Fenwick litigation partner David Hadden was honored among California’s top 100 intellectual property lawyers for 2018 by the Daily Journal. The list recognizes the state’s 75 leading IP litigators and the 25 leading portfolio managers and patent prosecution lawyers.
Hadden’s place among California’s top IP litigators, and his successes at trial and at the Federal Circuit, have made him the go-to counsel for patent litigation involving complex technologies, from e-commerce to cryptography, particularly cases involving the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alice test. He’s also noted for his growing record of resolving cases by securing summary judgments, a rarity in today’s patent litigation-heavy docket.
String Theory-Fueled IP Strategy
In its profile of Hadden, the Daily Journal noted “when dealing with complicated patent issues related to cutting-edge technology, it helps [Hadden] to have a background in theoretical physics.” Hadden pursued his Ph.D. in string theory at Princeton University, and he told the publication that the experience helped shape his approach to IP litigation. “I get really deep into the technical merits early and then step back and present and teach them in a way that is intelligible to juries and courts.”
This approach has served Hadden well. In the last year alone, he argued five Federal Circuit Appeals for clients including Amazon, Intel, Under Armour and Zillow, and successfully won them all.
For Amazon, the Daily Journal pointed out Hadden’s technical background and his use of innovative strategies and precedent-setting decisions to defend the company’s digital technologies as well as its customers.
Ground-breaking Section 101 Win for Amazon
The publication also highlighted Hadden’s work in winning a precedent-setting patent ruling for client Amazon when the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court decision that the asserted streaming media patent was invalid under 35 U.S.C. Section 101 (Affinity Labs of Texas v. Amazon.com) and obtaining a complete victory for Amazon.com by invalidating eight patents on the pleadings and winning summary judgment on the remaining three in the Eastern District of Virginia (Virginia Innovation Sciences v. Amazon.com).
Hadden noted that it is an important result for companies like Amazon who get sued on these types of patents all the time. “Being able to cut away that category of patents at the pleading is a huge benefit to companies that are developing real technology,” he said.
21 Infringement Cases Stayed
The Daily Journal also reported that Hadden successfully persuaded a district court in Texas to stay 21 patent cases until Amazon’s case proceeds in Virginia by aggressively filing a declaratory judgment action in the Eastern District of Virginia against Global Equity Management (Amazon Web Services v. Global Equity Management). Hadden told the Daily Journal that the declaratory judgment filing was an aggressive and creative way for Amazon “to protect all of its customers from having to deal with all of these lawsuits and defend its own technology.”
Hadden also appeared on the Daily Journal’s list of top California IP lawyers in 2015. His full 2018 profile is available through the Daily Journal (subscription required).