LITIGATION REAL ESTATE TECH LAW BUSINESS

David Linehan is an intellectual property litigator with first-chair experience prosecuting and defending cases involving trademarks, technology transfers and licenses, software development and publishing agreements, copyright violations, royalty disputes, and employee covenants not to compete. By specializing in such disputes, Mr. Linehan has acquired a thorough understanding of copyright, trademark, trade secret, and contract law principles. Mr. Linehan has enjoyed numerous successes in first-chair and strong second-chair positions in high-stakes intellectual property litigations. Mr. Linehan excels at the crafts of persuasive legal writing and oral advocacy.

Beyond the IP realm, Mr. Linehan has significant appellate litigation experience. He has argued multiple cases before a variety of state and federal courts of appeals and was the lead drafter behind many more appellate briefs. His more general commercial litigation background includes substantial insurance coverage litigation, tax controversy work, and defense of ESOP trustees and financial advisors against allegations of professional negligence and breach of ERISA fiduciary duties.

Representative Cases

• Lead counsel for video game developer in bet-the-company arbitration against the nation’s largest video game publisher. Established client’s exclusive right to control future development and publication of its popular video game franchise. Resulted in payment of seven-figure additional royalties, defeat of all of the publisher’s monetary and nonmonetary counterclaims, and termination of the publisher’s rights of first refusal.
• Lead counsel for renowned Seattle hotel in defense of trademark infringement claims relating to Internet key-word advertising practices.
• Lead counsel for a Texas-based software development and consulting company in ongoing pursuit of multimillion-dollar copyright infringement claims involving unauthorized use of client’s enterprise resource planning software.
• Obtained summary judgment for an international manufacturer of ultra-high-pressure water jet cutting tools in a lawsuit brought by an inventor alleging that our client misappropriated trade secrets and breached alleged contractual obligations. Summary judgment was affirmed in a published opinion, setting new precedent in the state of Washington.
• Represented owner of trademarks in high-end home decor products in pursuit of trademark infringement and dilution claims against sellers of cheap imitation products.
• Lead counsel for online market research firm in defense of claims brought by a competitor for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and violations of nonsolicitation agreements. Case settled for far less than the costs of defense following a motion for summary judgment. 
• Represented inventor and exclusive licensee of medical imaging technology in coordinated patent infringement actions brought against numerous infringers. Settled claims on highly favorable terms prior to trial.
• Second chair in multimillion-dollar patent licensing and royalty dispute on behalf of a nonprofit research foundation against an international pharmaceutical company.
• Second chair in defense of major food company against claims exceeding $25 million arising from corporate acquisition and executive compensation agreements.  Obtained complete defense verdict following federal jury trial.
• Successfully represented Microsoft in a multimillion-dollar breach of contract action involving a software development and licensing agreement for high-end digital cable television set-top boxes.
• Successfully protected Microsoft’s trade secrets from improper use and disclosure by former employees who, upon termination, attempted to market software containing technological innovations that were nearly identical to the software features they were helping to design and test while employed by Microsoft.
• Represented Microsoft in nationally publicized trademark litigation against Lindows.com for infringement and dilution of Microsoft’s famous WINDOWS trademarks
• As lead counsel, obtained summary judgment on claims of negligent misrepresentation and fraud against a business valuation firm in a shareholder derivative suit, where the client had performed a series of common stock valuations of a closely held company controlled by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
• As second chair, represented international software developer in pursuit of multimillion-dollar state excise tax refund claim. Following extensive discovery and depositions of the lead auditors, we secured a large monetary settlement with very favorable past and future tax treatment of certain categories of software, yielding tens of millions of dollars in additional savings for the client.
• Successfully represented the NCAA in post-trial and Tenth Circuit appellate briefing to defeat antitrust claims brought by Adidas alleging that the Association’s rules regarding the size, number, and placement of commercial logos on collegiate athletic apparel constituted an impermissible restraint of trade.
• Represented corporate officers and ESOP trustees in litigation alleging that their rejection of an unsolicited merger proposal constituted a breach of their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). With several parallel actions pending in state and federal court, we eventually obtained summary judgment on most claims. The merger was then approved at a share price more than double the original, rejected offer.