Mr. Culligan has served as lead and supporting counsel in dozens of matters and in many trials in federal and state courts across the country. He has represented numerous international companies in patent infringement, trade secret and unfair competition cases involving diverse technologies. They include chemical disinfecting solutions and pharmaceutical compositions for Alcon Laboratories, Inc.; medical devices for Arrow International; computer software and online banking and financial services for Bank of America; medical devices, monoclonal antibodies and immunoassay products for Becton, Dickinson & Company; two-photon laser scanning microscopy for the Cornell Research Foundation and Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.; and satellite stabilization systems and apparatus for MBB and Deutsche Aerospace.
He also has assisted clients in cases involving pharmaceutical compounds for Mylan Pharmaceuticals; instant photographic chemistries and products for Polaroid Corporation; consumer products and pharmaceutical compounds for Procter & Gamble; automatic packaging machines for Schmucker, combinatorial chemistry for Symyx Technologies, Inc.; and x-ray and NMR imaging equipment for Varian.
He has represented a number of companies in connection with the enforcement of patents directed to financial instruments, financial services, insurance products and various kinds of business methods. Mr. Culligan has extensive licensing experience that includes the development and execution of licensing and enforcement programs involving patent portfolios with hundreds of patents.
Mr. Culligan served as lead trial counsel for College Savings Bank in a high profile patent infringement case in which he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court after prevailing in the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He was a member of the Polaroid trial team that recovered almost $1 billion from Kodak, one of the highest amounts ever awarded for patent infringement.
Education
Colgate University (A.B., Biology, 1976); Cornell Law School (J.D., 1980).
Admissions & Courts
New York, U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of New York; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits; U.S. Supreme Court.
Recognition
Mr. Culligan is a recognized expert in patent law, perennially listed in Managing Intellectual Property’s Guide to the World's Leading Patent Law Experts. Mr. Culligan was named a member of the "U.S. Litigation Team of the Year" in the June 2000 edition of Managing Intellectual Property, and he repeatedly has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers In America and as a New York Super Lawyer.
Memberships
American Bar Association; American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA); Association of the Bar of the City of New York; New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA).
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Defended Arrow International, Inc., a manufacturer of catheters and other medical products, as lead counsel in the jury trial of a patent infringement action in which Arrow was accused of infringing patents directed to hemodialysis catheters. At trial, the plaintiffs followed the Court’s suggestion and settled the case on terms that were highly favorable to Arrow International.
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Defended Becton, Dickinson and Company as lead counsel in an action for alleged patent infringement and breach of a patent license agreement involving QBC blood cell equipment. The plaintiffs dismissed the action after Becton, Dickinson and Company moved to dismiss their claims for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
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Successfully represented Becton, Dickinson and Company as lead counsel in an action to recover unpaid royalties due under patent license agreements directed to immunoassay test kits. In this action involving counterclaims challenging the validity, infringement and enforceability of Becton Dickinson’s patents, the licensee agreed to pay past due royalties and entered into a consent judgment acknowledging the validity of Becton Dickinson’s key patent.
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Successfully represented Becton, Dickinson and Company as lead counsel in an action to correct inventorship of patents associated with a joint development program directed to safety mechanisms for hypodermic needles. The defendant agreed to correct inventorship of U.S. and foreign counterparts, and to cooperate in correcting inventorship around the world.
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Defended Alcon Laboratories, Inc., a major eyecare product manufacturer, in a patent infringement action regarding the antibacterial properties of contact lens cleaning and disinfecting solutions. Served as lead counsel at a trial directed to key liability issues, and also served as lead counsel at an evidentiary Markman hearing.
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Defended Becton, Dickinson and Company as lead counsel in a declaratory judgment action brought by a competitor. Arguments at claim construction and summary judgment hearings were so successful that the court ruled across the board for Becton Dickinson on all claim construction issues and on two motions for summary judgment, after which the competitor took a license under Becton Dickinson’s patent.
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Defended Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. and the Cornell Research Foundation as lead counsel in an action for a declaratory judgment that a Cornell patent directed to two-photon laser scanning microscopy was invalid, unenforceable and not infringed. After a successful one-week evidentiary Markman hearing, and further prevailing on several motions for summary judgment, the opposing party asked the court to stay the case, which then settled favorably when the opposing party acquired the relevant segment of Bio-Rad’s business.
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Represented Procter & Gamble as lead counsel in a patent infringement action involving cleaning and conditioning shampoos in which the defendant acknowledged the validity and infringement of the patent-in-suit and withdrew the infringing product from the market.
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Represented MB Schoen & Associates as lead counsel in an infringement action against an insurance company and others involving patented methods for insuring the payment of contributions to tax-favored retirement plans and programs in cases in which the insured becomes disabled. The accused infringers consented to the validity, infringement and enforceability of the patents-in-suit and took a license requiring the payment of very substantial royalties.
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Represented Alcon Laboratories, Inc. in ANDA litigation involving an ophthalmic drug for the treatment of glaucoma. The matter settled with a license on favorable terms for the client after oral argument on Alcon’s motion for summary judgment.
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Served as trial counsel for Polaroid Corporation in a landmark patent infringement case involving instant photography. After a liability trial that lasted more than six continuous months, and a lengthy trial on damages issues, the court enjoined Kodak from making, using or selling instant cameras and film, and awarded Polaroid almost $1 billion.
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Served as trial counsel for Varian Associates in an International Trade Commission proceeding to enforce a Varian patent with claims directed to X-ray image intensifier tubes. The ITC entered an order that Varian’s patent was valid and infringed, and excluded the importation of infringing products.
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Defended Becton, Dickinson and Company in a matter in which the company was accused of infringing patents directed to fluorescence-activated cell sorters and analyzers. Becton Dickinson obtained a royalty-free license to practice the inventions claimed in the instrument patents asserted against the company.
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Served as lead counsel for College Savings Bank in a patent infringement action against an agency of the State of Florida, which asserted sovereign immunity under the 11th Amendment and challenged the constitutionality of legislation enacted by Congress under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment authorizing patent infringement actions against the States. Mr. Culligan argued the case in the United States Supreme Court after successfully defending the constitutionality of the statute in the District Court and on appeal in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
