Paul Hastings Prevails in a High-Profile Patent Litigation Win in Delaware

April 28, 2015

New York, NY – Paul Hastings, a leading global law firm, announced today that the firm successfully represented Trend Micro, Inc., a security software company, in a high-stakes patent litigation case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

On April 22, 2015, Chief Judge Leonard P. Stark held two Intellectual Ventures (“IV”) patents invalid for claiming patent-ineligible subject matter. Since December 2010, IV had asserted these two patents, along with several others, in litigation against several leading software security companies including Trend Micro, Inc., Symantec Corporation, McAfee, Inc., and Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd. IV was seeking approximately $150 million in damages from Trend Micro.

Trend Micro filed a motion regarding patent-ineligibility in November 2014, seeking a judgment of invalidity. At that time, Chief Judge Stark decided to defer hearing the issue until after Symantec was tried in early 2015. After IV won a $17 million dollar verdict against Symantec in February, Judge Stark decided that he would hear Trend Micro’s motion.

In a hearing held on April 10, 2015, Yar Chaikovsky, global vice-chair of the Intellectual Property practice at Paul Hastings, argued the invalidity case against the patent with the highest damages potential on behalf of Trend Micro. Latham & Watkins LLP representing Symantec Corporation argued the invalidity case against the second patent. Less than two weeks later, on April 22, 2015, Chief Judge Stark granted summary judgment in Trend Micro’s favor on both patents.

“It’s gratifying to have after five years, helped our client avoid a costly trial and prevail in this high-stakes case worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This decision is not only notable for our client, but also significant because, given the five years of litigation between the parties, it represents a unique procedural posture for finding patents directed to patent ineligible subject matter after the Supreme Court’s Alice decision,” Yar said.

The Paul Hastings team was led by Yar Chaikovsky, with significant support from of counsel Stuart Bartow. Yar and Stuart recently joined the firm with Yar leading a nationally recognized technology patent trial team.

Paul Hastings LLP is a leading global law firm with offices in Asia, Europe, and the United States. We provide innovative legal solutions to financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies. Please visit www.paulhastings.comfor more information.