Fred Lorig has acted as a lead trial lawyer before juries for over 30 years. Fred is a trial lawyer not merely a litigator. Fred has been listed in Best Lawyers in America, named a Southern California Super Lawyer and his trial victories have been featured in numerous publications including the National Law Journal, American Lawyer, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. Fred has specialized in litigation involving complex technology since 1976 when he defended his first trade secret case involving computer networks where he obtained an injunction and his first Patent case where he obtained a finding of inequitable conduct and an award of attorneys fees. Fred joined Quinn Emanuel in January 2006 as Co-Chair of our National Trial Practice and was recently named Co Chair of Intellectual Property Litigation.
Fred has represented clients in both intellectual property and antitrust matters and obtained plaintiffs verdicts in excess of $2 billion before trebling, including $1.2 billion for patent infringement in Litton v. Honeywell, which was later settled for $440 million. Fred has been lead trial counsel in efforts to license a number of patent portfolios and has obtained licensing revenues of in excess of $1 billion. One patent portfolio, where Fred acted as lead trial counsel, included actions against 11 defendants involving patents on the smart battery management used in all notebook computers and obtained license fees for his client of over $250 million. Eight of these disputes were resolved by judgments in his client’s favor, three by cross license with payments by each cross licensee in confidential amounts of 8 figures each. At the same time, Fred has been lead counsel in a similar effort to license Stanford's pioneering patent on optical fiber amplifiers which is exclusively licensed to Northrop Grumman . In addition to judgments against Corning, Nortel and Alcatel, Fred obtained licenses for his client on advantageous terms in a total amount exceeding $300 million. Fred has also acted as lead defense lawyer in numerous cases for Fortune 100 companies resulting in either dismissals or settlements on favorable terms including the payment of attorneys fees to his client.
- Fred's clients include Intertrust, City University of New York, Stanford University, Northrop Grumman, IBM, Thomson, General Electric and Teledyne.
- On behalf of a Brooklyn based startup company, Songkick, Fred was lead trial counsel in a suit filed in Los Angeles alleging that Ticketmaster and Live Nation violated Federal antitrust and state trade secret laws by misusing the monopoly power Ticketmaster obtained from exclusive dealing contracts with major concert venues to eliminate Songkick as a competitor. After completing fact and expert discovery, successfully defeated the Ticketmaster’s and Live Nation’s summary judgment motions in their entirety (which no antitrust plaintiff had previously achieved against Ticketmaster) and resolved the case with only two weeks remaining before trial. Because the settlement was considered material, on January 12, 2019 Live Nation publicly announced this settlement as being $110 million plus an undisclosed additional sum to acquire a portion of Songkick’s assets.
- As lead trial counsel, represented Intertrust Technologies Corporation as plaintiff against Apple in the Northern District of California, in which Intertrust asserted 23 patents from its portfolio covering trusted computing and digital rights management against virtually every product and service offered by Apple. Case was settled on confidential terms a year after filing.
- As lead trial counsel, represented Stanford University and Northrop Grumman as plaintiffs enforcing Stanford’s pioneering patent on optical fiber amplifiers which is exclusively licensed to Northrop Grumman. In addition to judgments against Corning, Nortel, Alcatel, Lucent, Ciena, Fujitsu, Motorola and Pirelli, Fred obtained paid up licenses for his clients in a total amount exceeding $300 million.
- Represented Unova as lead trial counsel in a large patent litigation against Hewlett Packard ("HP"). After HP obtained summary judgment, we appealed to the Federal Circuit who unanimously reversed and instead ordered summary judgment in favor of Unova. Thereafter, the case was settled for $23 million only days prior to trial, when HP asked for a mediator and paid for a license under the patents. HP thereby joined the following companies who licensed the patents after suit was filed: Toshiba (License); Compaq (Judgment); Dell (Judgment); IBM (Judgment); NEC (Judgment); Matsushita/Panasonic (Judgment); Fujitsu (Judgment); Acer (Judgment); Gateway (Judgment) and Apple (Judgment). Pursuant to those licenses, Unova has obtained almost a quarter billion dollars to date.
- Represented Allred Pool Supply as lead trial counsel against Pool Water Products and obtained a judgment of monopolization, trebled damages, attorneys fees and an injunction.
- Represented Litton as co lead trial counsel against Honeywell in a successful monopolization trial. This is believed to be the largest non-class action antitrust verdict in California, $750 million after trebling plus attorneys fees exceeding $40 million. The jury came back an hour an half after Fred’s closing and awarded his client every dollar he had asked for in closing.
- Represented Celeritas Technologies as lead trial counsel against Rockwell International Corp., obtaining a judgment of $64 million for willful infringement and breach of non-disclosure agreement involving later patented technology on the wireless transmission of data over cellular systems.
- Represented Litton as lead trial counsel against Honeywell and received a verdict of $1.2 billion for willful patent infringement and interference with contract and prospective business advantage. At the time, the largest patent infringement verdict in U.S. history. Ultimately settled for $440 million after two retrials ordered by the Federal Circuit following erroneous JMOL and summary judgment.
- Represented Litton Systems as lead trial counsel against Ssangyong Corp. in a case involving the theft of the fire control radar for a military aircraft. Established that Section 44 of the Lanham Act creates a Federal Cause of Action for Trade Secret Misappropriation against a foreign corporation. A confidential financial settlement in 8 figures was reached, along with the abandonment of efforts to illegally export military technology to the Far East.
- Represented a university professor as lead trial counsel in a patent infringement case involving recombinant DNA technology resulting in a jury verdict of $50 million plus a 6% royalty.
- Represented an individual inventor as lead trial counsel in a patent case involving computer firmware, obtaining a $44 million award following a verdict of willful infringement. Represented the same inventor as lead trial lawyer in a an earlier case which settled on confidential terms while the jury was deliberating.
- Represented Teledyne Industries, Inc., establishing that the disclosure of an opinion on patent validity or infringement submitted in defense of a charge of willful infringement waived the entire subject matter of the privilege including trial counsel. Defended Teledyne in numerous cases including one resulting in a payment of attorneys fees to Teledyne because of the patentee’s inequitable conduct.
- Represented Litton as lead trial counsel against Allied in a complex patent, trade secret and RICO case that settled on the first day of trial resulted in the defendant withdrawing its products from the market while paying Litton a very substantial but confidential sum in 8 figures.
- Represented Litton as lead trial counsel against Honeywell, successfully defending their failed attempt to use their patent portfolio to drive its only competitor from the market place. Obtained license under all Honeywell patents on product line for a token payment of a few hundred thousand dollars.
- Harvard Law School
(J.D., 1973)- Harvard Voluntary Defenders
- Harvard Voluntary Defenders
- University of California, Berkeley
(B.A., with highest honors, Phi Beta Kappa, 1969)
- The State Bar of California
- United States Court of Appeals:
- Federal Circuit
- Ninth Circuit
- United States Supreme Court
- United States District Court:
- Southern District of California
- Northern District of California
- Central District of California
- United States Claims Court
- Bright & Lorig, Los Angeles:
- Partner, 1988-2006
- Recognized by Lawdragon 500 as a Leading Litigator in IP Litigation and Antitrust, 2022-2025
- The Best Lawyers in America, Litigation - Intellectual Property, 2025
- The Best Lawyers in America, Litigation – Patent, Patent Law, 2025
- IAM Patent 1000 Bronze - Individuals: litigation, 2024
- Recognized by Managing IP, Patent Star, IP STARS 2024
- "Lawyer of the Year" Awards, The Best Lawyers in America for Patent Law, 2024 Edition
- The Best Lawyers in America for Intellectual Property Litigation, Patent Litigation, and Patent Law, 2021 Edition.
- Selected to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers guide for Antitrust Litigation, 2020
- Best Lawyers, Litigation - Intellectual Property, Litigation - Patent, Patent Law 2006
- PLI Patent Litigation: Maximizing Patent Damages (with David Mayer)
- Amicus Briefs in a number of Supreme Court Cases including Festo v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki (2000)
- Warner-Jenkinson Company, Inc. v. Hilton Davis Chemical Co. (1996)
- Markman v Westview Instruments (1995)