Weil obtained a decisive victory for Adobe Systems on September 8, 2014, when a California federal jury found that two digital-rights management patents asserted by plaintiff Digital Reg of Texas LLP were invalid because the technology was obvious. The jurors also ruled that there was no infringement by Adobe on one of the patents, without reaching infringement on the second asserted patent.

The case was filed in Texas federal court in 2011 and moved to California in 2012. Although Digital Reg previously succeeded in negotiating settlements with companies including Microsoft, Symantec and Intuit, Adobe elected not to take a license to the patents and to take its case on invalidity and noninfringement to trial. At trial, Plaintiff Digital Reg asked the jury to award over $15 million and find that Adobe infringed willfully, which would allow Digital Reg to ask the Court to treble damages.

During the 10-day trial, patent litigation partners Edward Reines, Sonal Mehta, and Adrian Percer argued that Adobe’s technology was different from Digital Reg’s patents, and urged the jury to find the asserted patents invalid due to obviousness to put an end to Digital Reg’s licensing and litigation campaign on these patents.

The jury invalidated both of Digital Reg’s patents due to obviousness.

The Weil team was led by partners Edward Reines, Sonal Mehta and Adrian Percer, and included associates Byron Beebe and Anant Pradhan.