Williams & Connolly has a long history of representing technology companies, from start-up ventures and emerging companies to multinational corporations and their executives, in complex civil and criminal cases across the United States and around the globe.
Clients continually look to the firm to represent them in a range of key areas including patent litigation, First Amendment litigation, government investigations, arbitration, antitrust, class action, trade secrets, and employment matters. Additionally, our attorneys regularly represent clients in appellate proceedings before the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit, and other courts of appeals.
Representative Experience
A sampling of some of our recent matters for technology companies includes representing:
- Dropbox in an action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that Dropbox’s products used by hundreds of millions of customers worldwide infringed three synchronization-related patents.
- The founder and former CEO of one of the country’s most prominent technology firms in multiple shareholder disputes.
- Google before the Supreme Court in an appeal concerning whether copyright protection extends to a software interface and whether Google’s use of Java interfaces in creating Google’s Android system constitutes fair use.
- Amazon in class action litigation brought by major book publishers alleging various antitrust claims regarding the distribution and sale of eBooks.
- Google in connection with the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation into allegations that Google unfairly billed consumers for unauthorized purchases by children using mobile apps downloaded from the Google Play app store.
- A multi-national technology company against multiple sexual harassment and other Title VII claims based on alleged conduct of senior executives.
- Google in proceedings before the Patent Office and the Federal Circuit in persuading the court to invalidate the claims of two patents relating to video streaming and user-interface technology.
- A computer software company in trade secret litigation alleging misappropriation by a competitor in conspiring with an individual who previously worked on the company’s development platform.
- Google, in litigation alleging that various social media sites violated the First Amendment, federal antitrust law and the D.C. Human Rights Act by censoring conservative online content on various social media platforms.
- A Fortune 100 technology company in a federal securities class action arising from alleged vulnerabilities in the company’s products.
- A major electronics company in litigation where a competitor sought over $450 million claiming misappropriation of advanced interconnection technology.
- A technology company in an internal investigation in response to a whistleblower complaint alleging accounting irregularities.
- A global technology company in an ICC arbitration concerning a license agreement covering products with billions of dollars in revenue.
- A leading technology company in a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division concerning employment practices.
- Two of the founders of a major technology company in a derivative suit alleging breach of fiduciary duty in connection with their acceptance of shares in IPOs from investment banks.