Douglas J. Kline

Doug Kline, a senior partner in Goodwin's IP Litigation group, has more than 30 years of experience representing technology and life science companies involved in intellectual property litigation and other high stakes cases. His practice focuses on patent litigation. He has served as lead trial counsel in intellectual property cases throughout the United States and he has tried numerous cases to verdicts. In addition, he has represented clients in reexamination proceedings, both ex parte and inter partes, and argued before the Patent and Trademark Trial and Appeal Boards.

Mr. Kline has argued frequently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and has briefed or argued cases in other courts of appeal, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has extensive experience representing clients in arbitration and other private alternative dispute resolution processes. He regularly advises companies, investors and underwriters on IP issues and infringement risks related to enterprise transactions and works with clients to coordinate global patent enforcement and defense strategies.

One of the nation’s leading IP litigators, Mr. Kline has been recognized by publications such as Legal 500 and Chambers USA. Legal 500 recently noted that Goodwin’s IP Litigation group is “led by the ‘exceptionally capable trial and appellate advocate’ Douglas Kline in Boston, "who always possesses a complete command of the technical subject matter.” In addition, Chambers USA states that clients praise Mr. Kline as an “extremely capable advocate.” He receives particular recognition for his effective guidance provided to hi-tech and life sciences clients on patent infringement actions and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) post-grant reviews. Clients describe Mr. Kline as “an extremely effective team leader. His personable nature and knowledge are traits that don’t often come together in lawyers.” In addition, his expertise has been cited by publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe. He also previously served on Goodwin’s Executive Committee and as Chair of the firm’s IP Litigation practice.

Mr. Kline has won multimillion-dollar jury verdicts of willful patent infringement and has defeated claims against clients in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He has coordinated and overseen the execution of multi-district litigation in the United States and Europe. His notable victories include:

• A jury verdict of willful patent infringement, following a two-week trial, for a leading manufacturer of semi-conductor manufacturing equipment.
• Summary judgment of invalidity of a patent asserted against a leading provider of remote access software. Mr. Kline defended the judgment on appeal to the Federal Circuit, and won affirmance of the ruling.
• An arbitration award for a leading consumer products company, following six days of oral hearing, finding that our client’s pregnancy detection test strips were not covered by a licensor’s patents and therefore not royalty-bearing.
• Dismissal of patent infringement claims filed against a marketing automation company. The court based its decision to dismiss the claims against our client on testimony from the plaintiff’s founder that Mr. Kline elicited through cross-examination at a hearing to show cause.
• Summary judgment of noninfringement of a patent asserted against a global athletic shoe company. Mr. Kline defended the judgment on appeal to the Federal Circuit and won affirmance of the ruling.
• An arbitration award following a week-long hearing conducted in connection with a patent interference proceeding awarding priority of invention to our client for a key patent family concerning immunoassay technology.
• Reversal at the Federal Circuit of a finding of noninfringement against our client in a case involving septal occluders (for treating heart defects) and on remand to the district court won summary judgment of infringement in favor of our client.

Prior to joining Goodwin in 2005, Mr. Kline was a partner at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault in Boston, where he chaired both the Patent and Intellectual Property Practice and Intellectual Property Litigation Group.

Mr. Kline has been selected for inclusion in The Legal 500 U.S. 2022. Mr. Kline has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers for his work in Litigation - Intellectual Property and Litigation - Patent 2022-2023.

Mr. Kline has been named by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a leading lawyer in the field of Intellectual Property every year since 2004. He similarly has been identified as a Massachusetts “Super Lawyer” every year since 2004, including being cited as one of the top 100 lawyers in Boston. He has been ranked by U.S. News-Best Lawyers in the field of Intellectual Property Litigation, LMG Life Sciences’ Stars for being an outstanding practitioner in the U.S., Managing Intellectual Property as an “IP Star,” and he is regularly named by IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals as one of the world’s leading patent litigators.