Nicole C. Valco

Nicole's experience includes representing:

• Medivation 
  • Against a university professor who concealed, then sold, a billion-dollar oncology molecule. Obtained unanimous breach of contract jury verdict for this biopharmaceutical company, and the defendant paid all damages plus costs. (S.F. Superior)
  • In defense of the University of California’s patent license lawsuit seeking additional royalties on sales of Medivation’s blockbuster oncology drug. (S.F. Superior)

• Deloitte & Touche in a putative securities class action and five separate mass actions alleging that Deloitte “participated or materially aided” certain securities sales by Aequitas Capital Management, in violation of the Oregon Securities Laws. (D. Or.)
• Canopy Growth, the largest legal cannabis producer in North America, in a trademark infringement suit brought by Cointreau in the Southern District of New York. (S.D.N.Y.)
• Marvell Semiconductor in a six-week trade secrets theft jury trial. The jury returned a complete defense verdict, which The Daily Journal recognized as the Top Defense Verdict of the year. (S.J. Superior)
• PG&E as defendant in a two-month criminal trial and hundreds of related civil lawsuits. Successfully reduced PG&E’s potential fine in the criminal case from US$1.14 billion to US$3 million. No individuals were indicted. (N.D. Cal.)
• Apricus Biosciences against Laboratoires Majorelle in an antitrust, breach of contract, and fraud action over a patent license agreement. Obtained dismissal of all claims. (S.D.N.Y.)
• Ovation Pharmaceuticals (now Lundbeck) in a merger-to-monopoly case in which the Federal Trade Commission sought divestiture and disgorgement of more than US$100 million. After trial, the district court entered judgment for Ovation on all claims. (D. Minn.) The district court’s decision was affirmed by the Eighth Circuit.
• A pioneering gene editing company in arbitration over a patent licensing dispute. Obtained favorable resolution.
• SS&C, a financial technology company, in the pursuit of trade secret misappropriation claims in Illinois and Connecticut state courts against former employees charged with disseminating trade secrets to a competitor.