Charles S. Barquist

Charles S. Barquist

Attorney at Law • Partner

Let's Connect |

D 949.202.1907 O 949.202.1900
cbarquist@mabr.com
Los Angeles

Education

  • J.D., Harvard Law School

  • A.B., University of Michigan, History

Expertise

Patent Litigation • Intellectual Property Litigation • International Arbitration

Charles Barquist is a trial lawyer and IP litigator. His practice is focused on business litigation including patents and other intellectual property, antitrust and unfair competition, and dispute resolution for technology companies.

Mr. Barquist has achieved outstanding results in patent litigation for several foreign and domestic clients in U.S. courts and before the International Trade Commission (ITC). Successful trial results include defense wins for EchoStar in the Eastern District of Texas and the ITC, and a plaintiff’s verdict against Microsoft on behalf of an individual inventor. Mr. Barquist was part of the trial team in Apple v. Samsung, with Apple prevailing both at the ITC and in District Court. Mr. Barquist won summary judgment of non-infringement for Capital One against prolific inventor and litigant Walker Digital, a victory affirmed by the Federal Circuit. Mr. Barquist led a team that won a $35 million settlement in a patent infringement action in Minnesota for Angeion Corporation, a manufacturer of implantable defibrillators, and a favorable settlement for Veeco Instruments in enforcing its patents covering atomic force microscopy. Other patent litigation has involved technologies such as smartphones, virtual cameras, medical lasers, hard disk drives, infrared thermometers, rechargeable batteries, digital satellite receivers, and environmental stress screening equipment, in such jurisdictions as Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and California (including San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles).

Mr. Barquist also has conducted numerous adversarial licensing negotiations with patent holders in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He has handled a number of copyright, trademark, and unfair competition matters on behalf of domestic and international clients, including a leading CD/DVD replicator, a Big Five accounting firm, a major telecommunications company, an airline, a major toy manufacturer, and a number of Japanese electronics and food product companies.

In addition, Mr. Barquist is experienced in other complex commercial and business litigation, including antitrust, products liability, and environmental matters. Significant cases include an antitrust action on behalf of SpaceX, a consumer class action against Microstar International, an ICC arbitration in Stockholm involving a turn-key electronics factory in China, an AAA arbitration involving development of a new anti-cancer drug, a products liability trial in New York in which a defense verdict was obtained for a U.S. automaker, representation of a major Wall Street investment bank in a securities fraud arbitration in Chicago in which all claims were dismissed, and the defense of environmental challenges to the harbor improvement plans of a major West Coast port.

Mr. Barquist also has handled a number of pro bono matters, most recently winning an attorneys’ fee award of $1.8 million in an action challenging discrimination against mentally disabled participants in the General Relief program administered by the County of Los Angeles. Other matters include a challenge to California’s distribution of funds for a federal summer jobs program, which recouped $1 million for the San Francisco program, and the winning of a preliminary injunction requiring water releases to protect environmental values in lower Putah Creek, near Davis, California.

Mr. Barquist is also a leader in the profession. He has served as president of the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association, as chairman of the USC Gould School of Law Intellectual Property Institute, and as chairman of the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Section and the International Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has also served as Chair of the Institute for Corporate Counsel in Los Angeles and currently serves as a member of its Board of Governors.

Mr. Barquist is the editor of the 3rd edition of Practising Law Institute’s, Patent Litigation treatise, published in October 2015.

Mr. Barquist is listed in Global Counsel 3000 as a Recommended Intellectual Property practitioner in Los Angeles and was recognized as a Southern California “Super Lawyer” every year from 2004 through 2021. He was named the Best Lawyers® 2022 Litigation – Patent “Lawyer of the Year” in Orange County and the Best Lawyers® 2017 Litigation – Patent “Lawyer of the Year” in Los Angeles. He was also selected for inclusion in the 2007-2022 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of intellectual property law. Mr. Barquist is a 2014 recipient of the Burton Award for Legal Achievement, which honors excellence in legal writing.

Mr. Barquist received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School and his A.B., with high distinction and high honors, from the University of Michigan. After earning his law degree, Mr. Barquist clerked for the Honorable Milton Pollack in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.