Trade Secrets

Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition Cases

• Defending a Chinese two-way radio company in civil and criminal trade secret litigation in US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. This representation has included: 1.) an appeal challenging a $272M profit disgorgement award and $272M of punitive damages; 2.) an emergency motion to stay the sanctions of a US district court judge who charged our client a daily $1 million fine and a worldwide sales ban; 3.) a 21-count Department of Justice indictment charging our client with conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets; 4.) proceedings in England where Plaintiff sought to enforce elements of the US judgment against our client totaling $345M, comprising compensatory damages under the DTSA and/or US Copyright Act as well as ancillary awards for interest, attorneys' fees and costs; and 5.) over 40 separate multi-hour court hearings, the production of millions of files of source code and documents, over 100 hours of depositions, multi-hundred-page expert reports, and substantial motions practice and merits briefing—all of which culminated in a week-long bench trial.
• Representing a Czech tire company as plaintiff in trade secret and patent infringement litigation involving self-inflating tire technology in US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Obtained $64 million jury verdict for willful and malicious misappropriation; recognized as a Top 100 Verdict of 2022 by The National Law Journal. We continue to represent the client in the appeal.
• Represented Huawei Device USA and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd, an original equipment manufacturer of cellphones and other telecommunications equipment, in a trade secret and breach of contract case involving robotics and other touchscreen testing. The case went to trial in the Western District of Washington and the jury found no damages and no basis for punitive damages resulting from a misappropriation of a trade secret.
• Represented Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Huawei Technologies USA, Inc. and Futurewei Technologies, Inc., original equipment manufacturers and developers of cellphones and other telecommunications equipment, in a trade secret litigation, also involving breach of contract, correction of inventorship, and fraud claims, all relating to antenna technology. The case was successfully settled on terms favorable to the clients on the sixth day of a jury trial that was scheduled to last for twelve days in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas.
• Representing a biotech company in its lawsuit against a competitor alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and other related claims. At the center of this matter is important cutting-edge technology used to treat multiple diseases, including different cancers.
• Assisted a large Chinese telecommunications company in setting up a trade secret compliance program and developed protocols to mitigate trade secret appropriation risk.
• Represented SoftWriters in a trade secret misappropriation action against Integra, Inc. involving issues concerning the healthcare industry. This matter was settled favourably for the client.
• Represented SK Hynix, a large memory chipmaker and semiconductor company, in trade secrets litigation against SanDisk in the Santa Clara County Superior Court and US District Court Northern District of California. The matter settled favorably. 
• Completed a research project for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) that culminated in a handbook on trade secret investigations at the International Trade Commission. The handbook provides a business oriented guide for MOFCOM to use in teaching Chinese companies about trade secrets litigation and trade secrets misappropriation. It may also be used by MOFCOM to assist Chinese companies in responding to Section 337 investigations and US federal and state court litigation involving alleged trade secret misappropriation.
• Defeated motion for preliminary injunction on behalf of our client StarTrak Systems, Inc. against Satamatics, following evidentiary hearing in a trade secrets matter involving satellite and software technology.
• Served as lead counsel for McDonnell Douglas in ground-breaking reverse-FOIA litigation against NASA, establishing that line item prices in government contracts can be protected from public disclosure under Exemption 4 and the Trade Secrets Act.