
Hilary L. Preston

The Grace Building
1114 Avenue of the Americas
32nd Floor
New York, New York 10036

Hilary currently serves as a Vice Chair of the firm and a member of the Management Committee and the Diversity Executive Committee. Hilary additionally serves as Co-Chair of V&E’s Women’s Initiative.
Hilary focuses her litigation practice on intellectual property litigation and commercial disputes. She has represented clients in these types of lawsuits in trial and appellate courts across the country and regularly “provides strong practical advice and offers creative solutions” for clients (Chambers USA 2016). Hilary also has substantial experience counseling clients in risk management surrounding technology development, particularly in the sports, digital media, mobile content delivery, and e-commerce industries. In particular, she is noted as having “excellent communication skills and knowledge of the digital technology and telecommunications arenas” and has been called “a trusted advisor” with “excellent judgment” (Chambers USA 2016). Hilary has been recognized for her work in Chambers USA since 2014 and in New York Super Lawyers since 2013.
Experience Highlights
(Fed. Cir., D. Del.) – Obtained complete dismissal of a patent infringement suit against a publicly traded database services company, based on a finding that all asserted patents were invalid as directed to patent ineligible abstract ideas; affirmed at the Federal Circuit
(S.D.N.Y.) – Secured complete dismissal of two data privacy class actions filed against two major sports leagues asserting violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), based on the alleged use of Meta Pixel on webpages containing video
(S.D. Tex.) – Represented global advisory firm as plaintiff in a trademark infringement, dilution, unfair competition and cybersquatting case, successfully negotiating favorable settlement that curtailed substantial consumer confusion
(S.D.N.Y.) – Obtained complete victory on behalf of major sports league in patent infringement case related to methods that allowed the use of “trick modes” when reading audio video data and which focused on the use of HTTP Live Streaming technology
Assisted a major sports league in performing a comprehensive data privacy assessment, including assessment of policies and online activity tracking tools, and in execution of cybersecurity incident response
Represented sports league in license and development agreements with a variety of vendors, including Amazon Web Services and Intel, related to the league’s “Digital Athlete” platform, which uses AI, machine learning and league data to build virtual player models to better predict and prevent injuries
(E.D. Tex.) — Representing a multinational technology manufacturer in patent infringement litigation related to liquid crystal display (LCD) technologies
(C.D. Cal.) — Representing a provider of technology tools for media creators in a patent infringement lawsuit related to storage and retrieval of multimedia content
(D. Del.) — Representing the provider of a leading database platform in a patent infringement lawsuit relating to data compression, decompression, storage and retrieval methods
(PTAB) — Represented a Korean toy company in inter partes review proceedings on three patents involving transformable toys, which patents are the subject of simultaneous patent infringement litigation initiated by a competing toy maker
(C.D. Cal.; PTAB) — Represented major sports league in a patent infringement action relating to the league’s online video streaming platforms and applications; achieved invalidity of one asserted patent based on unpatentable subject matter and succeeded in instituting inter partes review on two other asserted patents
(E.D. Tex.) — Represented a global restaurant chain in litigation in which the company has been accused of copyright and patent infringement in connection with its use of certain business analytics software
(S.D.N.Y) — Represented a major media company in a class action lawsuit brought against several defendant-publishers involving allegations of fraud, negligence and liability in relation to a national, multi-year subscription fraud scheme; obtained complete dismissal of all claims with prejudice
(Fed. Cir.); (D.N.M.) — Represented major sports league and major sports media company in litigation involving technology for streaming video from sporting events to fans’ mobile devices; obtained complete dismissal by district court of all claims with prejudice and invalidity of the asserted patents based on unpatentable subject matter, which was affirmed on appeal
(E.D.Tex.) — Represented major cable news network in a patent infringement case relating to mobile app technologies; obtained complete dismissal at the pleadings stage and invalidity of the asserted patent based on unpatentable subject matter
(Fed. Cir.); (W.D. Tex.) — Represented major sports media companies in a patent infringement case relating to mobile streaming media applications; the V&E team led the briefing and oral argument on behalf of consolidated defendant groups to obtain a dismissal at the pleadings stage and invalidity of the asserted patent based on unpatentable subject matter, which was affirmed on appeal
(S.D.N.Y.); (Fed. Cir.) — Obtained a complete affirmance of the dismissal of all claims against a leading consumer electronics and digital media provider before the Federal Circuit; claims included fraud, breach of contract, patent infringement, and trademark infringement
(D. Ariz.) — Represented a major sports league and one of its teams in a litigation involving the league’s and the team’s right to send text and social media messaging to their fans; the matter was successfully resolved
(W.D. Tex.) — Represented a major media company in a dispute relating to on-line database search technology; obtained complete dismissal of all claims with prejudice
(W.D. Tex.) — Represented a major sports media company in a jury trial involving four patents directed to the broadcast and display of real-time graphical game updates to fans over the Internet; the plaintiff alleged our client willfully infringed and sought substantial damages; following an eight-day trial, the jury returned a take-nothing verdict in favor of our client, finding that our client didn’t infringe the four asserted patents, that each of the asserted claims were invalid, and that three of the four patents were unenforceable due to inequitable conduct
(Fed. Cir.); (E.D. Tex.) — Represented a major media company in a patent infringement case related to photographic images and information displayed on the floor—a significant source of revenue for the client—and obtained a very favorable ruling on claim construction; subsequently, the plaintiff conceded that it could not prove infringement, and the court entered a final judgment of dismissal, which was affirmed on appeal
(E.D. Tex.); (Fed. Cir.) — Represented a defense group against patent infringement claims related to automatic repayment of loans to merchants by diversion of credit card receipts; all asserted patent claims found invalid after trial and upheld on appeal
Credentials
- The University of Texas School of Law, J.D. with high honors, 2003 (Chancellor-at-Large; Order of the Coif; Texas Law Review, 2001–2003)
- Rice University, B.A., Physics cum laude, 1999
- Chambers USA, Intellectual Property (Texas), 2021–2023; “Recognized Practitioner” in Intellectual Property: Patent (New York), 2014−2019; “Eminent Practitioners” in Intellectual Property (Texas), 2023
- Legal 500 U.S., Sport, 2022
- Selected to the 500 Leading Litigators in America, Lawdragon, 2023 and 2024
- Selected to the 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon, 2022 and 2023
- Law360, Rising Star, 2016
- Selected to the New York Rising Stars list, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2013−2018
- Managing Intellectual Property, IP Stars, Patent Star, 2021
- New York
- Texas
- U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, and Federal Circuits
- U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of New York
- U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas
- Rankings & AwardsOctober 18, 2023
- Press ReleaseOctober 16, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsSeptember 11, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsJune 12, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsJune 1, 2023
- Event RecapMay 1, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsJanuary 17, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsOctober 4, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsJune 16, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsJune 1, 2022
- InsightMarch 8, 2022
Published by Bloomberg Law
- Rankings & AwardsFebruary 21, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsSeptember 28, 2021
- Rankings & AwardsJuly 15, 2021
- InsightJuly 1, 2021
V&E IP Update
- InsightMarch 11, 2021
V&E IP Insights
- InsightMarch 25, 2020
- “”IP of Sports,” 32nd Annual Course on Advanced Intellectual Property Law, February 28, 2019 (speaker)
- “Global Game Change,” IAM’s IPBC Asia 2017 – Maximising Corporate IP Value, October 30, 2017 (speaker)
- “What’s the Price Tag for Failing to Diversify?” American Bar Association Annual Meeting, August 11, 2017 (panelist)
- “The Big Deal With Big Data: New Security Tools Are Needed,” Law 360, July 6, 2015 (co-author)
- “Using Open Source Software: Do’s and Don’ts,” CLE Presentation, November 2013, June 2014 (co-presenter)
- “Drift of Patented Genetically Engineered Crops: Rethinking Liability Theories,” Texas Law Review, March 2003
- Manual on Usage, Style & Editing, 9th ed., 2002 (co-editor)