James Judah is a partner in the San Francisco office. He joined the firm in 2007. James’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation with an emphasis on intellectual property disputes. He has advised clients across a wide range of industries and technologies, including autonomous and electric vehicles, cybersecurity, payment and content delivery systems, smartphones, smart speakers, digital rights management, blockchain, semiconductors, OLED displays, commercial satellites, telecommunications infrastructure, and biopharmaceuticals. His clients have ranged from startups to multinational corporations. He has litigated trade secrets, patents, breach of contract, founder disputes, copyright, trademarks and trade dress, unfair competition, antitrust, employee mobility, wrongful termination, and RICO, among other areas.
James represents both plaintiffs and defendants, with success recovering hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of plaintiffs and defeating claims of billions of dollars on behalf of defendants. He has litigated in state and federal courts across the country, including California, New York, Texas, Delaware, Nevada, Colorado, New Jersey, Vermont, Illinois, Arkansas, Puerto Rico, and the International Trade Commission. He has also represented clients in domestic and international arbitrations.
James graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a degree in Philosophy, and received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Stone Scholar.
- YouTube
- Salesforce
- Samsung
- Waymo
- Netflix
- Qualcomm
- Dollar Shave Club
- Mattel
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
- ViaSat
- Represented defendant Google in a multi-patent case brought by Sonos in the Northern District of California relating to “smart speaker” technology. After a nine day jury and bench trial, obtained a complete defense victory invalidating Sonos’ patents as anticipated by Google’s own innovations and unenforceable due to prosecution laches. Prior to trial, Sonos had been seeking over $3 billion in damages and a permanent injunction.
- Represented plaintiff Waymo against Uber in a trade secret misappropriation case in the Northern District of California relating to autonomous vehicle technology. Obtained a preliminary injunction and other provisional relief on behalf of Waymo against Uber. The case settled on the fifth day of trial pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement.
- Represented Snowflake Inc. in an employment discrimination case in San Mateo superior court. Obtained a complete defense victory at summary judgment, defeating claims for which the plaintiff had been seeking over $15 million in damages (as well as punitive damages). Also prevailed at summary judgment on Snowflake’s counterclaims, including an award of damages and injunctive relief.
- Represented defendant Wiz, Inc. (cloud cybersecurity company) in a trade secret and employee mobility case in the Northern District of Georgia brought by Tanium Inc. After an all-day evidentiary hearing defeated plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and then obtained a complete dismissal of all claims against Wiz prior to the commencement of general fact discovery.
- Represented plaintiff ViaSat against Space Systems/Loral in a complex patent infringement and breach of contract case in the Southern District of California involving high-speed satellite technology. After a three-week jury trial, obtained a jury verdict of $283 million for ViaSat – the largest jury verdict in California for 2014.
- Represented defendants Google and YouTube in a patent case in the Eastern District of Texas involving push messaging technologies. Following a one-week jury trial, obtained a jury verdict of non-infringement.
- Represented plaintiff Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in a copyright infringement action in the Northern District of California related to counterfeit ©OSCAR® statuettes. Obtained a judgment of infringement and permanent injunction.
- Represented Samsung against smartphone rival Apple in two International Trade Commission investigations. As Respondent, obtained a Commission ruling of no violation as to design patents and two utility patents. As Claimant, obtained an exclusion order against several models of iPhones and iPads.
- Represented Mattel in obtaining order from the Ninth Circuit vacating verdicts of liability for alleged trade-secret misappropriation and damages award of more than $170 million.
- Antitrust & Competition
- Data Privacy & Security
- Patent Litigation
- Copyright Litigation
- Trade Secret Litigation
- Trademark, Trade Dress, Unfair Competition/False Advertising, and Publicity Rights Litigation
- Internet Litigation
- Litigation Representing Plaintiffs
- Entertainment & Media Litigation
- Artificial Intelligence
- International Trade Commission Proceedings
- Employment Litigation & Counseling
- Partnership and Founders Dispute Litigation
- Columbia Law School
(J.D., 2007)- Stone Scholar
- Dartmouth College
(A.B., Philosophy, magna cum laude, 2002)- All-Ivy Scholar Athlete
- The State Bar of California
- United States District Court:
- Central District of California
- Northern District of California
- Southern District of California
- Eastern District of California
- District of Colorado
- Eastern District of Texas
- United States Court of Appeals:
- Federal Circuit
- Eighth Circuit
- Ninth Circuit
- United States Supreme Court