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Intellectual Property Litigation

For more than 40 years, Irell's Intellectual Property Litigation practice has delivered exceptional results for plaintiffs and defendants in complex intellectual property disputes. Our experience includes patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, unfair competition and antitrust issues. We are also brought in to resolve significant commercial disputes involving technology.

Our team helps industry leaders, startups, leading academic institutions and multinational biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies solve their most challenging problems. Many of our clients are pushing the frontiers of technology, and we partner with them at the frontiers of the law to help them achieve their most important business goals.

As lead counsel, we have litigated patents from nearly every technology discipline, including software, semiconductors, computer peripherals, visual effects, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical products, telecommunications, industrial machinery, video games and e-commerce. Our victories range from jury verdicts in the billions of dollars to multiple wins recognized as defense verdicts of the year. The breadth of our work is international in scope, and we have substantial experience coordinating global litigation strategies for clients spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Key to our success is the incredible talent and relentless drive of our litigators, who are nationally known as leaders in the field and praised by clients and colleagues:

  • "Highly creative—Irell never just uses the same old playbook." – Chambers USA
  • "Irell's lawyers are some of the most thorough, diligent and detailed-oriented practitioners you could hope to have on your side. They turn out brilliant results as a matter of course." – Intellectual Asset Management's IAM Patent 1000
  • "The lawyers here are some of the most intellectually rigorous around, so while cases are staffed leanly, clients are never left wanting for the finest legal insight." – World Trademark Review's WTR 1000

Our team brings extraordinary qualifications and a high level of creativity to every matter. Many of our litigators have advanced technical degrees and professional experience in private industry, and all of them boast extraordinary academic records. We work collectively to solve the kinds of problems other firms can’t solve, and we draw upon the minds of our entire group—including associates and partners—to come up with the most novel and successful approaches to legal strategy. We are often brought in to take over and turn around “unwinnable” cases after serious losses by other firms.

Our practice includes some 25 registered patent attorneys who practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), representing clients in all manner of post-issuance proceedings, including inter partes review (IPR), covered business method, post-grant review and ex parte reexamination. Frequently, our group handles patent cases before the PTAB along with co-pending infringement litigation in federal district courts. Our tight-knit team coordinates closely, thinking one step ahead on issues such as claim construction to provide a unified legal strategy for both paths of litigation.

In addition to patent litigation, we regularly represent clients in high-profile copyright and trademark litigation in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies. We represent clients before the USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and the Court of Appeals to bring and defend oppositions and petitions to cancel. We represent both plaintiffs and defendants in copyright and trademark litigation, seeking and defending temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions and trials on the merits.

Experience

  • VLSI Technology LLC v. Intel Corporation. Obtained a $2.3 billion final judgment for VLSI Technology in a suit against Intel, which involved two patents on technology used in Intel’s microprocessors. The judgment was handed down in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. 
  • VLSI Technology LLC v. Intel Corporation. Secured a $948 million jury award plus running royalties for VLSI Technology in a suit against Intel involving a microprocessor technology patent. The jury found that Intel infringed the asserted claims in the patent, and that Intel had not shown the patent was invalid. The award was handed down in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
  • Netlist Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. (E.D. Tex.) / Netlist v. Micron Technology Inc. (E.D. Tex.). Secured (1) a $303 million jury verdict for Netlist in a suit against Samsung, in which the jury found Samsung willfully infringed five Netlist patents relating to computer memory technology, (2) a $445 million jury verdict for Netlist in a suit against Micron, in which the jury found that Micron willfully infringed two Netlist patents relating to computer memory technology, and (3) a $118 million verdict in a second trial against Samsung, in which the jury found willful infringement of three additional Netlist patents.
  • StreamScale, Inc. v. Cloudera, Inc. Obtained a $240 million verdict for StreamScale in a patent infringement suit against Cloudera, which involved cloud-based data storage. After a four-day trial, the jury found that Cloudera infringed all of the asserted claims of the three patents at issue in the case. The jury also found Cloudera did not prove that any of the claims were invalid. The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

  • G+ Communications, LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co. LTD., et al. Represented G+ Communications in a jury trial against Samsung on patents essential to the 5G standard originally created by ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company. The jury found infringement of two patents and also rejected Samsung’s claim that G+ breached its obligation of good faith negotiation, which exists because the patents are standard essential. The jury awarded a royalty rate of $1.50 per unit. The damages up until the trial were $67.5 million. The case was tried in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

  • DePuy Synthes Products, Inc. v. Veterinary Orthopedic Implants, Inc. Secured a $59.5 million verdict for DePuy Synthes, a Johnson & Johnson company, following a six-day patent infringement trial in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The jurors found that Veterinary Orthopedic Implants (VOI) and Fidelio Capital AB willfully infringed two DePuy Synthes patents relating to medical devices for the treatment of canine knee injuries. Subsequently, Irell obtained a permanent injunction barring the defendants from marketing or selling the infringing devices. 

  • Optis Wireless Technology LLC et al. v. Apple Inc. Secured a $300 million jury award for PanOptis in a suit against Apple involving patents essential to LTE technology used in iPhones and cellular-enabled iPads and watches. The award represented the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) royalty that jurors determined Apple owes PanOptis. In an earlier trial, a jury found that Apple infringed claims of the five patents at issue, determined all asserted claims were valid, and found willful infringement. The jury award is one of the largest involving standard-essential patents. 
  • Peter v. NantKwest. Persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to unanimously side with NantKwest, Inc. and reject the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s position that applicants who appeal to a district court must pay the agency’s legal bills, regardless of who wins. NantKwest is developing cancer treatments using natural killer cells. 
  • United Services Automobile Association v. PNC Bank, N.A. Secured a $218.45 million jury verdict for USAA in a patent infringement suit over mobile remote deposit technology against PNC Bank. The jury found that PNC Bank willfully infringed four USAA patents. 
  • United Services Automobile Association v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. In separate cases on behalf of USAA, persuaded juries to award $102 million and $200 million and individual findings of willful infringement against Wells Fargo relating to patents for mobile remote deposit technology. 
  • Finjan Inc. v. Juniper Networks, Inc. Successfully defended Juniper against a patent infringement lawsuit, convincing a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that Juniper did not infringe a malware detection patent held by Finjan Inc. Finjan asserted seven computer security patents against Juniper. The judge ordered each party to select the patent claim it felt was the strongest and move for early summary judgment on that claim in a proceeding the judge called a “Patent Showdown.” Juniper prevailed on summary judgment for the claim it selected, and defeated Finjan’s summary judgment motion – setting up the trial on what Finjan had selected as its strongest claim. During the trial, Irell persuaded the court that Finjan, which sought $60 million in damages, had not presented sufficient evidence to support a damages claim. The eight-member jury also delivered a unanimous finding of non-infringement for Juniper. After the trial, the judge ordered a second round of the “Patent Showdown.” Once again, Juniper obtained summary judgment on the claim it selected. Not only did Juniper defeat Finjan’s motion, but it also convinced the court to enter summary judgment in Juniper’s favor on that claim. Shortly after the ruling, Finjan voluntarily dismissed its remaining claims against Juniper. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a summary affirmance on appeal, and the trial judge ordered Finjan to pay Juniper $5.9 million in legal fees. The Federal Circuit also affirmed the fees ruling. Juniper's victory was recognized as a top defense verdict by the Daily Journal. 
  • TiVo v. EchoStar, et al. Secured $1.8 billion in judgments and settlements including over $600 million paid by EchoStar after the jury verdict and post-trial proceedings; TiVo v. Motorola and TiVo v. Cisco: $490 million; TiVo v. AT&T: $215 million; TiVo v. Verizon: $250 million, plus future royalties.
  • KAIST IP US v. Samsung et al. Obtained a $400 million jury verdict for KAIST in a patent infringement trial against Samsung, GlobalFoundries and Qualcomm. The suit involved a fundamental patent relating to bulk FinFET technology. The jury also found that Samsung’s infringement was willful. All claims were found infringed by all parties, and all claims were held valid. The verdict garnered heavy media attention.
  • Koninklijke Philips N.V. et al v. ZOLL Medical Corp. Delivered a win to ZOLL when a federal jury rejected Philips’s damages claim for $217 million and ordered the firm's client to pay a net verdict of $7.1 million to Philips for infringing defibrillator technology patents. The jury awarded Philips just 3 percent of the amount it sought in the trial to determine damages. Irell was retained after ZOLL had already lost the liability trial. Philips sought $217 million on its claims against ZOLL, and ZOLL sought $3.3 million on its claims against Philips. The jury awarded $10.4 million to Philips and $3.3 million to ZOLL, resulting in a net verdict of $7.1 million to Philips. The jury also found that ZOLL did not willfully infringe.
  • Zahourek Systems, Inc. v. Balanced Body University, LLC. Convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to reverse a district court’s summary judgment ruling against a client in a copyright infringement dispute over a sculpture of a human skeleton with muscles. The Tenth Circuit’s July 2020 published opinion revived client Jon Zahourek’s infringement suit against Balanced Body University, LLC involving the giant skeleton Zahourek created known as “the Maniken.” Before Zahourek hired Irell, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado held that the sculpture was a “useful article” and not protectable by copyright. After the ruling, the client hired Irell to represent him on appeal, and the Tenth Circuit agreed with the firm’s argument that the court’s “useful article” analysis was flawed. The opinion remanded the case for further consideration.
  • Intel Corp. v. Future Link Systems LLC. Secured a settlement for Future Link, resolving a patent dispute against Intel Corp. involving high-volume microprocessors. Intel sued Future Link seeking a declaratory judgment that neither Intel nor any of its customers infringed nine of Future Link's patents. Future Link counterclaimed for infringement of seven of the patents Intel put at issue. Additionally, Irell asserted infringement of eight other Future Link patents. Irell obtained favorable claim construction rulings, defeated two rounds of summary judgment motions and convinced the court to reject every one of Intel’s Daubert motions. After three years of litigation, Intel agreed to a confidential settlement.
  • City of Hope National Medical Center v. Genentech, Inc. Represented City of Hope, a nonprofit biomedical research institute and hospital against Genentech, one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world. The suit alleged that, in an effort to deprive City of Hope of hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties, Genentech concealed numerous third-party licenses it had granted to patents that City of Hope had assigned to Genentech under a 1976 agreement. The patents at issue arose from early groundbreaking inventions discovered by City of Hope scientists in the field of recombinant DNA technology. After a six-week trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of City of Hope. The compensatory damage judgment was the largest award ever affirmed in a published decision by a California appellate court in any area of law. More than $565 million was paid by the defendant to City of Hope.
  • Stac Electronics v. Microsoft Corp. Represented a relatively small, independent computer software developer, Stac Electronics, in this bet-the-company lawsuit against software giant Microsoft. The suit asserted that Microsoft had infringed Stac’s patented data compression technology. After an intense year of pretrial conflict, in which Microsoft devoted enormous resources to the litigation, the case concluded in a month-long jury trial. The jury found that Microsoft infringed two Stac patents and awarded Stac $120 million. After the firm secured a sweeping post-verdict injunction requiring Microsoft to recall infringing products worldwide, the case settled.
  • Converse Inc. v. Skechers U.S.A., Inc. Represented Skechers in a trademark infringement lawsuit and subsequent appeal involving Converse’s claimed trademark in the midsole design of its Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers. Following a trial at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), an appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and a remand at the ITC, Skechers’s Twinkle Toes, BOBS, and Hydee Hytop sneakers were found not to infringe Converse's claimed trademark. In addition, as a result of the litigation, Converse was forced to significantly narrow the originally asserted scope of its claimed trademark in order to preserve its validity.
  • In re Certain Electronic Products, Including Semiconductor Products, Manufactured by Certain Processes. Irell co-represented complainant Texas Instruments (TI) before the ITC in a patent infringement action against Samsung which involved several TI patents. The action before the ITC was one of many patent infringement actions brought by TI against Samsung when Samsung refused to renew its patent licensing agreement with TI that expired at the end of 1995. Shortly before trial, Samsung settled with TI by entering into a new patent licensing agreement, whereby Samsung paid over $1 billion to TI over a 10-year period, with the bulk of the royalty payments occurring in the first several years.

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