No IP litigation has been harder fought over the past two years than Apple Inc.’s global patent infringement battle with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. In their fierce competition for control of the smartphone and tablet markets, the companies have squared off in courtrooms in 10 countries across four continents. Thanks in large part to a legal strategy devised and executed by its lead outside lawyers at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Apple has managed to avoid being hit with potentially crippling injunctions that would keep its popular iPads and iPhone off store shelves in the United States and abroad. The firm’s success on behalf of such a key client is a big reason why Wilmer is our IP Litigation Department of the Year winner.

Coordinating with local counsel around the world, Wilmer lawyers argued successfully that Samsung should not be allowed to block rival products from the market by wielding patents covering the technology that allows products like smartphones to interact seamlessly between brands. While Samsung has asserted such so-called standards essential patents against Apple more than 40 times outside the U.S., in only three instances have its patents been deemed valid and infringed. Two of those wins, both in South Korea, have been stayed pending appeal; the third, in the Netherlands, is subject to a proceeding to determine what a fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) licensing rate for the Samsung patents would be. In other words, Wilmer’s efforts have gone a long way toward ensuring that patent infringement claims don’t come between consumers and their gadgets.

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