Kirkland & Ellis

Firm overview:

Kirkland & Ellis is known as a “capable” trade secrets law firm and is named by peers among the small number of law firms “most adept at handling complex global trade secrets matters”.

The firm is at the top of the Big Law tree with annual revenues of more than $6 billion drawn from its corporate transactional and disputes practices. A European peer acknowledges that the firm “should be ranked highly, on account of its broad-based IP and litigation capabilities”.

Attorneys in the Trade Secrets Litigation Practice Group draw on years of representing plaintiffs and defendants in trade secrets matters alongside broad intellectual property and commercial litigation experience.

The group has litigated trade secret disputes from theft to employment, R&D, joint development, technology transfer and know-how agreements. The group has won significant victories for clients in these matters in federal and state courts and in arbitrations, and has worked collaboratively with law enforcement agencies to protect clients’ intellectual property.

Team overview:

Partners Michael DeVries and Adam Alper are identified by commentators for their trade secrets capabilities. High-stakes IP trial lawyer DeVries has secured over $2.5 billion in plaintiff jury verdicts and settlements for clients in IP litigations. Based in the Los Angeles office, his trade secrets cases include a $40 million jury verdict for Swiss x-ray and radio frequency tech company Comet Technologies against a competitor.

Bay Area partner Alper focuses on patent and trade secret disputes, predominantly representing semiconductor, telecommunications, computer hardware and pharmaceutical clients. Alper regularly litigates high-stakes competitor cases with concurrent claims of patent, trade secret and copyright violations. Since 2018, he has secured over $2.1 billion in damages awards and settlements for his clients in IP litigations.

His trade secrets cases include an $855 million jury verdict for multinational IT services and consulting company, Cognizant, against a competitor in a software-related trade secret and copyright case. Alper was a lead partner in the victory for Comet Group in the competitor litigation involving the development and ownership of next-generation semiconductor manufacturing technology at the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Partner Sharre Lotfollahi is noted for being “very involved in the Sedona Conference and being on many of [Kirkland’s] winning jury trials”. Says a peer: “She has impressed me. She seems very knowledgeable and has been involved in the Sedona conference guidance on jury trials, probably as a result of her success in trials.”

Key matters:

• Syntel Sterling Best Shores Mauritius et al v The Trizetto Group et al
  Kirkland served as lead counsel for software company TriZetto and parent company, Cognizant Technology Solutions, in a trade secrets misappropriation, unfair competition and breach of contract matter case against Syntel, involving healthcare software systems.
  
  The Kirkland team led by Adam Alper, Bay Area, and Mike De Vries, Los Angeles, secured a complete victory following a week-long jury trial in favour of TriZetto, which included an award of $855 million in damages. TriZetto secured an injunction barring Syntel from using any of its trade secrets.
  
  In May 2021, Judge Schofield issued a remitter and cut the punitive damages to $285 million, while keeping in place the $285 million compensatory award and awarding Cognizant $570 million in damages. The award currently stands at just over $300 million, with $285 million in punitive damages and $14.5 million in attorney fees. The total is expected to increase with post-judgment interest and compensatory damages, which are still being litigated in district court.
  
  The opposing firms were Foley & Lardner; and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
• Motorola Solutions v Hytera Communications Corporation et al; Hytera Communications v Motorola Solutions
  A Kirkland team led by Mike De Vries, Los Angeles; and Adam Alper and Akshay Deoras, Bay Area, won a contested contempt hearing on behalf of client Motorola Solutions against Hytera Communications. A Chicago jury previously found that Hytera engaged in trade secret theft and copyright infringement of Motorola’s technology in a $765 million jury verdict in favour of Motorola in February 2020, at the conclusion of a four-month jury trial led by the Kirkland team.

The district court ordered Hytera to pay substantial royalty fees for its ongoing use of Motorola’s trade secret and copyrighted technology. Hytera failed to make the first royalty payment of $49 million due in July 2022, claiming inability to pay. Motorola moved the court to hold Hytera in contempt of the court’s royalty order and to issue severe contempt sanctions against Hytera. The federal district court issued a first-of-its-kind contempt ruling finding Hytera in contempt of court and sanctioning Hytera from selling any of its two-way radio products anywhere in the world.

The opposing firms were Steptoe & Johnson; and Calfee, Halter & Griswold.

Clients:

Comet Technologies USA; Inventus Power; LivePerson; MicroPort Scientific Corporation/Benny Hagag; Motorola Solutions; Cognizant TriZetto Software Group; Unisys; Deloitte Consulting.