Representative Cases

Recent Patent Cases:

Oracle International Corporation v. Mangosoft, Inc., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, C03-02267 VRW (patent infringement) -- obtained a summary judgment of non-infringement against Oracle in a case involving allegations that our client's Internet-based file sharing service infringed Oracle's network-related patent. The case was litigated aggressively by Oracle throughout. Oracle was represented by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.

Alacritech v. Microsoft, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, C04-03284 JSW (patent infringement) - obtained (within six months) an injunction prohibiting Microsoft from releasing the next version of Windows (now known as Vista), based on our client's allegation that Microsoft had infringed a patent written by Silicon Edge and related to network communications technology. Following the injunction order, we negotiated a three-way license with Microsoft and Broadcom Corporation, obtaining license fees while allowing Microsoft to proceed with claimed features in Vista, Alacritech to partner with Microsoft, and Alacritech to license others. Microsoft was represented by Arnold & Porter LLP and Broadcom was represented in the negotiations by Latham & Watkins LLP.

Polarity v Diversified Technologies, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, C06-00646 SBA - filed declaratory judgment action following allegations that our client Polarity was infringing a Diversified patent relating to solid state high power modulators. Forced defendant Diversified to file a covenant not to sue Polarity in order to obtain dismissal the action. Diversified was represented by Fish & Richardson LLP.

Promise Technology, Inc. v. Crossroads Systems, Inc., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, C07-06128 JF (patent infringement) - successfully settled a patent infringement declaratory relief action involving Crossroads' allegations that our client Promise Technology was infringing a family of patents in the remote storage industry. Crossroads has been aggressively asserting and litigating its family of patents for many years, and shortly after the settlement, Crossroads sued ten of our client's competitors in the Western District of Texas for infringement of patents in the same patent family. Our pro-active approach enabled Promise not only to obtain a favorable settlement but to avoid the Texas litigation. Crossroads was represented by the Sprinkle IP Law Group and is represented in litigation by DLA Piper LLP.


Other Recent Cases:

Alacritech v. Microsoft, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, C04-02057 RMW (antitrust, unfair competition) - obtained favorable settlement on eve of preliminary injunction hearing by turning Microsoft's attempt to de-certify Alacritech's products into a risk to the continued viability of Microsoft's Windows Certification program. Microsoft was represented by Heller Ehrman LLP.

Diversified Biotech, Inc. v. Phenix Research Products, Inc., U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Massachusetts, C03-10941 RCL - combined patent and copyright infringement case in which we were able to convince our client Phenix's CGL insurance carrier to accept our tender of the defense of the entire action and to pay for the cost of defense.

Peddie v. Silicon Constellations, Inc., et al., and Related Cross-Actions, Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, C 10CV026064 - successfully settled through formal JAMS mediation an acrimonious lawsuit on behalf of a co-founder of a technology startup who was wrongfully discharged and deprived of his patent rights.

Collabrus, Inc. v. Edifecs, Inc., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, C07-01097 SI - successfully settled lawsuit against an infringer of our client's trademark by, inter alia, overcoming the argument that the infringer had owned and used a domain name consisting of the mark prior to the filing of the application for trademark with the Patent and Trademark Office.