Practical Advice for Managing Patent: Litigation for the Small Legal Department Practitioner

Daniel Anixt, Senior In-house Counsel, , USA

In-house counsel for small and medium sized companies often must manage a broad spectrum of transactional, corporate governance, regulatory and litigation responsibilities. While the variety and scope of these responsibilities may present an exciting opportunity to shape the business as well as broaden the scope of a practitioner’s legal knowledge, balancing such responsibilities with limited resources is challenging. This balance is relatively easy to maintain particularly when the number of complex matters is minimal or such matters are outsourced to outside counsel. Where this balance can fall apart, however, is when the company becomes a defendant in a patent litigation suit in the United States.

Daniel Anixt is a senior in-house counsel who currently is responsible for negotiating large IT transactions for a Fortune 20 technology company located in the Washington, DC area. Prior to serving in his current position, he was Vice President and the United States, Asia, and Latin America Division Counsel for Mitel Networks, Inc., a mid-sized Canadian technology and telecommunications system manufacturing company. At Mitel, Mr. Anixt was responsible for all transaction, government contracts, regulatory, and litigation matters in the United States including the management of all patent litigation. Mr. Anixt successfully planned strategy, managed outside counsel, as well as negotiated settlements and license agreements in various patent litigation suits brought by competitors and patent trolls against Mitel. He also planned and managed patent litigation brought by Mitel against one of its competitors that ultimately resulted in a highly favorable settlement for Mitel. Mr. Anixt may be contacted at danixt@yahoo.com and his Linkedin public profile is located on the web at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dan-anixt/4/a48/b29.