Bill Toth

Associate

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Areas of Work

Patent Litigation, Copyright, Trade Secrets, Internet, Telecom & Media

Overview

Bill Toth is an experienced litigator who focuses his practice on trade secret, copyright, and patent disputes, as well as competition and antitrust issues that intersect with those fields. Bill is experienced in addressing challenging and novel legal issues both at the trial court and appellate levels. Bill’s practice spans the software, telecommunications, media, biotech, and pharmaceutical industries.

Bill also draws on his litigation experience to help prevent disputes from arising in the first place, by advising companies seeking to enhance their intellectual property compliance and protection programs. This includes open source license compliance, cleanroom development, and information security measures.

Prior to joining Steptoe, Bill served as a law clerk at the US District Court for the Northern District of California and at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Bill also served in the Internet Bureau of the New York Office of the Attorney General, where he co-authored a comment in rulemaking proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding net neutrality. He also served as a Government Fellow in the Antitrust Section of the California Office of the Attorney General, where he investigated the competitive effects of proposed mergers in the telecommunications industry and settlements of Hatch-Waxman litigation.

District of Columbia
California
New York
US District Court, Central District of California
US Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
US Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
US Court of Federal Claims

Hon. Sharon Prost, US Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit, 2017-2018
Hon. William Alsup, US District Court, Northern District of California, 2015-2017

J.D., Columbia Law School, 2014, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; Editor-in-Chief, Columbia Science and Technology Law Review; Co-Head Writer, Columbia Law Revue
B.A., Yale University, 2011, with distinction in major

Areas of Work

Representative Matters

Represent communications equipment corporation in trade secret and copyright litigation in US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals involving two-way radio technologies.
Represent major music industry companies in secondary liability copyright infringement lawsuit against internet service provider regarding failure to prevent known and prolific infringement of thousands of musical compositions and sound recordings.
Advise 3D-printer company in assessing compliance with “copyleft” requirements of GPL v2 open-source license in embedded software.
Advise smartphone and computer chip manufacturer in designing cleanroom protocol to prevent misappropriation of supplier confidential information while developing compatible or competing products.
Develop trade secret compliance program for biotech company formed by engineers to compete with prior employer.
Defend electronics company against breach of contract claim by US software company asserting breach of contract based on alleged acceptance of “click-wrap” agreement included in unlicensed version of software.
Represented Panduit Corp. in appeal before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals concerning claim construction of patent involving method for identifying high-performance fiber. The case favorably settled.
Represented Transtex LLC in two appeals before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals concerning validity of patents relating to aerodynamic fairing for tractor-trailers, appealing from inter partes review. The case settled favorably.
Defended original device manufacturer (“ODM”) in international arbitration asserting copyright infringement and DMCA circumvention of protective measures involving use of “cracked” software license keys. The case settled favorably.
Defended respondents in International Trade Commission investigation and petition proceedings concerning trademark claims relating to functional elements of shoe design. The administrative law judge ruled in our favor on numerous grounds and the commission affirmed.
Defended nonprofit organization asserting fair use defense to allegations of copyright infringement related to use of a photograph in an educational social media post. The case settled favorably.
Represented satellite company in bid protest stemming from government’s disclosure of confidential information to competitors.
Represented software company in defense of a claim under California’s Unfair Competition Law. The court granted our motion to dismiss on all grounds.
Successfully negotiated resolution of copyright claims by alleged owner of fonts for use in smartphone devices.
Represented inventors of low-cost and software-driven respirator technology in transaction with former employer clearing ownership rights and securing funding.
Successfully negotiated settlement of multi-patent case for defendant, a semiconductor and product integration company.
Advised biotechnology investment fund in assessment of Federal Circuit appeal concerning portfolio company patent validity.