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Thomas H. Shunk

Thomas H. Shunk brings a corporate trial lawyer’s perspective to patent, trade secret and other technology-focused intellectual property litigation. Mr. Shunk has tried more than 40 civil commercial cases throughout the country as first chair counsel, dozens of those cases to juries. He has also argued many of the cases he has tried on appeal, including ten appearances before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit—the exclusive appellate court for patent infringement disputes.

Mr. Shunk’s experience in patent litigation began in 1988 with an action concerning liquid crystal display computer monitors. That trial spanned six weeks of testimony and ended with a jury finding of willful infringement against the defendant and an award before trebling of $5 million. In 1994, he won a sizeable verdict in another patent infringement matter concerning molten metal pumps, tried to a jury in Cleveland. In the summer of 1997, he successfully tried a request for injunctive relief on behalf of a developer and manufacturer of a computerized Pap-smear slide screener in the Southern District of New York. In 1999, he defeated an attempt to obtain an injunction in Philadelphia against a client in the aluminum furnace industry who had been alleged to have misused trade secrets. In 2000, he obtained the dismissal of claims in the Eastern District of Virginia against an Internet media company that had been sued for infringing a business-methods patent. In 2001, Mr. Shunk’s challenge to the constitutional standing of the plaintiff in a patent infringement matter in Florida resulted in judgment for his client. In 2005 he obtained judgment for his client, defendant in a patent infringement jury trial in Denver, regarding operating-room imaging devices. In that same year he also obtained a judgment for his client, defendant in a patent infringement action tried to the bench in Toledo regarding building devices, which judgment included a finding of fraud on the Patent Office by the opposing party. In Cleveland in 2006 he obtained a judgment following trial to a jury on behalf of his client, the plaintiff, relating to a materials shipment method patent.

Mr. Shunk has tried a number of trade secret cases in fields as diverse as water treatment chemical formulae and computerized client list databases, and has litigated copyright, trademark, trade dress and Lanham Act issues on numerous occasions.

Mr. Shunk is a member of the Mediation Panel for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio with emphasis on intellectual property disputes. Immediately following law school, he served as law clerk to the former Chief Judge of the Northern Ohio Federal District Court.