William C. Cray

Legal Representation Experience and Engineering Experience.

• In-house counsel

  • Over twenty years of in-house intellectual property law practice, including:
  • Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for Intellectual Property, Cymer, Inc., San Diego, CA;
  • Chief Patent Counsel, Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, Inc., Newport Beach, CA;
  • Chief Patent Counsel, Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood, MA;
  • Semiconductor Operations Group Counsel, Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, MA.

• Outside counsel

  • Over twenty years of private practice before and after his in-house practice, including with Arnold, White and Durkee in Houston, TX; Nielsson Robbins in Los Angeles, CA and Greenberg Traurig in Florham Park, NJ.
  • Represented clients on a broad spectrum of intellectual property issues including
  • patent, trademark and trade secret litigation,
  • validity and infringement opinions,
  • licensing and due diligence,
  • intellectual property identification and protection,
  • intellectual property aspects of M&As,
  • development and co-development and like transactions, and
  • all aspects of patent application preparation and prosecution, US and worldwide.

• Law School Professorship

  • Intellectual Property Acquisition and Licensing Law, Adjunct Professor, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH and Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa, CA.

• Law Clerk

  • Served as Law Clerk for two years to the Honorable E. Avery Crary, United States District Court for the Central District of California, Los Angeles, CA.

• Nuclear Engineering

  • Bill served in the United States Navy Nuclear Submarine Force and made two Polaris Missile deterrent patrols on the USS George Washington, SSBN 598. He helped bring the ship through a shipyard reactor refueling and overhaul in Charleston, SC, before resigning his Commission as a LT. USN.

Education

• Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., J.D. (top 5%), Law Review Editorial Board, President and Co-Founder, Student Patent Law Association.
• United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD (B.S., Theoretical Mathematics)
• S. Navy Officer’s Nuclear Power School, Officer’s Submarine School.
• Judicial Clerkship, 1975-1977, Law Clerk to the Honorable E. Avery Crary, United States District Court Judge, Federal District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, CA

Bill is admitted to practice in California, before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and before several federal district courts.

Bill is a member of IEEE, and is an active member of IEEE’s Intellectual Property Law Committee. He is a former Chair of the Semiconductor Industry Association (“SIA”) Law Committee, and member ex officio of the SIA Public Policy Committee.

Bill was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Washington Treaty Conference in Respect of the Protection of Semiconductor Mask Works Rights and related preliminary Technical Conferences. He is a member of the California Bar Association.

William C. Cray’s Publications and Presentations

Papers

• William C. Cray, “Report of the Subcommittee on Ethics Regarding Proposed Model Rule Changes,” ABA Journal 1981.
• William C. Cray, “Semiconductor and Other Component Development and Sourcing Agreements”, Computer Law Association, Annual Conference (August 1989).
• William C. Cray, “EI International, A First and Confusing Interpretation of the 11 U.S.C. 365(n) Fix to Lubrizol,” - Republished in Software Protection, Vol. X. Nos. 7-8, Dec. 1991-Jan. 1992, New Matter (Official Publication of the California Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section) , Vol. 16, No. 3 (Fall 1991).
• William C. Cray, “A Licensee’s Right, or Lack Thereof, to Do Foundry Work, Private Labeling and/or Co-Designs, Incorporating Licensed Technology, After the Intel Cases,” New Matter (Official Publication of the California Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section), Vol. 20 No. 1 (Winter 1995).
• William C. Cray, “‘Lost in the Foundry:’ Transactions Between a Patent Owner and a Manufacturer of the Product Incorporating the Patented Invention Made for the Patent Owner for Resale By the Patent Owner Constitute ‘On Sale’ Events Under 35 U.S.C. §102(b),” New Matter (Official Publication of the California Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section), Vol. 27, No. 1.
• William C. Cray, “Patenting Software and Business Method Inventions,” 2001 Intellectual Property Review, Aspen Legal Publications.
• William C. Cray, “Protecting Software and Business Method Inventions,” Whittier Law School Intellectual Property Law Seminars, Spring 2003.
• William C. Cray, “Patent Claim Construction,” Whittier Law School Intellectual Property Law Seminars, Spring 2004.

Presentations

• Coordinator of Panel, “Attorney Disqualification in Patent Cases,” ABA Annual Meeting (1979).
• Member of Panel, “Reissue and Re-examination of Patents,” ABA Litigation Section Winter Meeting (1983).
• William C Cray, “Overview of Licensing in the High Technology Field,” University of Texas Law School, Third Annual Institute on Computer Law (September, 1989).
• William C Cray, “Recent Developments Relating to Software Licensing,” Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1992 Advanced Licensing Institute.
• William C Cray, “Recent Developments in Copyright Law Relating to Software Licensing,” Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1993 Advanced Licensing Institute.
• William C Cray, “Recent Developments Relating to Software Licensing,” Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1994 Advanced Licensing Institute.
• William C Cray, “Recent Developments Relating to Software Licensing,” Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1995 Advanced Licensing Institute.
• William C Cray, “Legal Issues Relating to Software Licensing,” Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1996 Advanced licensing Institute.
• William C Cray, “Licensing as a Business Strategy,” Boston Bar Association, Computer Law Section, Luncheon Meeting (1992).
• William C. Cray, “Licensing as a Business Strategy,” Boston Bar Association, Computer Law Section, Luncheon Meeting (year?).

Guest Lecturer

• “Patent Law for Engineers,” Engineering Honors Seminars, University of Southern California, Los Angeles?, CA (1985).
• “Patent Law for Engineers,” Engineering Honors Seminars, University of Southern California, Los Angeles?, CA (year?).
• “Intellectual Property Law for Engineers,” Engineering Law Seminar, California Polytechnic Institute, Pomona, CA (1985).
• “Intellectual Property Law for Engineers,” Engineering Law Seminar, California Polytechnic Institute, Pomona, CA (year?).
• Various speaking engagements before:
  • the L.A. Patent Law Association,
  • Orange County Patent Law Association,
  • A. and Orange County Chapters of the American Society for Industrial Security, and
  • the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce

Expert Witness

• Retained as expert witness on patent law issues of validity and enforceability of a patent relating to a Power MOSFET device in Power MOSFET Technologies, LLC v. Siemens et al. in the Western District of Texas (2000-2001).

Professorships

• Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, New Hampshire
  • Adjunct Professor, Licensing Law II (1989-1996).
• Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa California
  • Adjunct Professor, Acquisition and Licensing of Intellectual Property Rights in Technology (2003 and 2004).