About Us

Over a 25 year legal career, Paul Poirot has focused on bet-the-company intellectual property litigation and high-stakes technology and software licensing for Fortune 500 companies such as Hitachi Ltd., Renesas Electronics Corporation, and Caterpillar Inc., as well as other market leaders such as Schlumberger, Teleflex, and Trend Micro.

Paul has appeared in U.S. district courts across the United States, including venues such as the Eastern District of Virginia, the Eastern District of Texas, and the Northern District of California. He has represented clients in inter partes review proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in Section 337 investigations at the International Trade Commission. He has argued several appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Paul has negotiated and finalized over 200 complex SaaS, patent, trade secret, and technology agreements around the world. He has helped clients reach success with major licensing entities including Intellectual Ventures, Tessera, and Round Rock Research, as well as industry leaders worldwide such as Intel, Rambus, Philips, Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung, TSMC, and Nanya.

Paul has represented clients in technology standard setting organizations for advanced devices such as computer memories, graphic processing, and optical devices, addressing the concerns of a multitude of stakeholders from different countries advocating different technologies at different points in the technology chain.

Paul typically travels several times per year to Japan and Asia and has developed an extensive cultural and practical knowledge of countries throughout east Asia including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China. He has also successfully represented clients in the U.K., Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

Paul has served key roles in the acquisition of new technology by his clients and has served as a trusted advisor in mergers and acquisitions, particularly with regard to due diligence reviews of existing IP and licenses.

Prior to forming IP Diplomacy, Paul was a partner at Baker Hostetler LLP and McDermott Will & Emery. Paul also served for two years as in-house patent counsel in Tokyo for Hitachi, Ltd. Prior to becoming an attorney, Paul worked as an engineer for National Instruments in Austin, TX.

Paul attended the University of Chicago Law School where he was a member of the Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. Paul currently resides in Washington, DC and is originally from Baytown, TX.