Friends:

Welcome to the Wittliff Cutter newsletter. We hope to make this part of our regular conversation with you—our valued colleagues, clients, co-counsel, and friends. We’ll send out an update once or twice a year or so to say hello and to share news about how our talented team has helped clients in Austin and around the country. We’ll also highlight ways that we’ve tried to create a fairer and better world in our community and beyond.

And we’d love to catch up in person! Please give us a shout if you’re based in Austin or here for a few days. We’ll take you for coffee or a drink at one of our neighborhood spots — the lovely Hotel Ella and Ranch 616 are right down the street.
Looking Back on 2022
As we embark on 2023, we’re taking a moment to reflect on our efforts and honors from the previous year. This year has quite a bit to live up to, because in 2022 we accomplished a great deal.
We Got You Thinking
In addition to advocating for our clients, Wittliff Cutter attorneys prioritize speaking and publishing on important legal issues.

María Amelia Calaf (MAC) published an article about the importance of protecting trade secrets in onboarding and offboarding decisions, “Inside Job: How Businesses Can Protect Valuable Trade Secrets,” in Corporate Compliance Insights. Please check out the article for some useful legal insights.

Leah Buratti discussed the “The Ins and Outs of Patent Damages” at UT Law CLE's 27th Annual Advanced Patent Law Institute and presented “East vs. West: The District Makes a Difference” at the Texas Bar CLE Advanced IP Law program.

Reid Wittliff co-presented "Developments in Privacy Law" at the State Bar of Texas’ Advanced Consumer & Commercial Law course.

Reid and Slade Cutter spoke on social media survival tips for physicians at the TexMed Conference.
We Made Headlines
Our dedication doesn’t go unnoticed. We’re grateful to our clients and peers for recognizing our work.

The firm was named as the 2022 Travis County Women Lawyers Outstanding Firm and recognized for its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Our attorneys were again recognized by Thompson Reuters Super Lawyers (MAC, Reid, Ryan Botkin, Katherine Chiarello, and John Saba), Austin Monthly Magazine Best Lawyers (Leah, MAC, Katherine, Slade, Asra Syed, and Jennifer Rappoport Colimon), and Best Lawyers in America Ones to Watch (Asra).

Leah received the Austin Bar Foundation’s David H. Walter Community Excellence Award for her service on the board of American Gateways.

MAC was named a Diversity and Inclusion Champion by Texas Lawyer for her work championing Latinas in the profession.
We Achieved Victories
As always, our successes in 2022 were diverse and hard earned, and we often achieved settlement successes and wins for our clients outside the public eye. But last year came with its fair share of public victories for Wittliff Cutter’s clients.

After a yearlong courtroom saga, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling in favor of our client, Moov Technologies, Inc. in a trade secrets case. In a unanimous decision, the Fifth Circuit held that there was no evidence Moov had accessed or used plaintiffs’ data, and thus the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that Moov had misappropriated trade secrets. Moov was represented by MAC and Katherine.

In November, John and Katherine won a significant summary disposition on behalf of their client, Centerra Homes, in a copyright dispute. That ruling paved the way for a favorable settlement.

John’s 2021 patent infringement verdict on behalf of Lone Star Technological Innovations LLC was ranked as one of the top 50 verdicts in Texas by TopVerdict.
We Serve as Leaders
Our attorneys are leaders in the legal community and share their talents by serving local and national organizations.

MAC was appointed to the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Latina Commission.

Ryan served as a teaching assistant to U.S. District Judge Alan Albright’s patent litigation class at the University of Texas School of Law. He also returned as the co-chair of the Texas Bar Foundation’s Austin Nominating Committee and is serving as the 2022-23 president of the Lloyd Lochridge American Inn of Court.

Kayna Levy was selected as a member of the 10th annual Austin Young Lawyer Association/Austin Bar Association Leadership Academy.
We Made a Difference
In addition to representing business clients, our attorneys also take on important pro bono work.

Ryan, MAC, Katherine, and Kayna advocated at a two-day evidentiary hearing before the Honorable Robert Pitman to vindicate the First Amendment rights of seven courageous individuals from Llano, Texas, who sued the county after local officials ordered that LGTBQ+ and critical race theory books be removed from the library’s shelves and online catalog. Check out the press coverage here: New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, The Texas Tribune, ABC News, and CNN.

Associate Joshua Kelly argued before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a case that could determine how criminal defendants are treated during supervision revocation proceedings. His argument is available on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ YouTube channel.

In coordination with The Survivors’ Project at the Lone Star Justice Alliance, Erin Eckhoff is representing Martha Acevedo, a Texas mother and grandmother whose criminal conviction and 25-year prison sentence stems from her status as a domestic violence survivor, in her efforts to obtain a pardon from the State of Texas.
We're Ready for 2023
We’ll continue tenaciously advocating and thoughtfully strategizing for the best outcomes for our clients in 2023, and we have trials right in our wheelhouse coming up:

Ryan, MAC, Leah, and Asra are preparing for a week-long AAA arbitration hearing to enforce a client’s restrictive covenants, as well as protect it from trade secret misappropriation.

Additionally, MAC, Katherine and Jack Simms will continue to defend Moov Technologies. They will appear before a jury in the Western District of Texas to argue against accusations of trade secrets misappropriation.

Ryan, MAC, and Katherine will defend the First Amendment rights of seven Llano citizens before U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in the Western District of Texas.

Ryan is scheduled to go to trial in June representing a successful startup founder against a venture capital group in a shareholder claim arising out of the sale of his company.
About Wittliff Cutter

Wittliff Cutter is a boutique firm based in Austin. With a deep bench of seasoned attorneys, Wittliff Cutter advises clients on intellectual property disputes, represents them in complex litigation across the country, and provides general counsel services. For more information, visit WittliffCutter.com.

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