Bill Roberts is a lead trial lawyer in Faegre Baker Daniels' intellectual property group. Bill focuses his practice on complex intellectual property and commercial litigation, including patents, trade secrets, and unfair competition. Bill has tried and won cases before federal and state courts, administrative tribunals, and private arbitration panels. Bill also has substantial appellate experience, having won cases in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and one case in the United States Supreme Court.

In addition to winning jury verdicts and appeals, Bill has achieved litigation results for clients in the form of temporary restraining orders, preliminary and permanent injunctions, and significant favorable settlements. Bill represents clients in a range of industries, including food and food processing, medical products, information technologies, pharmaceuticals, health care, financial services, and defense. Representative clients include Cargill, Wyeth, Boston Scientific, American Express Company, Urologix, Inc., The Saunders Group, Inc., and Encore Medical.

Notable results Bill has helped clients achieve include:

• Preliminary Injunction Obtained and Upheld on Appeal. Bill persuaded the Minnesota District Court to enter a rare preliminary injunction in a patent case preventing his client's competitor from launching a new product into the market. Bill also successfully defended the injunction on appeal, obtaining a complete affirmance from the Federal Circuit. EZ Gard, Inc. v. XO Athletic Company, 2008 WL 1827490 (D. Minn. 4/28/08) (Rosenbaum, J.).
• Patent Victory in the Federal Circuit. Bill successfully argued for reversal of a trial court's claim construction ruling in a patent case concerning cervical traction technology. The case involved difficult issues of claim construction in the context of continuation applications. The Saunders Group, Inc. v. ComforTrac, Inc. and Care Rehab & Orthopaedic Products, Inc., 492 F3d 132 (2007).
• Verdict of no infringement and zero damages in $170 million patent case. Bill represented Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc., a Cargill company, in a declaratory judgment action against Michael Foods, Inc., the world's largest egg processing company, and North Carolina State University (NCSU). The action sought a finding of non-infringement of four patents owned by NCSU and exclusively licensed to Michael Foods. The patents related to certain "ultrapasteurization" processes for making extended shelf life liquid whole egg products. Millions of pounds of this type of product are sold annually in the foodservice industry. As expected, Michael Foods and NCSU counterclaimed seeking damages in excess of $170 million (pre-trebling). Following a month-long trial in Minnesota federal court, the jury returned a verdict finding no infringement of any of the 40-plus claims in the four patents asserted against Sunny Fresh and finding that zero damages should be awarded. Bill tried this case together with Steven C. Schroer (a Faegre alumnus) of Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery.
• Verdict of no infringement, patent invalidity and zero damages. Bill and the Faegre team represented Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Ryobi Motor Products, Inc., in a patent infringement trial brought by an inventor of a router guide, who alleged willful patent infringement. A jury in Minnesota federal court returned a complete defense verdict in favor of Sears and Ryobi, finding no infringement, no damages and holding the patent invalid for improper broadening upon reissue.
• Obtained early dismissal. This case concerned patents purporting to cover certain forms of electronic commerce involving credit card transactions. Bill used a creative procedural strategy to obtain an early dismissal of this case against our client, a subsidiary of American Express, enabling the client to avoid heavy defense costs. NetMoneyIN, Inc. v. American Express Financial Advisors, et al., D. Arizona, Case No. 4:01-cv-00441.
• Obtained favorable settlement. This case involved patent and trade secret misappropriation claims relating to American Express's "Private Payments" program. Bill obtained a favorable settlement after initial aggressive motion practice that narrowed the claims and minimized plaintiff's potential recovery. Transaction Secure, LLC v. American Express, D. Utah, Case No. 2-02-CV-0591.
• Verdict of willful infringement in favor of patent holder. Bill and the Faegre team represented the Jurgens, owners of North Wind Decoy Co., in a patent infringement action against CBK, Ltd. A jury in federal court in Tennessee returned a verdict of willful infringement in favor of Jurgens and against CBK, leading to a recovery in excess of $1 million. See Jurgens v. CBK, Ltd., 80 F.3d 1566 (Fed. Cir. 1996). 
• Injunction for theft of billion-dollar trade secret. Bill acted as a key member of the litigation team on behalf of Wyeth, a leading pharmaceutical company. The litigation team obtained a ruling of misappropriation by a competitor, Natural Biologics, of the trade secret process for making Premarin, one of the largest selling prescription drugs in the world. The Court entered a complete, permanent injunction against all use in any form of the competitor's process, which had been derived from Wyeth's trade secret, effectively putting the competitor out of the business. See Wyeth v. National Biologics, Civ. No. 98-2469 (JNE/JGL) (D. Minn. 2003, aff'd, 395 F.3d 897 (8th Cir. 2005)).
• Milestone Settlement of Claims Against U.S. Government. Bill led the litigation team that achieved what the trial court described as a "milestone settlement" of 283 cases involving over 700 plaintiffs' claims against the U.S. Government for breach of contract and unconstitutional takings. The global settlement, reached in May 2007, establishes a damages determination process by which the amount of each claimant's recovery will be established. The total value of the settlement remains to be seen, but it is known that the recovery will exceed $100 million. The settlement brings to a successful conclusion litigation that had been ongoing since 1996.
• U.S. Supreme Court victory. Bill played a leading role in Franconia Assocs. v. United States, 122 S. Ct. 1993 (2002), a breach of contract case against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in which the Court ruled unanimously in favor of Bill's clients and permitted their multi-million dollar damages claims to proceed to trial.
• Recovery of funds from U.S. Government. In a court trial, Bill helped Allstate Financial Corp. recover $1.5 million wrongfully levied by the Internal Revenue Service. The Court ordered that the entire amount be returned to the client, plus interest, and the order was upheld on appeal. See Allstate Financial Corp. v. United States, 109 F.3d 1331 (8th Cir. 1997).

Pro Bono

Honors

Professional Associations

Civic Activities

Clerkships

Presentations

Legal Updates