirmed by the Commission. Prevailed in related inter partes review of asserted patent.

Kigen v. Thales. Guided the strategy of Kigen in groundbreaking multi-patent litigation brought by Kigen against Thales in the UK, seeking declaration of FRAND licensing rate, in response to assertions by Thales that it held Standards Essential Patents (“SEPs”) allegedly infringed by Kigen as implementer of GSMA standards. The case settled a week before trial on favorable terms and was highly reported by the press as creating a new pathway for standards implementers to approach FRAND threats in Europe.

Lead counsel for two plaintiff technology companies in a 5-patent case against the U.S. government and intervenor, IBM, in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims concerning technology for disseminating wireless emergency alerts. Also lead counsel for those same companies in defending against and defeating 10 inter partes reviews petitions (IPRs) filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and IBM, avoiding institution of all IPRs. Case ultimately resulted in settlement payment by the U.S. government of $18,250,000 to our clients.

Counsel for a large cellular phone maker in an ITC investigation and cases in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas concerning eight patents, in total, relating to microprocessor architecture, power management, and SoC integration technologies. Cases settled on favorable terms.

As lead counsel, after substantial discovery and briefing, obtained dismissal of a two-patent case in the District of Massachusetts, on behalf of a large payroll and benefits processing company in which the majority of its offerings were accused.

Lead counsel for a technology company in a patent and trade secret case in the Northern District of Texas against a company started by former employees. Obtained judgment on all counts, along with damages, attorney’s fees, injunctive relief, and a declaration of ownership of a patent application filed by the defendant.

Lead counsel for managed care company in a patent case involving technology for evaluating the efficiency of a medical provider. Obtained dismissal at the pleading stage and obtained affirmance on appeal by the Federal Circuit.

Lead counsel for managed care company in multi-patent patent litigation concerning electronic medical records (EMR) software in the Eastern District of Texas, which ultimately was dismissed, and obtained affirmance by the Federal Circuit.

Lead counsel for Motorola Mobility in multi-count case against Apple concerning contract and patent license issues in the Southern District of California.

Lead counsel for Research In Motion in fifteen different patent cases in various federal district courts and before the International Trade Commission.

Co-lead counsel for a computer maker in eight patent litigations in the Eastern District of Texas and Delaware concerning patents directed to liquid crystal display technology (three cases), wireless technology, networking, websites, printers, DVD data storage, and other technologies.

Lead counsel for multiple media industry defendants in patent litigation in the Eastern District of Texas involving telecommunications, data access, and processing technology.

Counsel for a cellular phone maker in patent litigation in the Southern District of California involving two patents on handheld data entry devices.

Trial counsel for Qualcomm Inc. in an investigation by the International Trade Commission concerning five patents in telecommunications and electronic circuitry technology.

Lead patent counsel for Qualcomm Inc. in patent litigations in the Southern District of California involving cellular, Bluetooth, and other wireless telecommunication technologies.

Lead patent counsel for EMC Corporation in an investigation by the International Trade Commission concerning six EMC patents and data storage systems manufactured and imported by Hitachi, Ltd.

Centripetal Networks v. Keysight Technologies. Represented Keysight as a respondent in a 3-patent investigation at the International Trade Commission (“ITC”), resulting in a finding of no violation (all 3 asserted patents found invalid and 2 patents found not infringed) by the ALJ, which was affirmed by the Commission.

Represented managed care company in trial at three separate, multi-week large-scale arbitrations (2019 through 2023) concerning claims of breach of contract and/or fraud with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in each, in one, defeating the plaintiffs’ claims and prevailing on client’s counter claims, in another, individually responsible for defeating a claim for approximately $400 million in alleged lost enterprise value, and, in a third, driving claimant’s damages claims down by half and ultimately resulting in favorable settlement.

Represented companies of all sizes in negotiation and preparation of numerous technology licenses and acquisitions.

Represented numerous high-tech companies in non-litigation in response to patent assertions.

Successfully represented a client in significant patent audit.

Lead counsel for energy industry client in commercial litigation in Texas state court concerning supply of large scale power equipment.

Co-lead counsel for managed care company in case in the Eastern District of Texas involving allegations of fraud and RICO.

Co-lead counsel for a managed care company in a lawsuit brought by a plaintiff in Texas State Court alleging breach of contract, negligence, gross negligence, and other causes of action.

Secured dismissal with prejudice on behalf of a managed care client of a provider lawsuit based on an ERISA assignment of benefits that alleged underpayment of claims for infusion services.

Recognitions

Selected as Texas Lawyer’s IP Attorney of the Year at the annual Texas Legal Awards, 2024
Ranked in Chambers USA for Texas Intellectual Property, 2014-2025
Listed in International Asset Management Patent Litigation 250 – The World’s Leading Patent Litigators