Eric G. Soller

ERIC G. SOLLER is a partner with Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP.  He serves as Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group.  Eric concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation and complex business litigation.

Mr. Soller is a cum laude graduate from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was the Special Projects Editor of its Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree in Health Policy and Administration from the Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Soller served as an Assistant District Attorney in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  In that position, he tried dozens of felony and misdemeanor cases to verdict before both juries and judges.  He has successfully litigated numerous cases in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County and Washington County, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Mr. Soller has represented clients in a myriad of intellectual property litigation matters.  He is currently representing clients in patent infringement cases in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Best Medical International, Inc .v. Accuray Incorporated, No. 12-1043-TFM; Air Vent, Inc. v. Owens Corning Corp., No. 10-1699-TFM; NOAH Systems v. Intuit, No. 10-1420-AJS;  and Kennametal Inc. v. Sandvik, Inc. et al., 09-857-TFM), the Delaware District Court (Allure Home Creations v. Maytex Mills, No. 10-712-GMS) and the Northern District of West Virginia (Walhonde Tools, Inc. v. Wilson Works, Inc. et al., No 1:09CV48).  He has tried patent infringement cases to verdict, conducted claim construction (Markman) hearings and represented clients before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Mr. Soller successfully argued on behalf of Appellants in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court case of Schwartz v. Rockey, 593 Pa. 536; 932 A.2d 885; 2007 Pa. LEXIS 2177, which defined the standard for an award of treble damages under the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, as well as establishing the standard in Pennsylvania for the election of damages versus equitable remedies.  Other representative cases include:

  • NOAH Systems v. Intuit (Fed. Cir. 2012) – Argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of patent holder in case involving automated accounting system.
  • Evony v. Holland, No. 2:11-cv-00064 (W.D.Pa. 2011) – Obtained preliminary and permanent injunction under Copyright Act, Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Lanham Act involving Massively Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy (“MMORTS”) game.
  • In Re: Portec Shareholders Litigation (Allegheny Co., Pa., 2010) – Represented corporation and its directors against injunction to prevent tender offer merger.
  • Respironics, Inc. v. Invacare, 719 F.Supp. 577 (W.D.Pa. 2010) – (Obtained summary judgment in favor of accused infringer of patent for sleep therapy devices for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.
  • Highland Tank & Mfg. Co. v. PS International, Inc., 742 F.Supp.2d 722 (W.D.Pa. 2010) – Obtained summary judgment in favor of accused infringer of patent for oil-water separator.
  • White v. Township of Upper St. Clair, 968 A.2d 806 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2009) – Obtained verdict dismissing challenge to the construction of a 350-foot high communications tower.
  • The Sollami Co. v. Kennametal, 2:06-cv-00062 (W.D.Pa. 2008) – Obtained summary judgment in favor of accused infringer of patents for road milling and mining tools.

Eric is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.  He is also a member of the American, Pennsylvania, New York and Allegheny County Bar Associations.

Since July of 2007, Mr. Soller has served as a Hearing Committee Member of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, for District 4.  He was reappointed in July 2010 for another three year term.

Mr. Soller recently spoke at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute Continuing Legal Education program on Officer and Director Liability, and specifically on Shareholder Derivative Suits and Litigation.

Mr. Soller is a Fellow of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation.  He is also a member of the St. Anthony Charitable Foundation Board, which aims to provide an academic course of studies and vocational training for students with developmental disabilities.  Mr. Soller also provides legal services through the Pittsburgh Neighborhood Legal Services Association’s Protection from Abuse Pro Bono Referral Program.