November 2009 to March 2015
This was a very large ($100M) action for alleged patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation concerning ambient light sensor (ALS) chips. (These allow your phone to adjust the screen brightness to optimize readability and battery life.) I was testifying expert for the defendant on the trade secret side of the case, working with the late Dr. A. Bruce Buckman on the patent side. After an unsuccessful negotiation for Intersil to acquire TAOS, Intersil developed its own line of ALS chips. TAOS sued, alleging that these were based on TAOS intellectual property.
I was able to demonstrate to my own satisfaction that Intersil had not used TAOS's technology, but unfortunately, and apparently due to some document retention irregularities, the East Texas jury found them liable. (The Intersil manager who initiated the engagement had apparently used a non-standard contract that Intersil's legal department didn't know about and that had much stricter limits on document retention than their usual one.) My testimony was about 2-1/2 hours direct and an hour cross-examination.