Intellectual Property Litigation

David Cross, co-chair of the firm's E-Discovery & Information Management practice, discusses legal e-discovery implications related to the U.S. Department of Justice seizing, without notice, phone records from the Associated Press.

San Francisco-based partner, Mark Jansen is featured as a "legal lion" by Law360. The editors noted, "generic drug makers (were) vindicated in a federal circuit court ruling that two claims in Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s patent for a contraceptive were obvious and therefore invalid. The court reached back to patent applications filed with Australian and European agencies in the early 1990s, which defendants had argued contained ideas similar to those in a Bayer patent for Yaz. The Intellectual Property Group team representing Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. in this matter was led by Mr. Jansen and included Washington, D.C.-based attorneys Cedric Tan, partner; Neil M. McCarthy, senior counsel; and Kristin M. Cooklin, counsel.

Washington, D.C.-based partner and chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Group, Mark Supko tells Law360 in their "Practice Leader Q&A" series about areas of the intellectual property industry that he thinks need to be reformed, and about a good life lesson learned when he was just beginning his legal career.

Michael J. Songer, partner and co-chair of the firm's Litigation Group, discusses strategies for handling cases in district courts called "rocket docket's," who have gained a reputation for moving cases along quickly to trial.

Brussels-based Intellectual Property Group partner, Flip Petillion, comments on Sony Corp.'s U.K. unit being fined by the country's privacy regulator over a 2011 hacker attack that put the personal data of PlayStation users worldwide at risk.

The firm's representation of Fiesta Fashion is highlighted in this article about the Second Circuit victory relating to the copyrightability of prom dresses.

The U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia found that Kolon Industries failed to prove that Crowell & Moring client DuPont monopolized the market for the material, or used its contracts with customers to shut out rivals. Crowell & Moring chairman and Antitrust Group partner Kent A. Gardiner told Global Competition Review, "Discovery proved that not a single customer complained about DuPont's business practices, or sided with Kolon in support of its claims. The court rightly found that DuPont neither was a monopolist in the market nor engaged in any anti-competitive conduct."

A Virginia federal judge dismissed an antitrust suit brought by Kolon Industries Inc. against Crowell & Moring client DuPont over a synthetic fiber used in body armor, finding there was no evidence of a monopoly by DuPont. U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne granted DuPont's motion for summary judgment, ruling that the DuPont did not monopolize or attempt to monopolize the para-aramid fiber market and held that competition in the industry is thriving. Speaking to Competition Law360, Kent A. Gardiner, Crowell & Moring chairman and Antitrust Group partner, said, "The ruling fully vindicates DuPont’s business practices in this critical sector of the economy. The court rightly found that DuPont neither was a monopolist in the market nor engaged in any anti-competitive conduct."

Washington, D.C.-based Litigation Group partner and Trade Secrets team member Michael J. Songer was featured as one of IP Law360’s selected five “IP MVP” attorneys for his successful trial strategy in a trade secrets lawsuit that secured a $920 million jury verdict for client DuPont. In addition to his victory for DuPont, Songer also delivered CoStar Realty Information Inc. a win in its suit in Maryland federal court against individuals who used CoStar's subscription databases without authorization.

According to Songer, one of the major keys to his DuPont win was simply “letting the DuPont engineers tell their story…It's all about setting up the story you want to tell.”

Washington, D.C.-based partner, and member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Group, Terence C. Ross talks to the Wall Street Journal about the generation of controversial advertising software that is damaging the ad businesses of Web giants including Facebook Inc., Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., inserting a layer of ads on websites or covering up other paying ads. The Internet companies are considering ways to address the situation, claiming that the advertising software is confusing to consumers since it appears that the ads are generated by the website.

According to Ross, “The strength of a legal case would depend on whether consumers are confused about the tradeoffs for downloading the software and also how the technology actually works to alter the websites people see.”

Crowell & Moring is listed among 17 firms that received praise from corporate counsel for improving their client focus in the BTI Client Service A-Team 2012 report by the BTI Consulting Group Inc.

According to the article, “While many firms have been increasing their emphasis on client service to remain competitive, a few made strong pushes toward more in-person meetings, satisfaction surveys and follow-up calls this year, earning them the designation of most improved in a new survey of corporate counsel.”

Washington, D.C.-based Litigation Group partner and Trade Secrets team member Michael J. Songer was photographed with McGuire Woods co-counsel in America Lawyer for their successful trial strategy in a trade secrets lawsuit that secured a $920 million jury verdict for client DuPont.  The case against Kolon Industries Inc. was over DuPont’s Kevlar brand body armor product.

According the article, “Songer’s team uncovered a document suggesting that defendant Kolon Industries, Inc., was withholding evidence.”

Washington, D.C.-based Litigation Group partner and Trade Secrets team member Michael J. Songer speaks to Intellectual Property Law360 about the successful trial strategy that secured a $920 million jury verdict for Crowell & Moring client DuPont in a heated trade secret case with rival Kolon Industries Inc. over DuPont’s Kevlar brand body armor product. The joint efforts between McGuireWoods and Crowell & Moring resulted in one of the largest jury verdicts ever reached in the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to Songer, “We chose the unjust enrichment theory, that Kolon had avoided the expense of doing their own research and development. Then we had to demonstrate the amount of research that had gone into DuPont's technology over the years.”

On the heels of a trade secrets theft win for client DuPont Co. against Kolon Industries Inc., Crowell & Moring’s Trade Secrets team talks about the important steps manufacturers should take to reduce their vulnerability to information security leaks.

According to partner Michael J. Songer, manufacturers should take the following measures to protect their intellectual property: secure their computers but don't hinder employee productivity; protect sensitive information with technology that limits employee access to particular files; and make their expectations clear regarding private information upon an employee's exit.

Washington, D.C.-based Litigation Group partner and Trade Secrets team member Michael J. Songer speaks with Managing Intellectual Property about the importance of trade secrets protection in this new age of an information society. Songer highlights how companies must be committed to protecting their R&D by seeing litigation through and also take the necessary steps with departing employees.

According to Songer, “recent high-profile trade secrets cases in the US have created more awareness among the general public about the importance of trade secrets to companies.”

Washington, D.C.-based Litigation Group partner and Trade Secrets team member Michael J. Songer, and McGuireWoods co-counsel, are featured in The AmLaw Litigation Daily’s, "Litigators of the Week." On September 14, 2011, Songer and co-counsel obtained a successful $919.9 million verdict for DuPont in a trade secrets theft case involving the company’s Kevlar product. The jury awarded DuPont $919.9 million in this case.

Crowell & Moring’s Trade Secrets Group is highlighted in IP Law360 as co-counsel for DuPont in their $919 million win against Kolon Industries.

According to DuPont Senior Vice President and general counsel Thomas L. Sager, “The size of this award is one of the largest in defense of business processes and technologies.”

Crowell & Moring client Fiesta Fashions is featured for securing a dismissal in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Jovani Fashion Ltd. in New York federal court. Jovani Fashion Ltd. had brought the lawsuit against a slew of prom dress makers and retailers, but U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl found that the dress the company was accused of replicating was not copyrightable. Crowell & Moring Intellectual Property Group attorneys Terence P. Ross and Jonathan J. Anastasia were counsel to Fiesta Fashions in the case.

Ross told IP Law 360, "This was an important case in the prom dress industry for one of the few remaining manufacturers that still makes its apparel in the USA. Judge Koeltl’s decision keeps the prom dress market open to free and fair competition."

Crowell & Moring LLP is highlighted for its corporate plaintiff's recovery practice in this story about how in-house counsel are turning their legal departments into profit centers.  Major companies, such as DuPont Co., Ford Motor Co., Tyco International Ltd., and Michelin SCA, among others, say their lawyers are devoting more time and effort to bringing in extra cash by thinking like plaintiffs.

Crowell & Moring chairman Kent A. Gardiner told The Wall Street Journal that the firm’s docket of such cases has doubled over the past five years.  The firm’s recovery efforts for clients include a full suite of practice areas, ranging from tax and customs to intellectual property and antitrust.

Intellectual Property Group partner and co-head of the firm's TLD (Top-Level Domain) and Domain Name practice, John I. Stewart, is featured for his thoughts in a story about 2011 trends in trademark and domain name protection litigation. According to the article, "The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, will finalize a program in 2011 that will allow companies to register new brand-specific, top-level domains, otherwise known as the part of the URL that comes after the dot, commonly .com or .net." Due to potential trademark disputes as a result of this new registry program, Stewart comments that this is, "a brand-new regime, one that affects a lot of brand owners."