Experience

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. Argued appeal before Federal Circuit seeking recovery of attorney's fees.

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.

Firm Highlights

News

Farella Lawyers Recognized as 2023 IP STARS by Managing Intellectual Property

Farella Braun + Martel intellectual litigation partners Daniel Callaway , James Day , Jeffrey Fisher , Winston Liaw , and Eugene Mar were recognized by Managing Intellectual Property in the 2023 edition of IP...

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Publication

Failures Are Valuable IP: Protect Your Startup’s Negative Trade Secrets

Technology companies and start-ups are familiar with protecting inventions with patents, and protecting their secret formulas, source code, and algorithms as trade secrets. But tech companies may not be aware of another powerful form of...

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Publication

Failures Are Valuable IP: Protect Your Startup’s Negative Trade Secrets

Technology companies and start-ups are familiar with protecting inventions with patents, and protecting their secret formulas, source code, and algorithms as trade secrets. But tech companies may not be aware of another powerful form of...

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News

Farella Lawyers Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2024 Edition

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News

USAA Wins Patent Agreement With Discover, Vows To Keep Going After Banks

Eugene Mar spoke to American Banker for the article, "USAA Wins Patent Agreement With Discover, Vows To Keep Going After Banks." Link (subscription required): https://www.americanbanker.com/news/usaa-wins-patent-agreement-with-discover-vows-to-keep-going-after-banks Eugene said this becomes a business decision for a...

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Publication

How To Avoid Allegations of Trade Secret Misappropriation in California

When departing a company, an executive, founder, or employee with access to trade secrets or confidential information may face legal allegations around whether they will use or disclose their former employer’s trade secrets at...

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Publication

Under FTC’s New Proposed Rule, Employers Will No Longer Be Able to Rely on Noncompete Agreements

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a rule that would prohibit the use of noncompete agreements in employment contracts. Noncompete agreements prevent employees and independent contractors from pursuing certain forms of employment &ndash...

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Publication

AI and Trade Secrets: A Complicated Friendship

Excitement has been growing for decades around the development, training, and use of generative AI, but this past year the excitement escalated into a frenzy. Everyone is considering how AI impacts their business. This article...

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