Scott Cole is a partner in the Austin office of Quinn Emanuel, and his practice centers on commercial and intellectual property litigation. He has tried over 25 cases to verdict and has won four nine-figure verdicts/judgments. Mr. Cole has been recognized since 2014 in the Best Lawyers in America and the IAM Patent 1000. He won Texas Lawyer’s “Lawyer of the Week” for the $391 million judgment in Versata v. SAP and later won the American Lawyer’s “Lawyer of the Week” for the affirmance of that judgment at the Federal Circuit, believed to be the largest judgment ever affirmed by the Federal Circuit at that time.
- Quincy Jones v. MJJ Productions. Co-lead counsel for legendary music producer Quincy Jones in winning a $9.4 million jury verdict against the Michael Jackson estate in a breach of contract and royalty dispute. The damages were reduced on appeal. (California State Court – Los Angeles).
- WiLAN v. Apple. Lead counsel for WiLAN, Inc. in obtaining an $85 million patent-infringement verdict against Apple. The district court denied Apple’s post-trial motions and added interest to the verdict, culminating in a $108.9 million judgment. The verdict represented 100% of the requested damages. The case is currently on appeal. (S.D. Cal.)
- Apex Parks Group v. Protective Life. Lead counsel in a case for recovery under a key-man life insurance policy covering Apex’s CEO. After a two-week trial, Apex overcame several defenses asserted by Protective Life and obtained a $10 million verdict. (Alabama State Court – Birmingham).
- Versata Software v. SAP. Lead counsel in representing an enterprise software company in a patent-infringement action against the dominant industry player, SAP. In 2009, following a two-week trial, we won a $138 million verdict (the 5th largest verdict (of any kind) in the State of Texas that year). Based on post-verdict case-law developments, a new trial was ordered. In May 2011, the case was retried, and the result was a much larger $345 million verdict, followed by a $391 million judgment. The verdict was the fifth largest patent infringement verdict of 2011 in the United States and the eighth largest verdict of any kind nationwide during that year. The entire damages judgment was then affirmed on appeal by the Federal Circuit in what is believed to be the largest monetary judgment ever affirmed by the Federal Circuit at the time. The case then settled. (EDTX).
- Capital Royalty and Children’s Medical Center of Boston v. Celgene. Lead counsel representing Capital Royalty as joint plaintiffs with Children’s Medical Center of Boston in a breach of license suit against Celgene. Won a key summary judgment ruling, which led to a $198.5 million settlement for client and co-plaintiff. (D.Mass.).
- Rambus v. Hynix et. al. Represented Rambus in a two-month patent and antitrust jury trial pitting Rambus against several DRAM manufacturers, who accused Rambus of manipulating the standards-setting process. Rambus prevailed on all issues. (NDCA).
- i2 Technologies, Inc. et al v. Oracle Corporation et al. Represented i2 in a patent infringement action against Oracle involving enterprise software patents, including factory planning, demand planning, and supply chain management software. The parties reached a $37.5 million publicly-disclosed settlement agreement following the pretrial conference. (EDTX).
- David’s Supermarkets v. Fleming Companies. After a four-week trial, won a landmark $211 million jury verdict for breach-of-contract and fraud in a case involving overcharges under a supply contract, which was profiled in a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal. This litigation was also noted in the industry publication Supermarket News as one of the most significant industry events (and the only lawsuit mentioned) in the past 50 years. The case ultimately settled for a confidential sum. (Texas State Court – Johnson County).
- City of Austin v. Convergent Group. Represented a software developer in a lawsuit brought against it by the City of Austin. Following a counter-offensive, the case was settled with no cash payment to the City and with the City purchasing $36 million in additional equipment from the company. In a front-page article on the settlement, the Austin American-Statesman reported: “The city-owned electric utility has come up with a unique way to settle a lawsuit over an $8.3 million software contract gone awry: Buy $36 million worth of wireless meter-reading equipment from the company’s new owner.” (Texas State Court – Travis County).
- Wyble v. Gulf South Pipeline. Represented major pipeline company in citizen-suit seeking to force the company to spend billions for alleged violations of federal regulations. Won summary judgment. (EDTX).
- ORIX Capital Markets v. Wachovia Bank. Won liability issues in a breach of contract suit on behalf of a commercial mortgage-backed securities trust. Despite the liability victory, no damages were awarded by the Court after the two-week bench trial. (NDTX).
- Randall’s Food Markets v. Fleming. Represented a Texas-based grocery chain in arbitration against supplier. Following two-week arbitration, obtained termination of a $400 million per year contract, clearing the way for the client to be acquired by a major national supermarket chain. (Arbitration).
- Furr’s Supermarkets v. Fleming. Represented the plaintiff, a major grocery chain, against its supplier. The case settled favorably, allowing the orderly termination of a $500 million per-year supply contract along with a substantial payment to the plaintiff. (D.NM).
- University of Texas
(J.D., Honors, 1994)
(B.A., High Honors, 1990)- Order of the Coif
- Chancellors
- Texas Law Review
- Board of Advocates (Four-time champion in mock trial competitions)
- The State Bar of Texas
- United States District Court:
- Northern District of Texas
- Eastern District of Texas
- Western District of Texas
- Southern District of Texas
- United States Court of Appeals:
- Fifth Circuit
- Federal Circuit
- McKool Smith PC:
- Associate, 2001-2002
- Partner, 2003-2020
- C. Dean Metropolous & Co.:
- Vice-President, 2000-2001
- Vice-President, 2000-2001
- Vinson & Elkins, LLP:
- Associate, 1994-1999
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (2023 Edition): for Patent Litigation, Commercial Litigation, 2023
- Named one of Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, 2021 and 2022
- The Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation, Litigation: Patent