Chicago
One South Dearborn
Chicago, Illinois 60603

Phone 312.853.7293
Fax 312.853.7036

Practice Areas
General Appellate
Intellectual Property
Litigation
Securities Litigation

Constantine L. Trela, Jr., Partner

CONSTANTINE L. TRELA, JR., has been a litigation partner in the Chicago office since 1986. Mr. Trela is one of the coordinators of the firmÕs national Appellate Practice group. He has handled a variety of matters in the United States Supreme Court, most of the U.S. Courts of Appeals and in various state supreme and intermediate appellate courts. At the trial level, Mr. Trela, a member of the Trial Bar of the Northern District of Illinois, focuses on securities and commodities suits, complex commercial disputes, and intellectual property litigation.

Mr. TrelaÕs appellate practice covers a broad range of substantive areas, including financial, product liability, insurance, environmental and patent matters. By way of example, Mr. Trela has persuaded the Seventh Circuit to overturn a $3.4 million jury verdict entered against Marathon Oil as a result of a propane gas explosion, Freislinger v. Emro Propane, 99 F.3d 1412 (7th Cir. 1996), and a $2.4 million jury verdict entered against Zenith Electronics in a dealership termination dispute, Morley-Murphy Co. v. Zenith Electronics Corp., 142 F.3d 373 (7th Cir. 1998). He won a unanimous decision from the Illinois Supreme Court on behalf of a group of thirteen chemical manufacturers who sought dismissal of a complaint alleging that the plaintiffs suffered from acquired chemical sensitivity. Sander v. Dow Chemical Co., 651 N.E.2d 1071 (Ill. 1995). Mr. Trela convinced the Illinois Appellate Court to reject an Illinois Department of Revenue contention that American Stores had improperly claimed an investment tax credit for equipment, American Stores Co. v. Illinois Dept. of Revenue, 694 N.E.2d 644 (Ill. App. 1998), and convinced the Indiana Court of Appeals to reverse a summary judgment ruling against Johnson & Johnson in a license dispute, Joint Medical Products Corp. v. Zimmer, Inc., 783 N.E.2d 1287 (Ind. App. 2003). Mr. Trela also persuaded the Seventh Circuit that accountant liability claims against Deloitte & Touche were barred by the statute of limitations. Apex Automotive v. Deloitte & Touche, 233 F.3d 1063 (7th Cir. 2000).

In the patent area, Mr. Trela has represented clients in the Federal Circuit in cases involving everything from disposable diapers to semiconductor chips to computer operating systems to plastic decorative moldings. In recent years, a team led by Mr. Trela convinced the Federal Circuit to reverse a district court ruling that had held an AT&T patent invalid under Section 101 of the Patent Act in AT&T Corp. v. Excel Communications, 172 F.3d 1352 (Fed. Cir. 1999). In GFI, Inc. v. Franklin Furniture Corp., 265 F.3d 1268 (Fed. Cir. 2001), Mr. Trela helped to convince the Federal Circuit to uphold a finding of inequitable conduct in a case in which the prior art status of the undisclosed information was undecided. Mr. Trela helped to persuade the Federal Circuit to affirm a reexamination decision that rejected a patent on a steel-making process which had been the basis for a potentially crippling infringement judgment against USX Corp. In re Inland Steel Co., 265 F.3d 1354 (Fed. Cir. 2001). In Multi-Tech Systems v. Microsoft, 357 F.3d 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2004), which CNET.com described as "a case that could have roiled the computer and Internet telephony industries," Mr. Trela persuaded the Federal Circuit that the patentee’s claims concerning transmission of data over telephone lines did not extend to communications over the Internet. And, in Power MOSFET Techs., Inc. v. Siemens AG, 378 F.3d 1396 (Fed. Cir. 2004), Mr. Trela convinced the Federal Circuit that power MOSFET chips made by STMicroelectronics do not include the "interface" required by the plaintiff’s patent. Most recently, in Eolas Techs., Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., 399 F.3d 1325 (Fed. Cir. 2005), Mr. Trela convinced the Federal Circuit to vacate one of the largest infringement verdicts in history, a $565 million award against Microsoft based on claims that its Windows® operating system infringed the plaintiffs’ patent. Mr. Trela’s current appellate representations include matters for Alcon Laboratories, Microsoft, Aon Corporation, Continental Casualty, Deloitte & Touche, Marley Mouldings, and Loyola University Medical Center.

At the trial level, Mr. Trela has represented Ferruzzi Finanziaria, an Italian conglomerate, and various of its affiliates against charges of commodity manipulation; he has represented True North Communications in litigation challenging its merger with Bozell; he has represented directors of First Chicago, Zenith Electronics, and the Southern Company in shareholder suits alleging mismanagement and officer misconduct; and he has represented a Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Phar-Mor, Inc., formed to investigate alleged misconduct on the part of senior management. Mr. Trela was part of a Sidley team that obtained a $137 million securities fraud jury verdict in federal court on behalf of a subsidiary of Continental Grain Company. He also has defended Deloitte & Touche USA, LLP, in an action brought by the Liquidator of a failed life insurance company, the Walt Disney Company and mySimon, Inc. in intellectual property actions, and Warner-Lambert, Johnson & Johnson, and Husky Injection Molding in patent infringement and licensing actions.

Prior to joining the firm in 1981, Mr. Trela served as a law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Robert A. Sprecher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He was a John Henry Wigmore Scholar at Northwestern and editor-in-chief of the Law Review.

Mr. Trela is a member of the American, Illinois, Chicago, Fifth Circuit, Federal Circuit and Seventh Circuit Bar Associations and the Law Club of Chicago. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation. In 1993, Chicago Lawyer magazine named Mr. Trela its "Person of the Year." In 2002, Mr. Trela was awarded the Walter J. Cummings Award by the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

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