JD Journal » Internet

High Stakes IP Litigation Attorney Andrew P. Bridges Joins Fenwick & West

rebneely — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:28:47 +0000

Fenwick & West LLP announced in recent days that high stakes IP litigation attorney Andrew P. Bridges has joined the firm as a partner in its IP & Technology Litigation group.

Bridges concentrates his practice on complex litigation in Internet, copyright, trademark, advertising, unfair competition, consumer protection and commercial law disputes. He is recognized on a regular basis as one of the Top 100 IP litigators in California. He joins the firm from the San Francisco office of Winston & Strawn. According to Corporate Counsel, he is one of the Top 10 “Go-To” IP litigation firms in the U.S.

Laurence Pulgram, Co-Chair of the firm’s IP & Technology Litigation Group was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Fenwick continues to seek out the best attorneys to deepen practice areas that are mission critical to our technology and life sciences clients. Andrew is an ideal fit—a globally known IP litigator who builds on the momentum and market share we have developed with an already outstanding group. We are thrilled to welcome him to the fold.”

Bridges was quoted as saying: “I was drawn to Fenwick & West for IP & Technology Litigation because of its depth and extraordinary track record of success in representing innovators and industry leaders in high-stakes IP litigation. Winston & Strawn is a great firm and I will miss working with my colleagues there, but I am really looking forward to joining my practice with such an accomplished team and look forward to growing the Group.”

Bridges litigates cases for Internet, technology, and consumer-focused companies with regard to new business models, media, technologies and communications platforms. He has handled numerous high-profile matters, including the defense of Diamond Multimedia against the recording industry’s attack on the first popular portable MP3 music player; defense of Google and others against Perfect 10′s copyright, trademark and publicity law challenges to the Internet; CNET Networks against the effort of Snap-On Tools to thwart the launch of the Snap! Online portal; and ClearPlay, maker of DVD playback control software that enables consumers to have a “PG” experience of “R” rated movies, in a suit brought by Hollywood directors and studios seeking to ban the software.

Bridges has secured numerous settlements for clients in important cases, including ones for The Financial Times Limited, Bare Escentuals, OmniVision Technologies, Cox Communications, Full Sail University.

Darryl M. Woo, Chair of Fenwick’s Litigation Group was quoted as saying: “Andrew’s substantial background advising a wide range of prominent companies, coupled with his groundbreaking victories on cutting edge copyright, trademark and Internet issues in high-stakes litigation, adds breadth as well as depth to our leading IP & Technology Litigation practice. Andrew’s impressive list of accomplishments, stellar reputation, extensive subject matter knowledge and thought leadership will provide our clients with a tremendous resource. He is highly respected nationally and globally, and we couldn’t be more pleased he selected Fenwick & West to expand his practice.”

Chambers USA ranks Bridges in Band 1 for Trademark, Copyright, and Trade Secrets, and he is also ranked in Band 1 for Trademark Litigation by World Trademark Review, listed in Best Lawyers in America, and honored in numerous other publications that relate to e-commerce and intellectual property law. The World Intellectual Property Organization’s Mediation and Arbitration Center has selected him as a domain name arbitrator, and he serves the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California as an early neutral evaluator.

Over the past two decades, Fenwick & West attorneys have handled some of the most prominent IP, technology and patent litigation matters, including securing one of the 25 largest IP litigation payouts in U.S. history—a $400M settlement for its client Compuware against IBM.

The firm was recently named one of only 20 “Go To Law Firms on the Cutting Edge” for patent litigation, and was recently awarded “Most Innovative Use of Technology by a Law Firm” by American Lawyer Media for the firm’s proprietary electronic discovery tools.

The firm has nearly 300 attorneys in offices in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, California; Boise, Idaho; and Seattle, Washington, and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Morning Roundup

joshua — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:56:42 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Monday, September 27th. Here’s a quick look back at Friday’s stories.

Dinsmore & Shohl Welcomes New Partner Michael DiSanto to Corporate Department…

The publisher of The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel and other legal and business titles, is consolidating its legal research functions into a single organization…

Butzel Long Shareholder was named a recipient of the 2^nd Annual International Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor Award…

London-based firm Kennedy’s opened an office in Miami…

Poll conducted earlier this week by the New York State Bar Association revealed guarded optimism about hiring trends and demand for legal services in 2011…

Dinsmore & Shohl Welcomes New Partner Michael DiSanto to Corporate Department

ashley — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 01:18:26 +0000

Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP is welcoming yet another partner to their steadily growing firm. Michael DiSanto will be will be joining Dinsmore & Shohl’s Corporate Department as a partner and will be a member of the Securities Practice Group at the firm’s office in Cincinnati, Ohio.

With more than 450 attorneys practicing all over the Midwest, Dinsmore & Shohl serves small and large businesses, government offices, and individuals from their 10 offices. They practice in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Michael DiSanto is one of the founding partners of the Silicon Valley office of Reed Smith, LLP, one of the 15 largest law firms in the world. There he had a corporate practice where he provided council for companies as well as pro bono work for non-profit groups. Before going to Reed Smith, DiSanto had his hands full as founder, CEO and General Counsel of an Internet company that provided personal training solutions to the health and fitness industry in San Francisco. He also attended Santa Clara University School of Law and Vanderbilt University.

Chair of Dinsmore & Shohl’s Corporate Department Susan Zaunbrecher is pleased with the new hire, “We are very excited to have an attorney of Mike’s caliber join the firm. Mike brings a depth of knowledge in corporate transactions and private equity that will enhance and expand our current capabilities across all of our markets.”

Net Neutrality Case Unbalanced

julie — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:09:08 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission has hit a stumbling block in its efforts to enforce net neutrality on internet providers. Why? According to Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals, there’s no law to cite. Congress hasn’t passed a law that would empower the FCC to regulate how internet providers, such as Comcast, deliver their services. Internet providers have long fought any such regulation which would hamper their ability to artificially create scarcity by denying certain services to subscribers. Two years ago, Comcast and BitTorrent got into a tiff over large bandwidth access, probably spurred on by the Motion Picture Association of America’s complaints about illegal downloads. All of these companies are looking out for themselves, as they should. Perhaps someone should be looking out for the consumer. Anyone? Bueller?

Net neutrality is a principle advocating equal access to the internet without restriction for anyone regardless of what they are using to connect to the internet.

BCG Attorney Search’s Barnes Sues Competitor Kinney Recruiting

Erik Even — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:37:35 +0000

A major force in the legal recruiting industry is going against an upstart competitor – in court.

A. Harrison Barnes, owner and founder of such companies as BCG Attorney Search and LegalAuthority, is suing Robert E. Kinney of Kinney Recruiting in Texas for anonymously maligning Barnes and his companies online. (Full disclosure: Career Mission, which is affiliated with these sites, is the owner of JDJournal.com.)

While it is common for disgruntled ex-employees and unhappy customers to complain about companies on websites and chat boards, this is an unusual case in which an anonymous critic was learned to be the owner of a competing business.

It is also unusual that Kinney, according to the complaint, went to extraordinary lengths to prevent the aggrieved party from discovering his identity. When Barnes sought his identity from RipOff Report, Kinney even hired a high-priced law firm to prevent RipOff Report turning over his identity pursuant to a court order Barnes obtained. Kinney had registered on Ripoff Report as “Albert” and done a posting on RipOff Report under this fake name. The case is extraordinary because Barnes was able to obtain a court order for information that is normally fiercely guarded by the First Amendment. (Kinney is a former employee of BCG Attorney Search.)

Apart from Kinney, the lawsuit also targets a number of individuals, including one solo practitioner in particular. The solo practitioner in question had set up a website largely dedicated to attacking Barnes. Kinney and the other defendants are accused of using online “rip-off report” sites and anonymous personal blogs to spread incorrect information about Barnes and his companies.

According to the complaint, the defendants have “gone beyond expressing their opinions” and “mounted a vicious smear campaign against Barnes and his legal recruiting companies.”

The complaint also alleges that when Kinney was an employee of BCG Attorney Search in 2004, he devised an unethical kickback scheme, attempting to pay an associate under the table at Preston, Gates and Ellis (now K&L Gates) to hire one of his candidates. Barnes says that when he discovered this scheme, he and other BCG Attorney Search recruiters immediately fired Kinney. The complaint in the action even contains an email from Kinney where he talks about paying the bribe to an associate at Preston Gates in return for hiring a candidate.

Incredibly, Kinney decided over four years after working for Barnes and BCG Attorney Search to start maligning Barnes and his companies online. Kinney even attacks companies of Barnes that were not even in existence at the time Kinney worked for BCG Attorney Search.

Barnes says the actions of these anonymous online critics have damaged both his reputation, and that of his companies, leading to missed business opportunities, lost customers, weakened morale, and loss of employees.

The suit, filed this week with the California Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, Northeast District, seeks $10 million in damages.

The full complaint is available here (PDF file).

Yahoo’s IP Guru Resigns

Erik Even — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:51:37 +0000

Joseph Siino, the lawyer who built Yahoo’s intellectual property department, is leaving the struggling Internet search firm.

Siino said he’s leaving to join the growing patent monetization industry, which includes businesses like patent brokerages.

He was hired in 2005 to build Yahoo’s IP department. Siino says he feels his work is done because the group, now with about 30 staff, could stand on its own.

Yahoo shed a number of executives this year and it started laying off 1,500 workers last week. Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang stepped down last month.

Siino declined to comment on the turmoil or layoffs at the company.

Siino’s group focused exclusively on intellectual property at Yahoo, building the patent portfolio, cutting licensing deals, and handling IP litigation.

When Siino arrived in 2005, Yahoo was filing about 100 patent applications a year. Now Yahoo is filing 1,000 patent applications a year, Siino said.