Trade secrets litigation has always been a major part of the firm’s practice. We have been retained as counsel for both plaintiffs and defendants in the highest-stakes, highest-profile trade secrets cases ever litigated. For over three decades, we have represented companies of all sizes --from venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 companies -- in a wide range of industries, including aerospace, biotech, internet, medical devices, mobile devices, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor, software, telecommunications and finance. Our representative trade secrets clients include General Motors, Google, Waymo, Virgin Galactic, Mattel, Shell, Northrop Grumman, Avery Dennison, Trust Company of the West, Disney, IBM, Motorola, Maxwell Technologies, Intuit, easyJet Airlines, Home Depot, Zynga, and many others.

Our engagements also include employee movement between competitors. It is a fact of corporate life that competitors frequently hire employees for what they know—whether proprietary or not. Because of the relative ease with which technology and information can be transferred, misappropriation of confidential information is a constant threat.

No technology is too complex for our lawyers to understand when technical trade secrets are involved. We can call upon the over 250 lawyers in our firm who have technical degrees in virtually all areas of science and engineering. We likewise have extensive experience in prosecuting and defending trade secrets cases in the financial industry, including those involving asset managers and investment funds. We are well-versed in the recently enacted federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”), with our firm litigating several cases involving such claims.

Time is of the essence in trade secrets cases. Once the proprietary data is exchanged, it is often too late. We can spring into action on a moment’s notice. We produce high-quality legal work literally overnight—obtaining or defeating applications for temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions that have profound effects on our clients’ businesses.

Sometimes trade secrets misappropriation cases have criminal aspects. If so, we can call upon our white collar specialists with expertise in this area. Our firm was among the first to represent an aggrieved client under the Economic Espionage Act, which resulted in federal criminal convictions and an eight-figure civil jury verdict stemming from the theft of its trade secrets.

We also have handled and won, year after year, some of the most significant appellate decisions involving trade secrets law in federal and state courts across the country. As a result, our firm provides comprehensive trade secrets representation from the investigative, pre-suit phase to trial and through final appeal.

REPRESENTATIVE TRADE SECRET CLIENTS

• Avery Dennison
• Barnes & Noble
• Brøderbund Software
• CalComp, Inc.
• Callidus Software
• Corbis
• Coty, Inc.
• Data East
• Disney
• Dow Chemical
• Electronic Arts
• Fox
• FremantleMedia
• Google
• HBO
• Hallmark
• Home Depot
• IBM
• International Game Technology
• Intuit
• INVISTA/Koch Industries
• Mattel
• Maxwell Technologies
• Motorola
• MTV
• Multiply.com
• Napster
• National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
• Northrop Grumman
• Paramount
• Pennzoil/Quaker State
• Pfizer, Inc.
• Phoenix American
• Phoenix Technologies
• Pinterest
• PPG Industries, Inc.
• Sae-A Trading Company Limited
• Shell Exploration & Production Company
• Shoebuy.com
• SolidWorks
• SSA Global
• Trust Company of the West
• Turner Entertainment
• Viacom
• Virgin Galactic
• Warner Home Video
• Waymo
• Zynga

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• Waymo LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2017). We currently represent Waymo LLC, formerly Google’s self-driving car program, in its high-profile trade secret theft and patent infringement case against ride-sharing giant Uber Technologies, Inc. The trade secret claims involve a former Waymo engineer who downloaded thousands of highly confidential LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) design files immediately before quitting and joining Uber to run its self-driving car program. Claims include violations of the DTSA.
• uCar Technology (USA) Inc. and uCar Inc. v. Yan Li, Hua Zhong, Da Huo, and Zhenzhen Kou (N.D. Cal 2017). We represent four scientists, Yan Li, Hua Zhong, Da Huo, and Zhenzhen Kou, in a case brought by uCar Inc., the largest ride hailing service in China, and its US subsidiary uCar Technology (USA) Inc., alleging our clients breached their employment agreements, violated certain statutes, including the DTSA, and misappropriated trade secrets when they reformatted their computers before leaving to work for a competitor. After briefing and argument from Quinn Emanuel, the court denied uCar’s preliminary injunction request.
• Mattel, Inc. v. MGA Entertainment Inc., et al. (and consolidated actions) (9th Cir. 2013; Los Angeles Superior Court 2017). On behalf of Mattel, Inc., we obtained a complete reversal by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of a $172.5 million judgment entered against Mattel following a jury verdict on a trade-secrets misappropriation claim raised by toy company MGA Entertainment, Inc. The Ninth Circuit agreed with Mattel that MGA’s trade secrets claim, which was raised as a novel “counterclaim-in-reply,” was improper because it was not a “compulsory” response to any claim Mattel had raised and the claim therefore “should not have reached this jury.” The Ninth Circuit vacated the jury verdict and remanded the claim to the district court with instructions that it be dismissed. After dismissal by the district court, MGA re-filed its trade secret claim in Los Angeles Superior Court, where the matter is ongoing.
• Songkick v. Ticketmaster (C.D. Cal. 2017). We currently represent Songkick in a case alleging Ticketmaster used 85,000 documents misappropriated by a former Songkick Vice President to design its competing system for artist presales technology. The matter is set for trial in November 2017 and is the subject of a pending FBI investigation.
• Vertellus v. W.R. Grace (S.D. Ind. 2017). We currently represent Vertellus as plaintiff in a trade secrets theft case, including under the DTSA, arising out of defendant’s accused theft of intellectual property for cartalysts used in the manufacture of agrochemicals.
• LIQWD, Inc. and Olaplex LLC v. L’Oreal (D. Del. 2017). We currently represent plaintiff LIQWD, Inc., and Olaplex LLC in a suit for trade secret theft, including under the DTSA, breach of an NDA and patent infringement relating to 3 bond building products that protect hair during bleaching treatments.
• International Game Technology et el. v. Leap Forward Gaming, Inc. et al. (D. Nev, 2016). We represented International Game Technology (“IGT”) in its trade secret action against Leap Forward Gaming, in which IGT alleged that its former employees misappropriated IGT’s trade secrets to set up a competing venture. Among the misappropriated trade secrets at issue was a player-tracking technology that allows the gaming machines in a casino to store, retrieve and update player’s activity data from the casino’s server.
• Beacon Sales Acquisition, Inc. v. Robert Ricci, Mirta Valdes and SRS Distribution, Inc. (Miami-Dade County Circuit Court 2016). We were retained mid-way through the litigation as trial counsel to defend a trade secrets case representing SRS Distribution, a competitor and new employer to several former employees of plaintiff. After forcefully pursuing discovery and filing a summary judgment motion, the case settled favorably for our client.
• Lifesize, Inc. v. Chimene (W.D. Tex. 2016). We currently represent Lifesize, Inc. against Beau Chimene, its former employee, for misappropriating Lifesize’s trade secrets for the benefit of Lifesize’s direct competitor. Claims include trade secret theft under the DTSA and state law as well as violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The Court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss our client’s claims and set trial for April 2018.
• Virgin Galactic, LLC v. Thomas E. Markusic (AAA Arbitration 2016). We represented Virgin Galactic, LLC in an arbitration against a former employee who started a competing small satellite rocket propulsion company using Virgin Galactic trade secret information and in violation of contractual and fiduciary duties owed to Virgin Galactic. Using forensic evidence, we were able to establish that our adversary engaged in evidence spoliation and ultimately obtained an order for terminating sanctions, conclusively finding that the employee had misappropriated Virgin Galactic’s trade secrets and violated his duties to Virgin Galactic.
• PPG Industries, Inc. v. Jiangsu Tie Mao Glass Co., Ltd. et al., Case No. 2:15-cv-965 (W.D. Pa. 2016). We represent PPG Industries, Inc. (“PPG”) in an action against a China-based competitor and its agents. Defendants conspired with a former PPG employee to misappropriate PPG’s trade secrets, including a proprietary report that details the manufacture of windows to be used in commercial aircrafts; no other company in the industry has the technology outlined the proprietary report.
• Agilent Technologies, Inc. v. Twist Bioscience Corp., Emily LeProust, and Does 1-20 (Santa Clara Superior Court 2016). We are defending Twist Bioscience, an innovative San Francisco start-up biotech company, and its top executive, Emily Leproust, against Agilent’s attempt to stifle Twist’s cutting-edge synthetic DNA technology. Agilent filed this case in February 2016, alleging trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, and breach of duty of loyalty.
• Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Products, Inv. No. 337-TA-1002 (International Trade Commission 2016). While hiring our firm to handle many of its anti-dumping and countervailing duty matters, U.S. Steel also enlisted us to devise new and innovative responses to foreign steel companies’ unfair trade actions. True to that charge, we filed, and the International Trade Commission has now instituted, a revolutionary Section 337 action against the eleven largest Chinese steel companies. Although the ITC had not instituted an antitrust action since the late 1970s and QE is not aware of any Section 337 case based on the cyber-theft of trade secrets, the ITC voted unanimously in May 2016 to institute an investigation. See Notice of Institution of Investigation, Doc. No. 582305, Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Products, Inv. No. 337-TA-1002 (U.S.I.T.C. May 26, 2016). That investigation is now in discovery, and the Administrative Law Judge has set a target date for completing the investigation by October 2017.
• Ischemia Research and Education Foundation v. Pfizer Inc. (Santa Clara Superior Court 2016). Quinn Emanuel obtained a defense victory for Pfizer, Inc. in a state court action alleging trade secret misappropriation. At the initial trial in 2008, when other counsel represented Pfizer, plaintiff prevailed on all claims and obtained a judgment of almost $60 million. The court ordered a retrial, and Quinn Emanuel entered the case. In 2015, Quinn Emanuel defended Pfizer at a seven-week liability retrial. The jury found only 7 of 159 alleged trade secrets were misappropriated by a third-party consultant who was working part-time for Pfizer. In 2016, Quinn Emanuel defended Pfizer during the three-week damages trial. With Pfizer facing exposure in excess of $100 million, the jury awarded only $165,000 in damages.
• American Leather Operations, LLC, et. al. v. Ultra-Mek Inc. (Middle District of North Carolina 2016). We represented American Leather Operations, LLC asserting trade secret misappropriation against a furniture hardware manufacturer for using American Leather’s trade secrets that it learned in the course of a confidential business relationship with American Leather.
• Zimmer Biomet v. Heraeus – Declaratory Proceedings (Frankfurt Appellate Court 2016). We represented one of the world’s leading orthopedic companies in a dispute with its main competitor about the territorial scope of an injunction rendered by a German appellate court. While our adversary argued that the German injunction had worldwide effect, the court agreed with our position that the injunction must be construed narrowly and did not extend beyond Germany.
• In the Matter of Certain Opaque Polymers (International Trade Commission 2015). We represented as complainants Dow Chemical and Rohm & Haas against Organik Kimya in an investigation related to opaque emulsion polymers. We uncovered evidence of spoliation and successfully obtained a default judgment on the trade secret claims. The ITC issued a 25-year exclusion order and affirmed almost $2 million in monetary sanctions.
• Koninklijke Philips N.V. and Lumileds Lighting Company LLC v. Elec-Tech International Co., Ltd.,Elec-Tech International (H.K.) Co. et al. (N.D. Cal. 2015). We successfully represented eleven companies and executives in the Elec-Tech corporate family, one of world’s largest LED manufacturers, in a trade secret misappropriation and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act case. We obtained a dismissal with prejudice of the entire suit on the grounds that the asserted Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) claim failed to satisfy federal jurisdictional requirements and in the process created new law in the Ninth Circuit regarding CFAA law. The Court further declined to retain supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims. The new case filed by plaintiffs is pending in California state court.
• Colin Veitch and VSM Development Inc. v. Virgin Management USA, Inc., Virgin Group Investments Ltd., Virgin Group Holdings Limited, Virgin Enterprises Limited and Virgin Cruises Intermediate Limited (S.D. Florida 2015). We are defending a group of the Virgin companies accused of trade secret misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract by the former CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines regarding the plaintiffs’ allegedly secret cruise industry financial, business and ship designs.
• Machine Zone, Inc. v. Kabam, Inc. (San Francisco Superior Court 2015). We successfully defended software publisher and developer Kabam in a trade secret infringement suit brought by rival Machine Zone. After the firm defeated two successive efforts by Machine Zone to obtain temporary restraining orders against Kabam, Machine Zone dismissed the case through settlement.
• Lilith Games (Shanghai) Ltd. v. uCool, Ltd and uCool, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2015). We currently represent software publisher uCool, whose award winning game Heroes Charge is accused of trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement. We successfully defeated a preliminary injunction motion pending trial on the merits.
• Perlan Therapeutics Inc. v. Ansun BioPharma, Inc. (formerly known as NexBio, Inc.) (San Diego Superior Court 2014). We defended Ansun in a trade secret misappropriation and breach of fiduciary duty dispute concerning flu treatment technology. Perlan claimed that the founders of Ansun, who also founded Perlan, invented the flu technology while employed at Perlan and misappropriated the technology by leaving to form Ansun to develop the novel therapeutic. Ansun counterclaimed for breach of license agreement on a technology related to the common cold that Perlan failed to develop. After nine years of litigation, the parties settled on terms that allowed Ansun to continue developing its novel flu therapy.
• Gotham City Online, LLC v. Art.com, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2014). We represented Art.com in a case brought by Gotham City Online LLC that alleged trade secret misappropriation, among other claims. We defeated plaintiff’s request for a temporary restraining order, successfully disqualified opposing counsel for using Art.com’s privileged documents to prepare Gotham’s case and effectively shut down the dispute, which was subsequently dismissed.
• Schroeder, Rendezvoo LLC and Skoop Media v. Pinterest, et al. (New York Supreme Court—Commercial Division 2014). We represented social networking service Pinterest in a trade secret misappropriation action filed by an alleged former business partner of Pinterest’s first investor. The suit alleged that the idea for the successful Pinterest website was originally developed by plaintiffs and later stolen from them by Pinterest’s first investor. Plaintiffs further alleged that the investor gave the idea to the Pinterest founders who then used the ideas to develop the website www.pinterest.com. We moved to dismiss all of plaintiffs’ claims against Pinterest. After briefing, the court granted our motion to dismiss on Pinterest’s behalf in its entirety.
• AeroManagement, Inc. v. Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co., Alexander Pimenov, Victor Olenin, and Luigi de Franceso (S.D.N.Y. 2013). We represented one of the largest Russian jet manufacturers, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, and three of its senior officers in a trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract and copyright infringement suit filed by AeroManagement. Plaintiff claimed it provided interior design plans for the Sukhoi Super Jet and our client intended to commercially exploit those plans without paying for them. AeroManagement sought an expedited preliminary injunction to prevent our client from displaying its jet at the Moscow Air Show, one of the biggest air shows in the world. After we cross-examined the plaintiff’s CEO at the preliminary injunction hearing, the court denied the preliminary injunction motion, allowing our client to display its jet at the Moscow Air Show.
• Wamco Inc. v. Oshino Lamps, Ltd. et al. (Orange County Superior Court 2013). We defeated a motion to enjoin Oshino Lamps, Ltd., the fledgling U.S. distributor and subsidiary of a Japanese manufacturer, and two independent contractors from selling manufacturer's product in the United States on the basis of alleged trade secret misappropriation.
• Dassault Systems Solid Works v. Mat Andresen and Rod Walker (D. Mass 2013). We represented Solid Works in a computer and customer theft case against a former employee and his colleague, which resulted in preliminary and permanent injunctions as well as damages awards against both defendants.
• Maxwell Technologies, Inc. v. Linda Zhong, Jacky Au, Harbin Jurong and New Power Co, Ltd. (San Diego Superior Court 2012). We obtained a TRO, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction against our client’s former chief scientist who had been recruited and paid by a Chinese company to misappropriate our client’s trade secrets and confidential information (both in the U.S. and in China) in order to develop a product that directly competed with our client Maxwell Technologies’ ultra capacitor products.
• Trust Company of the West, et al. v. Jeffrey Gundlach, et al. (Los Angeles Superior Court 2010). We represented Trust Company of the West (“TCW”) in a lawsuit against its former portfolio manager Jeffrey Gundlach and his new company, DoubleLine Capital. After a two-month jury trial, we obtained a jury verdict finding in favor of TCW on its claim for theft of trade secrets and related claims.
• INVISTA S.à r.l., et al. v. Rhodia S.A. (3rd Circuit). On behalf of Koch Industries’ Invista subsidiaries, we enabled a Delaware state court trade secret action by Invista to proceed against French chemicals firm Rhodia S.A., despite Rhodia’s efforts to dismiss or stay the action in favor of a French arbitration proceeding. We defeated Rhodia’s motion and then won in the Third Circuit dismissal of Rhodia’s appeal as moot, using the foreign arbitrator’s ruling issued during the course of the appeal to show that Rhodia was not a proper party.
• Coty Inc. v. Harvey P. Alstodt; Bruce C. Kowalsky; Diversified Beauty Products (f/k/a MBA Beauty, Inc.); and Harvey P. Alstodt Associates, Inc. (New York Supreme Court 2010). We obtained a TRO against two former executives of client Coty, Inc., stopping them from violating their covenant not to compete by marketing a nail polish line which, “coincidentally,” consisted of many colors identical to Coty’s line.
• Rudamac, Inc. v. Daniel Chambers, Thousand Oaks Printing & Specialties, Inc. and Consolidated Graphics, Inc. (Los Angeles Superior Court 2009). We represented Rudamac, Inc., a printing company, in a case against a former employee and his new employer for trade secret misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty and interference with economic advantage. After a month-long trial, we won a jury verdict for $5.7 million in compensatory damages and over $8 million in punitive damages.
• Zynga Game Network v. Kyle McEachern (N.D. Cal. 2009). We represented Zynga against a former employee and contractor who hacked Zynga’s secure servers post-employment and misappropriated company code. We obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the employee. After the court threatened to hold the plaintiff in criminal contempt, the case settled with a permanent injunction and monetary judgment against the employee.
• Limitnone LLC v. Google, Inc. (N.D. Ill., 7th Cir. 2008). We represented Google in a case where plaintiff sought $1 billion for alleged trade secret theft and other claims related to the GoogleApps suite of application programs. We won a district court order transferring the case to Google’s forum of choice, which the Seventh Circuit affirmed on appeal. The case subsequently settled on terms favorable to our client.
• SPS Technologies v. Motorola (Florida Circuit Court 2008). We were retained by Motorola for the retrial of a trade secret theft action following a mistrial. The plaintiff sought to wage a classic David versus Goliath battle, claiming that his small, defunct technology company was driven out of business by Motorola to facilitate the theft of its trade secrets valued at $10 billion. After challenging the claims in pretrial motion practice, the case favorably settled days before the retrial was to commence.
• Think Partnership v. Nelson (D. Utah 2008). We represented various individuals accused by their employer of forming a competing company using the employer's trade secrets while working for the employer. We negotiated a favorable settlement for our clients.
• Rent IT v. Home Depot (C.D. Cal. 2008). After the Ninth Circuit partially reversed a summary judgment, we represented Home Depot in a suit filed by a disgruntled software vendor alleging trade secret theft and breach of a non-disclosure agreement. We prevailed at trial, obtaining a complete defense verdict on all claims.
• IBM v. PSI Corp. (S.D.N.Y. 2007-2008). We represented IBM in an intensely fought trade secret, patent and antitrust action against PSI Corp., a spinoff of Amdahl, which had announced it would offer an emulator allowing IBM’s proprietary mainframe computer architecture to be implemented on Itanium-based servers. During discovery, we learned that several Amdahl programmers with prior access to highly confidential IBM information under a strict NDA had taken that information to PSI and used it in source code they wrote. We amended IBM’s Complaint to add trade secret claims and outmaneuvered PSI’s lawyers in working through source code written both in IBM Assembler and Intel Itanium assembly language as well as C, defining the trade secrets, distinguishing them from information that was publicly known and taking the depositions of the key employees. The case settled very favorably shortly after PSI’s general counsel attended a deposition of one of the lead programmers and saw the damaging admissions we obtained.
• UniRam v. TSMC (N.D. Cal. 2007). One of our partners represented UniRAM in a trade secrets claim against TSMC, the world's largest independent chip foundry. After a jury trial, UniRAM obtained a $30.5 million verdict.
• Newton Research v. Shell Exploration & Production Company (N.D. Tex. 2007). We defended Shell Exploration & Production Company in a trade secret misappropriation and breach of NDA suit concerning gas centrifuge technology. We convinced the district court to dismiss the case before trial on jurisdictional grounds.
• Intematix v. Symyx Technologies (Alameda Superior Court 2006). We represented Symyx in a trade secret misappropriation suit filed by Intematix. After we defeated Intematix's efforts to obtain preliminary relief, the case settled on terms favorable to our client.
• Navitaire v. easyJet Airlines and Bullet Proof Software (D. Utah 2005). We defended easyJet Airlines and BulletProof in a trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement lawsuit arising out of the alleged theft and copying of Navitaire's reservations software. Upon the successful trial of a corresponding copyright infringement and breach of contract lawsuit, the case settled on terms favorable to our client.
• Zions Investment Securities, Inc. v. Ruzek (Third Judicial District Court of Summit County, Utah 2005). We obtained a sweeping temporary restraining order on behalf of Zions Investment Securities, Inc., a financial services company, on the grounds that a departing employee had misappropriated trade secrets and violated the non-solicitation provision in his contract. The defendant subsequently agreed to the entry of a stipulated injunction.
• Configuration Data v. Northrop Grumman (Los Angeles Superior Court 2003). We successfully defended Northrop Grumman in a trade secret suit brought by a former Northrop software vendor that claimed that Northrop stole its proprietary software. The case was dismissed after Northrop moved for summary judgment and the trial court imposed sanctions against plaintiff.
• Research-In-Motion v. Good Technology, Inc. (Orange County Superior Court 2003). One of our partners represented Good Technology in a trade secret action filed by Research-In-Motion (“RIM”), distributor of BlackBerry wireless email solutions, against allegations that Good Technology had misappropriated RIM’s customer lists and reverse engineered part of its software for a competing solution. After defeating RIM’s motion for a temporary restraining order and motion for a preliminary injunction, the matter settled on terms favorable to our client.
• Bancorp v. Hartford (E.D. Mo. 2002). We won a jury verdict of $118.3 million and a judgment of $134 million for plaintiff Bancorp, a financial products company, in a misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of confidentiality agreement case against Hartford, a major insurance company.
• Broadcom v. Sarnoff (C.D. Cal., 9th Cir. 2002). We obtained summary judgment in favor of our client Sarnoff, a General Electric/RCA spinoff, on trade secret misappropriation claims involving QAM modem technology. The judgment was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit.
• 3M v. Avery Dennison (D. Minn. 2002). After Avery hired three of its scientists, 3M filed suit and spent tens of millions trying to prove its trade secret misappropriation claims, seeking a nine-figure recovery. After we demonstrated that the claimed trade secrets were unprotectable, the case settled favorably to Avery.
• Callidus v. Jacob Avital (Santa Clara Superior Court 2002). One of our partners defended a chief scientist at PeopleSoft against allegations of trade secret misappropriation. The matter settled favorably.
• Avery Dennison v. Four Pillars (N.D. Ohio 2000). A Taiwanese competitor collaborated with an Avery Dennison employee to steal trade secrets. On behalf of Avery Dennison, we worked with the FBI and the Department of Justice to catch the thieves. A sting operation videotaped the competitor accepting trade secrets. The defendants were arrested that night, and served with a complaint and a temporary restraining order the next morning. We additionally won an $80 million civil jury verdict for our client.
• Litton v. Honeywell, 234 F.3d 358 (Fed. Cir. 2000). One of our partners represented Litton (now Northrop) in an action alleging Honeywell caused an ex-Litton employee to breach agreements obligating him to protect trade secrets. The jury awarded Litton $1.2 billion. The parties settled the case for $440 million.
• PeopleSoft, Inc. v. Annuncio, Inc. (Santa Clara Superior Court 2000). One of our partners represented PeopleSoft for claims of trade secret misappropriation and breach of confidence against a competitor and several former PeopleSoft employees. After PeopleSoft secured a temporary restraining order against the former employees and the competitor, the matter settled on terms favorable to PeopleSoft.
• 3M v. Avery Dennison (Orange County Superior Court 1999). We represented Avery Dennison when it hired a salesperson from 3M who, unbeknownst to Avery, brought 3M documents with him. Alleging trade secret misappropriation, 3M sued both Avery and the employee. Although the relevant documents came to light after a raid on the employee's house, we persuaded the jury after a three-month trial that Avery had no knowledge of the employee's activities and obtained a complete defense verdict.
• Lasergraphics, Inc. v. CalComp, Inc. (Orange County Superior Court 1999). We represented CalComp in a two-month trial involving multiple claims of misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud and breach of contract involving the computer protocol for high-speed color printers, obtaining a directed verdict on five of six of the claims at the close of the plaintiff's case. Lasergraphics appealed, but ultimately abandoned its suit after our firm's briefing in the Court of Appeal.
• Celeritis v. Rockwell and AT&T, 150 F.3d 1354 (Fed. Cir. 1998). Representing Celeritis in a trade secrets misappropriation action involving cellular transmission of data, one of our partners ultimately won a judgment of over $70 million.
• Litton v. Ssangyong, 109 F.3d 30 (Fed. Cir. 1997). On behalf of Litton (now Northrop), following judgment and remand on appeal, one of our partners negotiated a settlement involving an eight-figure payment and defendant’s withdrawal from the marketplace based on evidence that defendant had misappropriated exported trade secrets to make fine control radar for the F-16 fighter plane.
• General Motors v. Lopez de Arriortua (E.D. Mich. 1997). We represented General Motors against Volkswagen and GM's former head of sourcing for stealing secret GM documents. Working closely with in-house lawyers from GM, we amassed devastating evidence and defeated all of Volkswagen’s jurisdictional and substantive motions. On the eve of the Volkswagen chairman's deposition, we obtained a $1.1 billion settlement for GM.
• Litton v. Sundstrand and Allied Signal (C.D. Cal. 1987). One of our partners represented Litton, now Northrop, in a trade secret case alleging a former senior employee misappropriated the production plans for a ring laser inertial navigations system. On the first day of trial, defendants agreed to close their competing business and pay Litton an eight-figure sum.
• Honeywell v. Litton (C.D. Cal. 1983). One of our partners represented Litton, now Northrop, in defending a trade secret case brought by Honeywell alleging Litton had won a government contract by misappropriating trade secrets. After twice successfully defeating Honeywell’s request for injunctive relief, the case was settled by Honeywell paying the client’s attorney’s fees.

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