Experience
Mercari U.S. Inc.
Represented Mercari in response to subpoenas issued by Meta and the Federal Trade Commission in the FTC v. Meta antitrust action.
Trial Victory for Smart Meter Technology Company
Defended a smart meter technology company in a federal bankruptcy court bench trial against billion-dollar damage claims asserted by a technology licensor. Following the two-week trial, the court found for our client on all counts, not only rejecting the licensor’s damage claims but fully vindicating our client's rights under the license agreement.
Profectus Technologies v. Google LLC
Represented Google LLC in its complete defense verdict from a Texas federal jury in the Western District of Texas in a case alleging that Google's Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max devices infringed a patent asserted by Profectus Technologies. The jury found that the asserted claims of the patent were invalid and that Google did not infringe.
Networking and Cybersecurity Solutions Company Patent Infringement Lawsuit
Represented a multinational networking and cybersecurity solutions company in a 6-patent infringement lawsuit in the Western District of Texas and in the related IPR proceedings. The lawsuit accused a broad range of data center-related technology, including routers, switches, firewall devices, and the company’s operating system of infringement. The matter resolved with a settlement favorable for our client.
Symbology Innovations v. Muji Ltd.
As lead counsel, successfully defended Muji in the U.S. District Court for Delaware in a multi-patent case relating to QR code technology.
Adobe Prevails in Writ of Mandamus Petition Seeking Transfer Out of WD of Texas
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals granted Adobe Inc.’s writ of mandamus petition seeking to transfer a patent case from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to Adobe’s home forum in the Northern District of California.
Altbaier v. Down-Lite
In this action, we represented the defendant/employer, Down-Lite, who develops and sells proprietary blends of down and feather, in the California-based companion action brought by the employee/shareholder to a misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract action filed in the Southern District of Ohio that had been filed by our client. The employee/shareholder was seeking preliminary injunctive relief to enjoin our client from enforcing a non-compete restriction and non-disclosure of trade secrets limitation in agreements he had signed with our client. Following a court hearing, we successfully defeated plaintiff’s emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and obtained a complete dismissal of this action pending further proceedings in the Ohio proceedings brought by our client.
Huawei Technologies and Futurewei Technologies v. Yiren “Ronnie” Huang and CNEX Labs, Inc.
After a 3-week jury trial in Eastern District of Texas, successfully defended start-up CNEX Labs in a bet-the-company case against all claims of trade secret misappropriation, CFAA, RICO, and tortious interference brought by Huawei Technologies and Futurewei Technologies and attained a finding of misappropriation of trade secrets against Huawei in the field of SSD controller technology.
BladeRoom v. Facebook and Emerson
After a five-week jury trial before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, our team won for UK-based BladeRoom a $30 million verdict against global manufacturing giant Emerson for willful and malicious misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of a non-disclosure agreement relating to BladeRoom’s revolutionary new methodology for constructing warehouse-sized data centers. The Daily Journal named this one of the “Top Verdicts” in California in 2018. The Court subsequently awarded BladeRoom an additional $30 million in exemplary damages and $17 million in prejudgment interest, for a total judgement exceeding $77 million. Our client settled with Facebook after the first week of trial.
Blue Spike v. Adobe Systems
Defended Adobe Systems in a five-patent case relating to signal abstraction technology involving 70+ defendants. We successfully obtained a transfer of venue from the Eastern District of Texas to the Northern District of California followed by a judgment of non-infringement. Pursued recovery of attorneys’ fees through appeal.
Tridia Corp. v. NTT Resonant Corp.
Served as lead counsel for this subsidiary of Japan’s largest telecom company, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Co., in its first ever patent litigation in the United States. The case filed in Georgia Northern District Court presented unique questions involving the role of special masters to resolve section 101 motions and personal service of Japanese companies in the United States under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Purple Leaf v. Google, Inc.
Defended Google Checkout in the Eastern District of Texas against assertions that it infringed a patent owned by Purple Leaf that purportedly disclosed a way to conduct an online transaction directly between merchant and buyer. After initial pleadings, we were able to attain a dismissal of the claims against Google.
MAZ Encryption v. Dell Inc.
Defending Dell Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware against allegations that its DDPE and DDPA products infringe two patents.
Rotatable Technologies v. Motorola Mobility LLC and Quickoffice Inc.
Obtained a non-infringement judgment for defendants Motorola Mobility and Quickoffice Inc. on 47 mobile devices in a patent case in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Judgment was upheld on appeal.
Round Rock Research v. Dell Inc.
Defended Dell in the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Delaware against allegations that its products infringed 20 patents across a wide range of technologies involving DRAM, server management and monitoring, and BIOS.
e-Micro Corporation v. Google, Inc.
Defended Google against allegations that Google Checkout infringes a patent allegedly related to electronic payment transactions conducted on the Internet.
Cioffi, et al. v. Google Inc
Defended Google in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in a four-patent case relating to multi-process web browsers. The case is currently pending a post-trial invalidity decision based whether the reissue patents improperly recaptured disclaimed subject matter under 35 USC section 251.
Restricted Spending Solutions v. Allow Card
We won summary judgment of invalidity for our client Visa USA, Inc. in this patent action filed in Chicago asserting a patent over an "allowance" card for teens that can be controlled by the parent. This was a significant victory. Not only is a summary judgment of invalidity rare, but the well-known NPE Acacia was the ultimate owner of the plaintiff and had managed to exact settlements with many of the other eighteen defendants. 743 F. Supp. 2d 954 (N.D. Ill. 2010)(granting summary judgment).
Every Penny Counts, Inc. v. American Express Co., et al.
Defended Visa U.S.A. Inc. in a case where the plaintiff accused Visa’s gift card technology of infringing five patents. We prevailed on a case-dispositive claim construction at the district court, leading to a stipulated judgment of non-infringement on all five patents. The Federal Circuit upheld the claim construction and judgment on appeal. 563 F.3d 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2009). A petition for en banc rehearing and petition for writ of certiorari were both denied.
3M Innovative Properties v. The Clorox Company
We represented Clorox, Brita, Pentair and Sears in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by 3M and its Cuno subsidiary in Minneapolis. The case involves two patents covering replacement water filters used in refrigerators. The court issued a favorable claims construction for Defendants in December 2007 as part of a ruling denying summary judgment. The case then settled on terms favorable to our clients.