Education & Honors

University of Michigan Law School, 1983, J.D., magna cum laude

Order of the Coif

Senior Editorial Board, Michigan Law Review

Awarded the Bodman, Longley Scholarship for achievements in the area of commercial law

Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism, 1980, B.S.J.

Bar admissions

Illinois

Professional activities and community service

Member, Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar since 1987

Member, The Sedona Conference - Working Group 5 (Patent Claim Construction Process)

Served on faculty for numerous programs sponsored by National Institute for Trial Advocacy, ABA National Institute, Corporate Counsel Institute, American Management Association and other organizations

Served as Adjunct Professor, Northwestern University School of Law - Litigation and Advocacy

Member, Board of Directors, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Past President and Board Member - The Springboard Foundation (a supporting organization of the Chicago Community Trust focused on raising and providing funds for grass-roots after school and enrichment programs for inner city Chicago children)

Mark E. Ferguson

Chicago Office
Courthouse Place
54 West Hubbard Street, Suite 300
Chicago, IL 60654
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Professional Practice

Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, Founding Partner, 1993-Present

Kirkland & Ellis, Partner, Litigation Department, 1983-1993

National trial and appellate practice; trials and other appearances in courts in numerous states and territories. Significant practice areas include the following:

Patent, Trademark and Other Technical Litigation
Patent litigation, including jury trials, for clients including Hewlett-Packard, 3Com, United Technologies/Hamilton Sundstrand, Infineon Technologies, BISSELL Inc., StorageApps, Inc., Siemens, Miles, Inc., CMI Corporation, Navteq and United Parcel Service as both plaintiffs and defendants; Lanham Act, trademark and trade dress litigation for clients including BISSELL Inc. and W.R. Grace & Co.; other technical litigation, including representation of ABB and its affiliates in disputes relating to performance of nuclear and conventional power generation systems.

Products Liability
Defense of class action, mass action and individual products liability and other claims for clients including Bayer MaterialScience, Bayer CropScience, NL Industries, Inc.

Complex Business and Commercial Litigation
Representation of clients including ABB, Inc., Dun & Bradstreet, Bessemer Securities, W.R. Grace & Co. in litigation arising out of corporate mergers, acquisitions and other transactions.

Accounting and Financial
Representation of several Big Four accounting firms in securities and alleged accountants' liability matters.

Defamation, Privacy and Business Torts
Represented Dun & Bradstreet, DePaul University and other clients in defamation/privacy actions including jury trials and appeals; represented numerous clients in business interference, fraud and deceptive trade practices cases.

Antitrust and Trade Regulation
Clients have included NCR Corporation, Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., Dart & Kraft, Inc., FMC Corp. and other companies. Matters include litigation and counseling under the Sherman, Clayton and FTC Acts and state antitrust statutes, as well as successful representation of several clients in merger proceedings before the FTC and Department of Justice, and in federal courts.

Securities
Clients have included W.R. Grace & Co., Motorola, Inc., Price Waterhouse, Katy Industries, First Chicago Corp., Gerrity Oil & Gas Co., Securities Settlement Corporation, and other corporations and individuals named as defendants in class-action, derivative and individual suits under state and federal securities laws and RICO, or subjects of SEC investigation.

Insurance Coverage Litigation
Environmental coverage litigation on behalf of NL Industries, Inc.

Banking and Lender Liability
Representation of clients including Bankers Trust and GMAC in matters relating to lender liability, fraud and other matters.

Franchise, Dealer and Distributor Disputes
Numerous matters for several clients, including Atari, Inc., Dean Foods (as Baskin-Robbins area franchisor) and W.R. Grace & Co.

Cases tried or otherwise taken to judgment

Krippelz v. Ford Motor Co (2008)
Represented inventor Jacob Krippelz, Sr. in patent infringement action against Ford Motor Co. involving automotive exterior mirror lighting systems.  Jury trial in United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Judge Zagel).  Case won.  Jury returned verdict in client' s favor in the amount of $23 million.

EMC Corp. v. Hewlett-Packard Co. (2004)
Represented Hewlett-Packard as defendant in patent infringement action relating to storage area network technology.  Three week Jury trial in Worcester, Mass. Federal District Court (Judge Gorton).  Trial lost, case settled while on appeal.

Grand Eagle Companies, Inc. v. ABB, Inc., et al. (2001-2002)
Represented ABB and ABB T&D in contract and trade secret litigation relating to nuclear and industrial circuit breaker servicing business.  Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, Ohio (Judge Brian Corrigan).  Preliminary injunction trial won. Case settled thereafter.

Combustion Engineering, Inc. and ABB, Inc. v. Imetal (2001)
Represented Combustion Engineering and ABB, Inc. as plaintiff in litigation arising out of sale and purchase of refractory business by French corporation Imetal, SA.  United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Judges Martin and Marrero).  Case won.  Obtained summary judgment in favor of CE and ABB on affirmative $30 million-plus contract claim and dismissing all of Imetal's counterclaims.  Affirmed in part and remanded in part on appeal.  Remainder of case won on remand. 

Avery Dennison v. The FLEXcon Company (2000)
Represented FLEXcon as defendant in patent litigation relating to multilayer film facestocks for labels, tapes and signs.  Northern District of Illinois (Judges Andersen and Rosenbaum).  Case won below; summary judgment of non-infringement entered in FLEXcon's favor. Affirmed on appeal.

BISSELL Homecare, Inc. v. Oreck Corporation (1999)
Represented BISSELL as declaratory plaintiff and counter-defendant in design patent and trade dress infringement case involving lightweight upright vacuum cleaners.  Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids) (Judge Robert Holmes Bell).  Preliminary injunction trial won, upheld on appeal.  Case settled thereafter.

Etak, Inc. v. Zexel Corporation v. Navigation Technologies Corporation (1997)
Represented Navigation Technologies Corporation as third-party defendant in patent action relating to computerized in-vehicle navigation system hardware, software and display technology.  Northern District of California (San Francisco) (Judge Conti).  Obtained summary judgment of non-infringement and/or invalidity on 91 of 92 patent claims asserted. Plaintiff and defendant settled thereafter, eliminating all claims against NavTech.

Maeser v. United Parcel Service, Inc. et al. (1997)
Represented UPS as defendant in patent action relating to computerized scanning and data entry devices.  District of Arizona (Phoenix) (Judge Broomfield).  Case won; obtained summary judgment of both non-infringement and invalidity on all asserted claims.

Ortho Diagnostics, Inc. v. Miles, Inc. (1994)
Represented Miles as defendant in patent action concerning laser-optical flow cytometer (blood testing device).  Jury trial in Southern District of New York (Judge Conner).  Case won - obtained judgment of both non-infringement and invalidity for all patents in suit.  Case identified by The National Law Journal as one of the Top Defense Verdicts of 1994

Bourke, et al. v. The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (1998)
Represented Dun & Bradstreet in case challenging company-wide determination of performance bonuses following spin-off reorganization.  Northern District of Illinois (Judge Gettleman) and Seventh Circuit.  Case won below and on appeal.

Bobrowicz v. Lee Hecht Harrison (1997)
Represented national outplacement consulting firm Lee Hecht Harrison as defendant in action alleging that LHH improperly "steered" outplaced employees away from competitors of its client.  Northern District of Illinois (Judge Plunkett).  Case won on motion; no appeal.

Whirlpool Financial Corp. v. W.R. Grace & Co. (1995)
Represented W.R. Grace as defendant in securities fraud action relating to acquisition financing transaction.  Northern District of Illinois (Judge Shadur) and Seventh Circuit.  Case won below and on appeal.

Patton v. Ohr Properties Management (1993)
Represented plaintiffs in pro bono housing discrimination case.  Jury trial in Northern District of Illinois (Judge Holderman).  Case won; no appeal.

Holefca, et al. v. Price Waterhouse (1993)
Represented Price Waterhouse in securities fraud class action arising out of failure of US Mutual Savings & Loan Association.  Eastern District of Michigan (Judge Duggan).  Partial summary judgment obtained and class certification defeated. Case settled thereafter without exchange of dollar compensation.

West Indies Automotive v. GMAC (1992)
Represented GMAC in $40 million lender liability case.  Jury trial in U.S. District Court, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. (Judge Farnan).  Case won below and on appeal.

In re DBA Systems, Inc. Securities Litigation (1992)
Represented outside director of DBA Systems in securities fraud class action alleging fraud on the market and insider trading.  Middle District of Florida (Judges Fawcett and Young).  Obtained summary judgment dismissing most claims; case settled thereafter.

Young v. Connecticut Mutual (1990-91)
Represented Corporate Compensation Plans, Inc. in trial court and on appeal in business interference and contract case.  Northern District of Illinois (Judge Hart) and Seventh Circuit.  Case won below and on appeal.

Mendenhall v. Barber-Greene (1990)
Represented CMI Corp. and inventor of asphalt recycling process as plaintiffs in patent case.  One-month jury trial in Northern District of Illinois (Judge Will).  Case won.

Amli Realty Co. v. The Koll Co. (1990)
Represented Koll in dispute over alleged oral contract for sale of real estate.  Preliminary injunction trial in federal court in Chicago (Judge Shadur).  Preliminary injunction trial lost; case settled.

Leventhal v. Katy Industries (1989-90)
Represented Katy and individual directors in $60 million class action 10b-5 case.  Two-month jury trial in District of Delaware (Judge Farnan); Appeal to Third Circuit Court of Appeals.  Case won below and on appeal.

HVAC Systems, Inc. v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (1989)
Represented Dun & Bradstreet as defendant in commercial libel action.  Northern District of Illinois (Judge Kocoras).  Case won - summary judgment obtained on all counts; no appeal.

Capitol Steel Co. v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (1987-88)
Represented Dun & Bradstreet in business libel case.  Three-month jury trial in Sacramento, California Superior Court (Judge Boskovitch).  Case won; no appeal.

Larese v. Dean Foods Co. (1987)
Represented area franchisor of Baskin-Robbins stores in franchisee termination case.  Jury trial in federal court in Denver (Judge Kane).  Case won; no appeal.

Atari, Inc. v. Continental Merchandisers, Inc. (1986)
Represented Atari in fraud and contract case against video game and computer distributor.  Two-week arbitration before American Arbitration Association, San Francisco.  Case won; no appeal.

Atari, Inc. v. Harris Trust & Savings Bank (1985)
Represented Atari in litigation over bank's failure to pay draft under irrevocable letter of credit.  Northern District of Illinois (Judge Hart).  Case won - summary judgment obtained requiring payment of draft amount plus interest; no appeal.

Other representative cases

Significant Current Matters

In Re Genetically Modified Rice Litigation
National lead trial counsel for Bayer CropScience in multi-district litigation concerning alleged presence of genetically engineered LLRice 601 and LLRice 604 in commercial rice.  Class and individual actions pending in six states; MDL consolidated in Eastern District of Missouri (Judge Perry).

Convolve v. Hewlett-Packard Company
Represent Hewlett-Packard in defensive patent and trade secrets litigation involving disk drive systems and technology.  Southern District of New York (Judge Daniels).

Tanner v. International Isocyanate Institute, et al.
Represent Bayer MaterialScience as defendant in class action products liability action concerning Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate (MDI)-containing products used in underground coal mining applications.  Northern District of Alabama.

Other Significant Matters

Tandberg v. Hewlett-Packard Company
Represented Hewlett-Packard in defensive and offensive patent litigation involving data storage tape drive systems and related products.  District of Colorado (Judge Babcock).  Case settled.

Hewlett-Packard Company, et al. v. EMC Corporation (2003-2005)
Represented Hewlett-Packard in both offensive and defensive patent infringement litigation relating to networked storage systems, computer peripheral devices, printers, and other electronic data systems.  Northern District of California (Judge Fogel).  Case settled as part of global settlement of multiple actions.

3Com v. Cambia Networks, Inc. (2002-2003)
Represented 3Com in trade secret litigation relating to third generation ("3G") wireless data technology.  Circuit Court of Cook County (Judge Jaffe).  Case settled. 

NL Industries, Inc. v. Commercial Union, et al. (1995-2000)
Represented NL as plaintiff in environmental insurance coverage litigation.  District of New Jersey and Third Circuit.  Argued seminal Third Circuit case concerning choice of law in multi-site environmental coverage actions; obtained favorable decision.  Case settled thereafter.

Siemens, AG v. LG Semicon; Hyundai v. Infineon Technologies, et al. (2000)
Represented Siemens and Infineon in litigation relating to semiconductor device and process patents.  District of Delaware (Judge McKelvie) and Northern District of California (Judge Ware).  Case settled.

Siemens Canada, Ltd. v. Lectron (2000)
Represented Siemens Canada as plaintiff in patent litigation concerning electronically controlled fuel vapor management valve technology.  Northern District of Illinois (Judge Manning).  Case settled.

Board of Trustees of City Colleges v. Arthur Andersen (2000)
Represented Arthur Andersen as defendant in litigation relating to derivative securities trading.  Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois (Judge Billik).  Obtained partial summary judgment as to most of plaintiff's damages claim, case settled thereafter.

In re Asbestos IV (Kanawha County, West Virginia) (1995)
Represented NL Industries in mass plaintiff asbestos products liability case in West Virginia state court (Judge MacQueen).  Case settled during trial.

Cline, et al. v. Gerrity Oil & Gas Company (1995)
Represented Gerrity and individual officers and directors in securities fraud class action arising out of alleged nondisclosure of information relating to reserves and production.  Southern District of New York (Judge Owen).  Case settled. 

News

Big Wins