Following several years of declining health, Garland has finally found rest on September 14, 2023. He was born in Taylor, Texas, on March 1, 1939, to Paul Milton Andrews and wife Modene Norris Andrews where his father was an assistant football coach. The family moved to College Station several years later when his father accepted a position in the athletic department at Texas A&M. Garland attended all twelve years of primary education in the A&M Consolidated school system. He played football in both Junior High and High School serving as co-captain his senior year. Also, while in high school he proudly joined the National Guard’s famed 36th Infantry Division.
After high school he entered Texas A&M to study Chemical Engineering. He married his high school sweetheart, Betty Mead, on June 6, 1958. He also graduated from the OCS training school as a 2nd Lieutenant, and shortly after was called to active duty at Fort Polk, LA, during the Berlin Crisis. After discharge he returned to college graduating with degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Business Administration.
Garland graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1966, and that same year was admitted to the bars of Oklahoma and Texas. With degrees in Chemical Engineering and law, he decided to specialize in the practice of Patent Law and spent his first two years in the patent department of Phillips Petroleum Company where he developed skills in the preparation and prosecution of patent application in the U.S. Patent Office.
Wishing to broaden his patent law expertise, he moved to Dallas, Texas in 1968, and joined the private practice firm that specialized in obtaining patents, but also defended patent owners and alleged infringers of patents. That firm became known as Richards, Medlock & Andrews, the largest patent firm in Dallas at the time.
Garland was a successful patent litigator who won several important judgments for clients such as Atlas Powder Company, against E.I. DuPont deNemours and other of its competitors.
His best known contribution to patent law arose from his prevailing decision in the Kingsdown Medical Consultants, Ltd. V. Hollister, Inc. which materially changed the defense of inequitable conduct asserted in virtually every patent case. That defense was characterized by legal writers and practicing lawyers as a “plague” in the U.S. Patent Law. The Kingsdown decision cured the ”plague” by changing the standard of proving inequitable conduct by eliminating gross negligence as a step in justifying an inference of an intent to deceive. The skill and integrity he exhibited in the handling of patent cases earned him the respect of clients and opposing counsel.
Retiring in 2000, he moved to family land in Eastland County, TX, where he raised black Angus cattle. He enjoyed his many hobbies like gardening, reading and hunting. His love of hunting took him to Africa, Alaska, and Montana for big game, but his favorite game was always the Texas white tail deer.
Garland is preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Byron E. Andrews. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Betty, by daughters Susan and husband Jeff Brundrett, Karen and husband Randy Edwards, and Sara Andrews Bender, grandchildren Matthew Edwards and fiancé Bri, Robert Edwards, Kate Brundrett, and Jake Brundrett and wife Emma.
A private memorial service following cremation will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers please consider a memorial donation in Garland’s name to Tunnels 2 Towers, your favorite military foundation or your own favorite charity.
