Litigation
Technology Litigation
Gibson Dunn is known for handling more disputes for companies in the technology sector than any other law firm.
Overview
We represent both established and emerging technology companies in their most important and complex disputes and have won some of the highest-profile technology cases in the past several years—in arbitration, at trial, and on appeal.
Our practice stands out for its deep understanding of technology clients’ business models, our own technical expertise, and the remarkable breadth of high-stakes matters we handle in areas central to the tech industry, such as data privacy; founders’ disputes; intellectual-property fights; antitrust matters; employment issues; securities class actions; product liability actions; and contract cases.
Our deep understanding of our clients’ business models enables us to help them solve their problems in the manner that suits their needs, whether that means pursuing amicable resolution from a position of strength or taking a dispute to arbitration or court, through trial and appeal. Once engaged in a dispute, our litigators are adept at quickly mastering the details of our clients’ cutting-edge technologies and explaining them clearly, concisely, and effectively to courts, arbitrators, and juries. And even before a dispute emerges, in a rapidly developing regulatory environment, we know how to anticipate, precipitate, and leverage changes in the law that benefit our clients – and how to minimize the impact of changes that would chill innovation and dampen competition.
We know that our technology clients want outside counsel to be their partners — to understand their business imperatives and to help them advance their objectives efficiently and effectively with their legal and regulatory outlook in mind. Over the course of decades in this space, we have developed a deep bench of litigators with experience doing exactly that, at the highest levels, for startups and trillion-dollar public companies alike.
In recognition of our work in this space, The Recorder named Gibson Dunn as its 2022 Tech Industry Litigation Department of the Year. The firm is highly ranked by Chambers and Legal 500 across several technology categories, including media, telecoms, information technology, and the internet. In recognition of its outstanding work, Benchmark Litigation presented Gibson Dunn with its Impact Award after the firm secured an antitrust victory on behalf of Apple in litigation against Epic Games related to the App Store marketplace.
“The firm’s breadth in expertise, coupled with its major trial and appellate victories, has attracted major industry clients that trust the firm with their high-stakes legal disputes.”
The Legal 500 U.S.
Experience
Antitrust and Competition
Recent representations include:
- Deutsche Telekom: Successfully defended Deutsche Telekom in a Clayton Act §7 antitrust suit brought by 13 U.S. state attorneys general, securing a favorable ruling that allowed the $26.5 billion acquisition of Sprint Corporation to proceed.
- Panasonic: Obtained complete dismissal for Panasonic of antitrust litigation alleging price-fixing of inductor electronic components.
- Uber Technologies, Inc.: Defended Uber against Sidecar’s Section 2 monopolization allegations. The California state law claims were dismissed, Sidecar’s counsel was disqualified, and a stipulated dismissal was entered.
- Chunghwa Picture Tubes: Successfully defended Chunghwa Picture Tubes in massive multidistrict litigation relating to the allegation of price-fixing of cathode ray tubes.
- Apple: Secured a major victory defeating antitrust attacks from Epic Games relating to Apple’s core business model where the court ruled in Apple’s favor on all antitrust claims.
- Global Technology Company: Advising a major global technology company on the management of various antitrust-related class actions and related litigation brought against it in a number of countries worldwide, including multiple EU member states.
Appellate and Constitutional Law
Recent representations include:
- Slack Technologies: Secured a Supreme Court victory for Slack holding unanimously that plaintiffs suing under Section 11 of the Securities Act must prove that they bought shares registered under the allegedly misleading statement.
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Successfully persuaded a unanimous Texas Supreme Court to dismiss all common-law claims against Meta in a case of first impression involving Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Represented Meta in monumental Supreme Court case, securing a unanimous ruling that dismissed claims of aiding and abetting terrorism, adopting the firm’s argument that the defendants did not aid the specific underlying act.
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Represented Meta as an amicus in a landmark Supreme Court case, where the Court adopted the course Gibson Dunn suggested, declining to reach the merits of a significant challenge to the application of Section 230 by the lower courts.
- Apple: Secured a major victory defeating antitrust attacks from Epic Games relating to Apple’s core business model where the court ruled in Apple’s favor on all antitrust claims.
- Uber Technologies, Inc., Postmates Inc., and Grubhub Inc.: Convinced the First Circuit, Third Circuit, and Massachusetts Supreme Court that the claims of drivers who use the Uber, Postmates, and Grubhub apps, respectively, may be compelled to arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act because they fall outside the statute’s exemption for workers engaged in interstate commerce.
Class Actions
Recent representations include:
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Representing Meta in putative class actions challenging the collection and use of location data as violating California’s wiretapping law, constitutional and common-law privacy rights, and asserting claims for fraud and misrepresentation. Secured dismissal of one case and key claims in another, leading to a favorable class settlement.
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Representing Meta in class actions and a DOJ complaint alleging algorithmic bias in ad targeting. Secured dismissals and a negotiated resolution praised by the DOJ as groundbreaking.
- Yahoo! Inc.: Successfully defended Yahoo in a TCPA class action. Strategically challenged class certification, highlighting individual consent issues. Persuaded the court that Yahoo’s equipment didn’t meet the TCPA’s autodialer definition, securing decertification and victory for Yahoo.
- iolo technologies, LLC: Represented iolo in defense of putative nationwide consumer class action that challenged the company’s flagship PC optimization software. District Court dismissed action with prejudice based on the lack of standing.
- Yelp Inc.: Successfully defended Yelp! against a class-action lawsuit alleging review manipulation, citing Section 230 immunity and defeating claims of extortion.
- Leading Global Corporation: Representing a leading global corporation in the technology sector in connection with class action litigation commenced against it in the Competition Appeal Tribunal alleging abuse of a dominant position.
Founder’s Disputes
Recent representations include:
- Square and Co-Founders: Achieved a favorable settlement for Square and its co-founders, Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, shortly before trial in a founder dispute that included claims for breach of joint venture agreement, fraud, and misappropriation of trade secrets.
- Square and Co-Founders: Achieved a favorable settlement for Square and its co-founders, Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, shortly before trial in a founder dispute that included claims for breach of joint venture agreement, fraud, and misappropriation of trade secrets.
- Yik Yak Inc. and Co-Founders: Represented social media app Yik Yak and its two co-founders, Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, in a lawsuit brought by a former classmate alleging a significant ownership interest in Yik Yak.
- Facebook and Founder: Represented Facebook and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, in a high-profile breach of contract action brought by previous brief business associate Paul Ceglia, successfully exposing his claims of a significant ownership interest in Facebook as fraudulent.
- Tinder Early Employees and Founder: Successfully secured a $441 million settlement for Tinder’s founders and early employees, resolving a long-standing dispute against the company’s corporate parents, stemming from allegations of intentional undervaluation in a 2017 transaction.
General Commercial Litigation
Recent representations include:
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co: Secured a unanimous jury verdict in favor of HPE in a high-stakes contract dispute against Oracle, resulting in a $3+ billion award. The California Court of Appeal affirmed the verdict, making it one of the largest single-plaintiff verdicts in U.S. history.
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Successfully defended Meta in a lawsuit brought by the State of Texas under the state’s Capture or Use of Biometric Identifiers Act seeking unprecedented civil penalty regarding facial recognition user data, achieving a favorable settlement.
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Won summary judgment for Meta in high-profile consumer protection civil enforcement action brought by the D.C. Attorney General alleging that Meta made misleading representations and omissions about its data privacy policies and practices related to Cambridge Analytica.
- OpenFeint, Inc.: Obtained dismissal of class action against leading mobile social gaming platform asserting that OpenFeint’s platform permitted unauthorized third-party access to personal and identifying information. Lead plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed action in response to our motion to dismiss.
- DIRECTV Inc.: On behalf of client DIRECTV, Gibson Dunn persuaded the Fourth Circuit to grant a Rule 23(f) petition presenting an unsettled question of personal jurisdiction. The case settled on favorable terms after the grant.
Intellectual Property
Recent representations include:
- NetApp, Inc.: Won summary judgment dismissal of noninfringement for NetApp on the final two patents of a case in which Gibson Dunn was retained mid-stream by NetApp. Intellectual Ventures (IV) brought the suit on five patents against NetApp’s data storage systems. Three of the patents were found invalid in IPRs.
- Uber Technologies, Inc.: Served as lead counsel for Uber in multi-patent dispute covering location-based and communication-based technologies in the Eastern District of Texas.
- American Software Company: Obtained complete dismissal with prejudice in patent case for American software company after the court concluded that all asserted claims were ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
- Titan Global Capital Management: Representing Titan Global Capital Management in a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief and damages against Fundit, asserting claims for tortious interference with contract and misappropriation of trade secrets, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, and conversion. The parties entered into a confidential settlement on mutually acceptable terms.
- SharkNinja, Inc.: Lead counsel for SharkNinja in five patent and false advertising litigation against competitor iRobot in district court. Argued and defeated iRobot’s preliminary injunction motion based on alleged infringement of three asserted patents, and successfully stayed and dismissed remaining patents.
Labor and Employment
Recent representations include:
- Riot Games, Inc.: Represented Riot Games in a high-profile class action lawsuit regarding gender discrimination. The court approved our claim resolution, the first ever joint settlement among a private class, Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
- Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.: Successfully defeated certification of hiring, staffing, and promotions classes for Cognizant in a lawsuit asserting violations of Title VII and Section 1981 on the basis that Cognizant allegedly prefers Indians and South Asians. Successfully defended Cognizant in a two-week jury trial on the one certified terminations class, resulting in a hung jury.
- Netflix, Inc.: Scored a fantastic victory for Netflix, convincing the Los Angeles Superior Court to sustain a demurrer as to causes of action for harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against a Netflix Vice President, without leave to amend.
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Won dismissal with prejudice of a discrimination class action alleging that Meta favors visa-dependent workers in hiring.
- Capchase, Inc.: Successfully secured a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction for Capchase, Inc., preventing a former employee from joining a competitor and affirming the enforceability of restrictive covenants, despite jurisdictional challenges.
Privacy
Recent representations include:
- Meta Platforms, Inc.: Won summary judgment for Meta in high-profile consumer protection civil enforcement action brought by the D.C. Attorney General alleging that Meta made misleading representations and omissions about its data privacy policies and practices related to Cambridge Analytica.
- Coinbase Global, Inc.: Represented Coinbase against multiple litigations/subpoenas, using privacy laws, jurisdictional defenses, and blockchain tracing to prevent disclosure of user data, including a successful dismissal of a third-party subpoena in federal court.
- Xandr, Inc.: Secured dismissal for Xandr, Inc. of a class action complaint in New York federal court alleging violation of the UK GDPR related to personal data collected through advertising cookies.
Securities Litigation
Recent representations include:
- Slack Technologies, LLC.: Obtained a 9-0 win for Slack in the U.S. Supreme Court in key industry-shaping litigation regarding Section 11. It was the first securities and derivative suit relating to going public through a direct listing.
- Major Technology Company: Secured a decisive post-trial victory in Delaware Court of Chancery on behalf of a major technology company in stockholder appraisal action arising out of acquisition.
- Okta, Inc.: Defended Okta and its senior officers in a securities class action arising out of a data breach incident that received widespread media attention and preceded a significant drop in Okta’s stock price. After the court partially granted Okta’s dismissal motion, the parties entered into a settlement.
- Board of Directors of Block, Inc.: Secured dismissal, and affirmance by the Delaware Supreme Court, of a shareholder derivative action against the Board of Directors of Block (f/k/a Square) arising out of Square’s acquisition of the music streaming service TIDAL.
- Hewlett-Packard Company: Achieved a significant victory by securing the dismissal with prejudice of a securities fraud class action against HP. The court granted the motion to dismiss, adopting all of Gibson Dunn’s arguments and dismissing the plaintiffs’ claims on falsity and scienter grounds. The case is now on appeal.
Trials
Recent representations include:
- Hewlett-Packard Company: Obtained a unanimous jury verdict for Hewlett-Packard Company and an award to HP valued at more than $4.5 billion with post-judgment interest against Oracle Corporation.
- Dell Technologies Inc., VMware, Inc., and EMC Corporation: Achieved a major victory for Dell, VMware, and EMC by obtaining an unprecedented directed verdict in a $435 million patent suit against WSOU Investments regarding cloud computing patents.
- TikTok Inc. and ByteDance Ltd.: Obtained a complete defense verdict for TikTok and ByteDance in a $350 million federal trademark case. The firm’s trial team successfully argued that TikTok’s “stitch” tool did not infringe the plaintiff’s service mark, securing a unanimous jury decision and dismissing substantial damages claims.
- Grubhub Inc.: Obtained a complete victory for Grubhub in an enterprise-threatening class action challenging the classification of Grubhub delivery partners as independent contractors, removing the case to federal court and winning a rarely granted preemptive motion asking the judge to deny class certification.
- Fitbit, Inc.: Successfully defended Fitbit in a high-stakes patent case against Philips, securing a complete victory. The ITC ruled in Fitbit’s favor, finding the plaintiff’s claims invalid and not infringed. This prevented an exclusion order that could have halted Fitbit’s product sales in the U.S.
Practice Leaders
Accolades
Gibson Dunn Named California Tech Industry Litigation Department of the Year Winner
The Recorder
Ashlie Beringer, Kristin Linsley and Rosemarie Ring Named Among California’s Women Leaders in Tech Law
The Recorder
Connell O’Neill Named Among Asia Legal Business’ Super 50 TMT Lawyers 2024
Asian Legal Business
News & Insights
Client Alert
Supreme Court Rejects Allegations That Social-Media Companies Did Not Do “Enough” To Block Terrorist Content But Declines To Address Scope Of Section 230
Article
What does the EU Digital Markets Act mean for the tech sector?
Webcasts
Webcast: Hallucination vs. Reality: Risk and Promise of AI in Financial Services (Session 2)