Mr. Matthews was born in Mont Belvieu, Texas, where he attended Barbers Hill High School, played football, and graduated as Valedictorian. He was the youngest Eagle Scout in the United States at the age of 13. Later, he attended the University of Texas on a football scholarship, where he played for the late Darrell K. Royal, and received a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1964. After graduating from law school, Mr. Matthews worked in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as a Patent Examiner and attended George Washington University Law School, concentrating on intellectual property related courses covering patent prosecution and litigation. Mr. Matthews returned to Houston to join a patent law firm, which became Pravel, Wilson and Matthews. In 1972, he formed his own firm to focus on the litigation of intellectual property matters.
Mr. Matthews has served as lead counsel in many jury trials representing both plaintiffs and defendants throughout the United States and Western Europe and has obtained recoveries of $1 million, $10 million, and $50 million, including a jury verdict in excess of $350 million. He has litigated every type of intellectual property issue, including patent, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, and copyright cases. In addition, he has served as a court-appointed special master over intellectual property issues and has also testified as an expert witness in numerous, highly technical business tort and patent litigation matters.
Mr. Matthews is licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the state courts of Texas, the federal district courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., and the United States Supreme Court. He is a fellow member of the Houston Bar Association and a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Houston Bar Association, the Federal Circuit Bar, and the Fifth Circuit Bar. He is also active in the American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association and the Houston Intellectual Property Lawyers Association. He has also lectured at bar and association meetings on the selection of juries for the trial of patent cases.