Cooley 'Sets Itself Apart' as AmLaw Litigation Department of the Year Finalist in Intellectual Property

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - December 28, 2015) - Cooley has been selected as a finalist in the Intellectual Property category of The American Lawyer's biennial Litigation Department of the Year special feature. The American Lawyer notes that Cooley has successfully capitalized on utilizing 'lean staffing' and a solid strategy to develop the next generation of top litigators -- "a formula that appears to be working."

Cooley is singled out for its unprecedented string of IP victories for global companies in courts and arbitrations around the country. Among Cooley's most noteworthy successes was its work for client Gilead Sciences in an arbitration battle with F. Hoffman-La Roche over the patent rights to Sovaldi, a hepatitis C drug that Gilead spent $11 billion to acquire in 2012. In 2014, an arbitration panel sided with Cooley and Gilead and found that Roche was not entitled to the rights over the drug. This victory was recently recognized in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers North America Report, and Cooley's representation of Gilead was also selected for a 2015 Global Litigation award by The American Lawyer.

"This was a bet-the-company litigation, and the Cooley team came through," said Brett Pletcher, General Counsel at Gilead. "The Cooley team's combination of deep trial experience and scientific expertise was critical to the success of this case. The cross examinations of Roche's witnesses were devastating to Roche's case." 

Also contributing to the firm's recognition as an IP finalist by AmLaw was its five-day trial victory on behalf of longstanding client Facebook, in which Cooley secured a complete defense verdict and a ruling of non-infringement in a patent suit involving Facebook's "Like" and "Share" buttons. This marked the second patent trial victory for Facebook in its history, and, in both cases, Cooley was the company's trial counsel.

Companies such as Facebook, Qualcomm, Gilead, Google, Nintendo, HTC, Gevo, Motorola and many others all repeatedly turn to Cooley's IP litigation team when facing existential threats to their core technologies and products -- and for good reason. Cooley's IP litigation is characterized by high-stakes, transformative, world-class trial lawyers and litigators. 

About Cooley LLP

Clients partner with Cooley on transformative deals, complex IP and regulatory matters, and high-stakes litigation, where innovation meets the law.

Cooley has 850 lawyers across 12 offices in the United States, China and Europe.