Latham Named Intellectual Property Group of the Year

Latham’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice has been named an Intellectual Property Group of the Year as a part of Law360’s 2021 Practice Groups of the Year awards. The annual awards recognize “the attorney teams behind litigation wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.”

Latham was honored for winning results in several important matters, securing a US$1.8 billion settlement for LG Energy Solution, the largest public trade secrets settlement ever, in a headline-making dispute over electric vehicle batteries before the ITC; representing indoor cycling company Peloton in its patent and trademark battles with Mad Dogg Athletics, and successfully representing Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine at trial over a patent for the production of human stem cells.

In the matter for LG Energy Solution, Latham obtained a default judgment against SKI as a sanction for widespread document spoliation and violation of a court order related to the investigation of that spoliation, from an ITC Administrative Law Judge. The ITC affirmed the initial determination and issued the ten year exclusion order that LGES sought, precluding SKI from importing batteries or components to make them. Latham then worked with the federal government to come to a settlement between LGES and SKI to prevent the result of the case from having negative economic effects.

For Peloton, the firm scored a significant win with the dismissal of a patent infringement suit filed by competitor Mad Dogg Athletics. The case was dismissed just months before trial, on the grounds that the asserted patents failed to meet subject matter eligibility requirements under US law. Global Vice Chair of Latham’s IP Litigation Practice, Jennifer Barry, described the result as “a really exceptional and exciting win for us."

In discussing the patent trial victory for Astellas, Washington, D.C. partner David Frazier talked about the experience of the team coming together and creating a virtual courtroom as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said "We brought our whole Washington, D.C., team, even though it was a remote trial, and so we were able to get the benefit of that team chemistry. That's the way we work together and count on each other and draw out each other's ideas ... [it's] how we succeed on these teams, even in this virtual environment."