Monte Cooper

Monte Cooper is senior attorney in Goodwin’s IP Litigation group. Drawing on strong technical skills and extensive work with engineers, Monte blends his fascination with science and his love of the law to protect the world’s leading innovators. He litigates complex patent, copyright, trade secret, and antitrust matters for Fortune 500 and cutting-edge technology clients alike in the digital communications, computer networking, semiconductor, Internet, data management, software, software design, hardware, telecommunications, and security spaces. Monte also counsels clients on complex licensing obligations, such as portfolios containing Standards Essential Patents (“SEPs”) encumbered by obligations to license the patents on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (“FRAND”) terms. Prior to joining Goodwin, Monte was of counsel at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Animal Legal Defense Fund. Monte has represented the Animal Legal Defense Fund (“ALDF”) in multiple pro bono engagements. These engagements include one where he served as lead counsel in the organization's successful appeal to the Ninth Circuit of a summary judgment ruling denying the ALDF inspection under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) of battery cage egg production records generated from Salmonella inspections by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) at various Texas-based factory farm egg production facilities. That appeal, which Monte argued, produced three published opinions, including a landmark unanimous en banc ruling from the Ninth Circuit that overturned the standard of review that had been used by the Court of Appeals in all FOIA appeals for more than 30 years. It also produced a reversal by the three judge panel of the underlying adverse summary judgment ruling. Animal Legal Defense Fund v. FDA, 819 F.3d 1102 (9th Cir. 2016), on reh'g en banc, 836 F.3d 987 (9^th Cir. 2016) (en banc) (per curiam), reversing and remanding, 839 F.3d 750 (9th Cir. 2016) (per curiam). The Animal Legal Defense Fund awarded Orrick its prestigious 2016 Pro Bono Achievement Award in part due to this important appellate victory – and honor which Monte was specifically asked to accept for the firm.

Facebook. Monte was one of the principal attorneys who defended the popular social network Facebook and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, in a high profile and widely-publicized lawsuit involving allegations of copyright infringement, trade secrets misappropriation, and related claims brought in the District of Massachusetts. The plaintiffs included Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winkelvoss, and Divya Narenda, three former Harvard students who created their own competitive Web site originally called “HarvardConnection,” and later called “ConnectU.” He also represented Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg in their own independent lawsuit in California against ConnectU and related parties based on violations of the Federal CAN-SPAM Act, and California Penal Code Section 502(c). See Facebook, Inc. v. ConnectU LLC, 489 F. Supp.2d 1087 (N.D. Cal. 2007). Both cases settled, after which Monte was heavily involved in collateral proceedings related to that settlement. He participated as one of the key members of an Orrick appellate team that attained a widely-publicized ruling from the Ninth Circuit affirming the enforceability of the settlement. See Facebook, Inc. v. Pacific Northwest Software, Inc., 640 F.3d 1034 (9th Cir. 2011). Monte also was one of Orrick's team of lawyers who represented Facebook in another highly publicized lawsuit against Power Ventures, Inc. and its founder Steve Vachani. In that case, Facebook received summary judgment of liability on its claims for violations of the CAN-SPAM Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and California Penal Code Section 502, and ultimately received a judgment against both defendants for more than $3,000,000, as well as a permanent injunction enjoining further violations of the laws by both Power Ventures and Vachani. Facebook v. Power Ventures, Inc., 844 F. Supp. 2d 1025 (N.D. Cal. 2012) (granting summary judgment), later proceedings granting damages and permanent injunction, 2013 WL 5372341 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 25, 2013).

Cisco Systems. Monte defended Cisco in the Eastern District of Michigan concerning allegations that the company's hubs and IP Phone products infringed claims of a patent directed to an antitheft system for continuously monitoring pieces of computer equipment connected to a network. He was involved actively in identifying relevant prior art, working with expert witnesses and presenting arguments to both the Court and a Special Master. As a result of the team's efforts, the principal independent apparatus claim asserted in the case was found to be invalid on several independent grounds, and also non-infringed. See Chrimar Systems, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., 318 F.Supp.2d 476 (E.D.Mich 2004). The case settled following this published ruling.

VMware and EMC Corporation. Monte was one of the team of lawyers who represented virtualization software leader VMware in multi-defendant patent litigation in the Eastern District of Texas. The team that included Monte defended VMware from claims brought by Aloft Media LLC alleging that VMWare's vCenter CapacityIQ virtual appliance infringed various claims in two patents, each of which was directed to collaborative decision-making. The case settled even before VMware was required to engage in any discovery. He also represented VMware in two different patent litigation matters brought by MOSAID, Inc. and Clouding IP LLC in the District of Delaware. In the former action, MOSAID claimed VMware's Gemfire software product infringes multiple patents directed to network distributed caching mechanisms. That action settled without any discovery occurring in the action. In the Clouding IP matter, the plaintiff alleged infringement by VMware and storage leader EMC Corporation (now Dell EMC) of ten patents originally assigned to Symantec Corporation by virtue of VMware and EMC offering a variety of virtualization and cloud computing products. After an initial case was dismissed due to Monte and the Orrick team proving that Clouding lacked standing, a second follow-on patent infringement lawsuit was also voluntarily dismissed with prejudice after a team that included Monte convinced the PTAB to cancel almost 100 claims from the asserted patents in eight separate Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) proceedings.

Vident. Monte was one of the principal attorneys who served as litigation counsel for Vident, a distributor of high-quality, prefabricated artificial teeth, in private antitrust litigation with Dentsply International, Inc. in the Central District of California. In 2008, after Vident prevailed on a motion to apply collateral estoppel against Dentsply, the Court entered judgment in favor of Vident against Dentsply in the amount of $18 million on the antitrust claim. Prior to then, Monte served as Vident’s counsel in a major antitrust action brought by the United States Department of Justice in the District of Delaware against Dentsply. See United States v. Dentsply Int'l, Inc., 399 F.3d 181 (3d Cir. 2005). In the DOJ action, Monte represented Vident in all aspects of the case, which involved allegations that Dentsply’s exclusive dealing contracts with dental dealers violated the Sherman and Clayton Acts. In that role, Monte defended company executives during their depositions and also represented Vident’s president during his appearance at trial. Early in the case, Monte’s own testimony was even cited by the Court as a principal reason why Dentsply’s in-house lawyer would not be permitted access to any confidential third-party information. See United States v. Dentsply Int’l, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 152, 161 & n.9 (D. Del. 1999).

Yahoo!, Inc. and Inktomi Corporation. Monte was significantly involved in the defense of Yahoo!'s wholly owned subsidiary, Inktomi Corporation, in a multiple-defendant/multiple-patent infringement case. This case concerned Inktomi's “Web caching” services. The case settled after Inktomi obtained favorable rulings on a variety of issues, including interpretations of both the plaintiff's “Rule 11” pre-filing obligations, and the adequacy of the plaintiff’s infringement contentions under the unique Patent Local Rules adopted in the Northern District of California. See Network Caching Technologies, L.L.C. v. Novell, 67 U.S.P.Q.2d 1034 (N.D. Cal. 2002). Monte also defended Yahoo! and its subsidiary Inktomi in a multidefendant patent infringement case that involved Yahoo!'s and Inktomi’s Web caching technology and software products. The case settled shortly after the team obtained key summary judgment rulings in favor of Yahoo! holding that two of the claims at issue were noninfringed, and one was invalid as non-enabled. See Teknowledge Corp. v. Akamai Tech., Inc., 73 U.S.P.Q.2d 1021 (N.D. Cal. 2004).

NextG Networks, Inc. Monte represented NextG Networks, Inc. in its successful efforts to enforce against NewPath Networks LLC a pioneer patent related to radio frequency (RF) communication network architectures employed within Distributed Antenna Systems. The case settled shortly after NextG received from the Chief Judge of the Northern District of California a favorable patent claim construction ruling in which the Court elected not to adopt a single one of NewPath's proposed interpretations for the disputed terms. See NextG Networks, Inc. v. NewPath Networks LLC, 2009 WL 1226556 (N.D. Cal. 2009).

KLA-Tencor Corporation and Nvidia Corporation. Monte was on a team representing KLA-Tencor's wholly-owned subsidiaries ICOS Vision Systems Corporation, N.V. and ICOS Vision Systems Inc., as well as Nvidia Corporation, in multipatent declaratory judgment litigation in the Southern District of New York. The defendant-patent owner is Scanner Technologies Corporation. In the actions, which center on ICOS' ball grid array inspection technology, Monte’s efforts proved integral in defeating Scanner's efforts to dismiss all of the declaratory judgment actions, and also in proving that ICOS is entitled to an implied license preventing Scanner from seeking damages for any products in existence as of March of 2009. See ICOS Vision Sys. Corp. N.V. v. Scanner Tech. Corp., 2012 WL 512641 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (Order granting ICOS summary judgment on its implied license claims); ICOS Vision Sys. Corp. N.V. v. Scanner Tech. Corp., 699 F.Supp.2d 664, 2010 WL 1223454 (S.D.N.Y. 2010) (Order denying Scanner's motion to dismiss).

Gamefly, Inc. Monte had a lead role in representing Gamefly, Inc., from allegations that its popular videogame delivery service infringed patents related to online rental queue notification methods. In the multidefendant case originally filed in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, Monte was one of the attorneys who ultimately convinced the Court to transfer the matter to California. See Media Queue LLC v. Netlfix, Inc., 2009 WL 464456 (E.D. Okla. 2009). He also led successful settlement negotiations with the plaintiff which resulted in the early dismissal of Gamefly from the litigation.

D-Link Systems, Inc., and PowerDsine Ltd. Monte held the lead role in representing both D-Link Systems, Inc. and PowerDsine Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsemi Corporation, in separate patent infringement lawsuits pending in the Eastern District of Michigan with Chrimar Systems, Inc. Both cases involved the standardization of Power-over-Ethernet (POE) technology, which is employed in such popular applications as IP Phones. Monte secured from the District Court both a favorable claim construction ruling, and subsequently a critical recommendation on application of collateral estoppel from an appointed special master. See Chrimar Systems, Inc. v. PowerDsine Ltd., 2008 WL 2966470 (E.D. Mich. 2008) (Memorandum on Claim Construction); Chrimar Systems, Inc. v. PowerDsine Ltd., 2009 WL 6337978 (E.D. Mich. 2009) (Report and Recommendation of Special Master Concerning Defendants' Motion for Application of Collateral Estoppel on Prior Art References). Following both of those rulings, both Microsemi and D-Link settled.

UPEK, Inc. Monte was one of Orrick's team of attorneys who represented UPEK, Inc., a leader in the design and manufacturing of biometric fingerprint scanners, in multi-patent infringement litigation against AuthenTec, Inc. in the Northern District of California. See UPEK, Inc. v. AuthenTec, Inc., 2010 WL 1485995 (N.D. Cal. 2010) (Order denying AuthenTec's motions for summary judgment). The case settled following the merger of the two companies involved in the litigation.

Charles Schwab & Co. and CyberTrader, Inc. Monte was a member of the team that defended both Charles Schwab & Co. and its subsidiary CyberTrader, Inc., as well as Chicago-based Terra Nova Trading, LLC, in a patent infringement case filed by a Montana-based software company. The case included five other defendants, all of whom were directly or indirectly involved in online investment or brokering services, and related to a software patent that was directed to customizable electronic kiosks. The case settled favorably for all three Defendants that Monte represented shortly after the team filed a motion for summary judgment and presented claim construction positions during a one-day Markman hearing.

Fujitsu. Monte represented Fujitsu, Ltd., in significant, multinational cross-license negotiations with a major United States technology company relating to both companies' extensive patent portfolios. The cross-license evaluations involved each company's numerous semiconductor patents and technologies related to manufacturing design, analog device methodologies, Digital Signal Processing, SRAM composition, semiconductor fabrication and CDMA applications, among others. The negotiations also required extensive prior art evaluation. As a result of more than a year of negotiations and evaluations of more than 100 United States, Japanese, and European patents, a successful international cross-license agreement was reached. Monte also was on the team of Orrick lawyers that represented Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., and Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp. in multidefendant patent litigation brought by Stormedia Texas, LLC in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, concerning the companies' hard disk drive products. The case settled favorably for both defendants, even before a Markman hearing was held.

Xoft, Inc. Monte was one of the principal team members of Orrick's representation of Xoft, Inc., in declaratory judgment patent litigation with Cytyc Corporation and Proxima Therapeutics, Inc., in the San Jose Division of the Northern District of California. The lawsuit concerned a revolutionary electronic brachytherapy system designed for cancer therapy, which utilized an X-ray source as opposed to a radionuclide for treatment. Monte assisted with all aspects of the case, including defending the company's CEO and marketing director at their depositions, and taking the depositions of several inventors with extensive backgrounds in high-energy physics and biomedical engineering. The case settled after Xoft received a favorable Markman ruling. Xoft, Inc. v. Cytyc Corp., 2007 WL 1241990 (N.D. Cal. 2007). Monte also was one of the attorneys who defended Xoft and its parent company ICAD, Inc. in the District of Delaware from allegations brought by Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. and Carl Zeiss Surgical Gmbh that various Xoft products infringe claims in four patents which the Zeiss entities claim to own. That case settled favorably for Xoft after the parties presented Markman arguments to the Court.

eBay Inc. and PayPal, Inc. Monte defended eBay Inc. and its subsidiary PayPal, Inc. in a high-profile patent infringement action brought by AT&T in Delaware. The case involved the companies' popular online payment mechanisms. Monte was a key member of the team that defended the companies, particularly with respect to their invalidity defenses. The case settled favorably.

NITGen Co., Ltd. Monte was an integral part of a team that represented NITGen Co. Ltd., a developer of biometrics technology based in South Korea, in a complex AAA arbitration against SecuGen Corporation. The result of that arbitration was a major victory for NITGen. More than 25 claims and counterclaims were at issue, including patent, copyright, trade secrets, trade libel, trademark and contract claims, as well as claims for breach of fiduciary duty, accounting fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. The arbitrator ordered a net award to NITGen of more than $3.3 million, while also terminating an onerous technology license that was the framework for most of SecuGen's own claims. The arbitrator also concluded that a corporate officer of SecuGen engaged in embezzlement and further held that two patents owned by SecuGen were not infringed by any NITGen biometric device as a result of shop rights.

Firetide, Inc. Monte was one of Orrick's lead lawyers in defending Firetide, Inc., from allegations of patent infringement directed at Firetide's wireless mesh products brought by Linex Technologies, Inc. in multidefendant litigation in the Eastern District of Texas. As a result of Monte’s efforts, the case settled favorably for Firetide even before a Markman hearing was held.

HearMe. Monte was a principal member in the representation of the plaintiff HearMe (formerly known as Mpath). In the action, HearMe asserted that multiple claims of two patents covering upper-level protocol solutions were infringed by VoIP software used by Lipstream Networks, Inc. The case settled after two separate multiday Markman hearings resulted in HearMe obtaining a favorable ruling from the Court construing certain of the relevant claims.

Net.com (aka Network Equipment Technologies, Inc.). Monte was part of the team that represented plaintiff Net.com in a trade secrets case involving the company's proprietary “intelligent network edge” switches. Net.com obtained a stipulated injunction (a) limiting ex-employees’ job duties for defined time periods; (b) precluding the use or disclosure of trade secrets; and (c) imposing a neutral third-party evaluator to monitor compliance.

*matters handled prior to joining Goodwin.

Monte regularly speaks at prestigious legal conferences throughout the United States, including the Sedona Conference (for which he has served both as a Steering Committee Member and Leadership Council Member for the Working Groups supervising the development of national best practices in patent litigation), the Naples Roundtable, the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association, the Federal Circuit Bench and Bar, the American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association, and the San Francisco/Bay Area Intellectual Property American Inns of Court. Monte is a member of both the California and Colorado state bars, as well as the Supreme Court and multiple Court of Appeals and Federal District Court bars.

Super Lawyers, Northern California,  San Francisco Magazine, 2012-2017

Order of the Coif

Courtland H. Peterson Writing Award (most outstanding student work published in the Law Review), 1991

Production Editor and Senior Staff Editor, University of Colorado Law Review

Co-Author, “Disputed Issues in Awarding Unjust Enrichment Damages in Trade Secret Cases,” 19 Sedona Conference Journal 667 (2018)

Co-Author, “CEOs May Be At The ”Apex“ Of Their Companies, But They Can Still Be Deposed,” IPFrontline, July 14, 2015

Co-Author, “The Federal Circuit Stance in Hyatt v. Kampos,” Law360, December 3, 2010

Co-Author, “Enforcing Reverse Engineering Prohibitions in Shrink- and Click-wrap Licenses,” The Intellectual Property Strategist, May 2003

Co-Author, “At the Crossroads of Law and Technology,” Loyola Law Review, Vol. 33, No. 3 (2000)

Viewpoints

Co-Chair, The Sedona Conference on International Patent Litigation, Reston, Virginia, 2018

Speaker, Inaugural Sedona Conference on Developing Best Practices for Trade Secret Issues, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2017

Speaker, 2017 Patent Experts Conference, The Naples Roundtable, Naples, Florida, 2017

Moderator, “Developing Trade Secrets Compliance and Litigation Best Practices After the Defend Trade Secrets Act,” The Sedona Conference 2017 WG9 and WG10 Joint Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, 2017

Co-Chair, The 16th Annual Sedona Conference on Patent Litigation: Global Strategies for Managing Both Multifront Domestic and International Litigation of IP Assets, Washington D.C., 2016

Panelist, “Lawyers vs. Aliens,” Alien Con, Santa Clara, California, 2016

Speaker, “Patent Litigation Practice Tips,” AIPLA 2015 Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C, 2015

Speaker,  “Patent Litigation Case Management: Reforming The Patent Litigation Process Through The Cooperative Efforts Of The Bench And Bar,” at the Federal Circuit 2015 Bench and Bar, Dana Point, California, June 24, 2015

Speaker,  “A fresh look at the timing and substance of preliminary infringement and invalidity contentions and amendment practices – Should 'preliminary contentions' be considered as 'final contentions' absent showing good cause for changing?”, at the Sedona Conference WG9 and WG10 Joint Midyear Meeting, Miami, Florida, May 18, 2015

Speaker,  “Curbing Discovery Abuse in Patent Litigation,” at the Sedona Conference All Voices Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 5, 2014

Moderator, “Limiting the Number of Claims and Prior Art in Patent Cases,” Law Seminars International, October 8, 2013