Raymond P. Niro, Jr.
Founding member Raymond P. Niro, Jr. consistently ranks among the best IP trial attorneys in the country. Over the course of his career, Niro has served as lead counsel in dozens of high-profile cases, representing both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation involving patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and unfair competition claims.
In the past several years, Niro has won a string of multimillion-dollar jury verdicts, including two among the Top 100 Verdicts in the country. On October 5, 2015, Niro won a $ 54 million jury award for his client Black & Decker on the yellow and black color scheme for its DeWalt line of power tools – – one of the largest trademark infringement verdicts in history. On September 18, 2019, Niro achieved a judgment of $ 4.3 million dollars for Chicago-based Kolcraft Enterprises, on a patent for children’s products.
This judgment arose from his successful $ 3.2 million jury verdict on August 31, 2018, and successful appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. More recently, in June 2023, Niro won a $ 4 million settlement for a defendant in a trademark dispute in the Southern District of New York, after obtaining $ 7.5 million for his client Weber-Stephen Products in litigation involving its Genesis line of grills, and $ 6.6 million for Black & Decker in another case.
In Niro’s first trial as lead counsel 20 years ago, he won a jury verdict of $ 2.1 million for Chicago company Control Alt Design, where the jury also found willful infringement, allowing the court to increase damages to $ 6.3 million. Before that, Niro served on the litigation teams (often second chair) in a string of successful jury verdicts ranging from $ 1.9 million to $ 48.7 million. In 2004, Niro was selected as one of the “Top 40 Illinois Attorneys Under 40” by the Illinois Law Bulletin, which reviewed more than a thousand nominations before naming Niro as one of the best lawyers in Illinois.
Niro has also successfully handled patent infringement defense cases for B. Braun Medical, Stanley Black & Decker, Weber-Stephen Products, ValueClick (now Conversant), Lemko Corp. and others. In February 2014, Raymond defended Progressive Medical, Inc. in a jury trial involving elastomeric infusion pumps, filed by plaintiff Kimberly-Clark in the Central District of California.
After the Court’s favorable pretrial rulings at the start of trial and Niro’s opening statement to the jury (which was the subject of an article in the IP360 legal publication (https://www.law360.com/ip/articles/513697), Kimberly-Clark reached a mid-trial settlement with Progressive. Among other notable defense victories, Niro convinced the Federal Circuit (on May 21, 2007) to affirm summary judgment of noninfringement in a landmark patent suit against Black & Decker, with sales of the accused products exceeding $300 million.
In 2024, Niro was selected as one of ‘America’s Top 100 High-Stakes Litigators.’ Less than one-half percent (0.5%) of all attorneys in the United States receive this honor, and Niro is pleased to be listed alongside Dan Webb, Robert Clifford, and other members of this elite group.
In addition to his litigation practice, Niro has taught courses at DePaul Law School and lectured at LES, the Chicago Bar Association, and other professional events.
On the personal side, Niro has been married for over 30 years and has 5 children. He wrestled in High School, played rugby in college, and currently participates in CrossFit and other athletic activities.
Admissions
State Supreme Courts
- Illinois
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- Southern District of California
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US Courts of Appeals
- Federal Circuit
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