Darryl M. Woo

Darryl Woo is a partner in the firm’s IP Litigation group. Darryl is a veteran first chair IP trial lawyer who has represented a variety of clients in high-profile and “bet-the-company” litigation in both district courts and at the International Trade Commission (ITC).

He served as counsel for the original Napster in its struggle against the recording industry, he defended Google Earth from patents attacking its backend architecture, and his experience with handheld mobile communications devices reaches as far back as the Palm and Treo smartphones. A $74.7 million jury verdict he secured for a semiconductor industry client in the Northern District of California was one of the top awards the year in which it was tried. More recently, he defended a major sports league against patents directed at aspects of its interactive TV and video streaming services, and defended a Chinese online video platform against copyright claims brought by a Korea-based competitor.

In the life sciences, Darryl defended the granulocyte-colony stimulating factor of a famous biotech company against the infringement claims brought by a competitor, and was brought in as trial counsel for a major pharmaceutical company for enforcement of its fluorescent in-situ hybridization patents against the infringer’s HER2 detection kits. He was lead counsel for Ambu A/S in the defense of its laryngeal mask airway products, and defended DEXIS and Gendex’s intraoral imaging sensors against patents asserted by Sirona Dental Systems.

Darryl has been named to The Best Lawyers in America©, one of the Top 100 Leading Lawyers in California in 2007, a Top 75 IP Lawyer in California in 2014, and to the IAM Patent 1000 list of The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners. Clients laud Darryl as “smart” and “great to work with,” and recognize him for his “excellent strategy,” “excellent tactics,” and his way of letting “the merits of his argument make a powerful impact.” For fun, he served as a technical advisor for the fifth season of “Silicon Valley,” and has a page on IMDb.com.

• (ITC); (Fed. Cir.) — Represented respondent Suprema, Inc., a South Korean maker of biometric scanners, as lead trial counsel in the defense of a Section 337 investigation over alleged patent infringement; after a full evidentiary hearing, obtained a favorable ruling that had no material preclusive effect on the importation of Suprema’s current products; on appeal of a remaining issue, although subsequently reversed after en banc review and a 6- 4 vote, obtained landmark ruling limiting the statutory authority of the ITC to remedy indirect patent infringement; ranked #2 of the Top 10 ITC Developments of 2013 by Law360*
• (N.D. Cal.); (Fed.Cir.) — Represented plaintiff against a major competitor as lead trial counsel with respect to patents directed to tracking of semiconductor wafers in a SMIF fab; after two appeals, obtained a unanimous jury verdict for $74.7 million in the Northern District of California; this verdict was ranked by VerdictSearch as the fourth largest IP litigation verdict at the time, and also then one of the top 20 largest verdicts overall in the US*
• (D. Del.) — As lead trial counsel in a patent case concerning a manufacturing client’s patented hardware encryption technology,obtained a favorable settlement on the eve of trial, including entry of a consent judgment against one of the infringers*
• (N.D. Cal.) — Served as trial counsel in an enforcement action for patents directed to a revolutionary method of in situ hybridization, which has become the standard of care used in the diagnosis of genetic abnormalities associated with many cancers and other diseases; a favorable settlement of this matter was obtained on the eve of trial*
• (N.D. Cal.) — Represented defendant in a patent litigation matter involving smart card technology; after coordinating an innovative “second front” declaratory judgment action in the UK, which exposed the original plaintiff to payment of the client’s attorneys’ fees, the matter settled favorably*
• (N.D. Cal.) — Represented defendant Macromedia, Inc. as co-lead trial counsel in multiple patent litigation matters involving seven software patents related to graphical user interfaces and graphics software techniques, sound mixing, and WYSIWYG web page creation and editing; following a jury verdict in favor of client in the District of Delaware, the matter settled favorably*
• (N.D. Cal.) — Represented a now publicly traded Chinese e-commerce company headquartered in Hangzhou in a declaratory judgment case alleging their non-infringement of design patents; after obtaining on jurisdictional grounds a dismissal of an infringement case over the same patents filed in the Eastern District of Arkansas, the matter was taken to the final pretrial stage, where the case was settled for a nominal amount*
• (C.D. Cal.) — Represented maker of GPS navigation devices in technology litigation based on hardware and software defects that came to light upon occurrence of a leap year; obtained favorable settlement on the eve of trial*

Patent Litigation

• (S.D. Fla.) — Defended an international Voice-over-IP device and service provider against claims of patent infringement brought by a competitor seeking over $200 million in claimed damages; after obtaining a favorable claim construction and damaging testimony from competitor’s CTO, obtained take-nothing judgment for client*
• (N.D. Cal.) — Represented the plaintiff as lead counsel in inventorship dispute concerning patents directed to bioinformatics software, concerning the prediction of the course of diseases and clinical trial outcomes; through diligent pre-filing preparation and a carefully planned strategy, the case settled favorably almost before it started*
• (E.D. Cal.) — Brought in as lead trial counsel in a pending patent litigation matter involving diagnostic technologies for the detection of feline immunodeficiency virus; through the refinement and development of existing and additional defenses, obtained a favorable settlement for defendant on the eve of trial*
• (S.D. Cal.) — Represented a medical device maker defendant in patent litigation brought by competitor directed to laryngeal masks used in surgery; obtained summary judgments of non-infringement and invalidity of asserted patent; the matter thereafter settled*
• (C.D. Cal.) — As lead counsel for defendant Magna Entertainment Corp. in a case involving patents directed to interactive wagering, obtained a favorable claims construction ruling, which led to a favorable settlement for Magna*
• (D. Del.); (Fed. Cir.) — As lead counsel in patent litigation regarding patents asserted against various handheld computing products of the client; the court granted a summary judgment of noninfringement, which was affirmed by the Federal Circuit*
• (D. Md.) — Obtained a favorable settlement for a defendant client exceeding relief available at trial in patent litigation involving tunable integrated components for use in cell phones, radar, and other mobile wireless applications*
• (D. Mass.) — Obtained summary judgment of non-infringement in a patent case accusing a popular Google Earth application, with its more than 250 million worldwide users*

Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition

• (JAMS Arbitration) — As lead trial counsel, obtained arbitration award and judgment awarding attorneys’ fees to client in matter involving IP licensing and allegations of unfair competition*
• (AAA Arbitration) — Served as lead trial counsel in the representation of a company involved in the development of ground-breaking silicon polymer chemistry; obtained a finding of trade secrets misappropriation*

Member: State Bar of California, Bar Association of San Francisco, American Bar Association, American Intellectual Property Law Association, Federal Circuit Bar Association, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, and Mechanics Institute of San Francisco

Life member: Asian American Manufacturers Association

Board member: Association of Business Trial Lawyers – Northern California Chapter, 2005–2012

Darryl has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers for his work in Litigation - Intellectual Property and Patent Law 2022-2023 and Technology Law 2023.

Named to the 2021 The Best Lawyers in America

Recommended for Patent Litigation by Legal 500, 2019-2021

IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners, Patent Litigation, California, 2013–2016 and 2021

The Best Lawyers in America© (Woodward/White, Inc.), Litigation - Intellectual Property and Patent Law (San Francisco), 2011−2018

Selected to the Northern California Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers® (Thomson Reuters), 2004−2018

Managing Intellectual Property, IP Star, 2015-2022

Daily Journal, Top 75 IP Lawyers list, 2014

Daily Journal, Top 100 Leading Lawyers in California list, 2007

• Co-Author, “CareDx, Inc, et al v Eurofins Viracor, Inc,” Intellectual Property Magazine, December 2021
• Co-Author, “Is your autonomous vehicle Sally the sports car or blood-thirsty Christine?” TechCrunch, May 2019
• Co-Author, “5G and Autonomous Vehicles: Is FRAND Grand?,” LegalTech News, April 2019
• Co-Author, “Autonomous Vehicle IP Protection – When HAL is Driving,” TechCrunch, March 2019
• Co-Author, “Autonomous Cars Are Driving the Reinvention of IP protection,” TechCrunch, February 2019
• Panelist, “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, Say Hello to Alexa: Litigation Involving the Internet of Things,” at ABA Litigation Section Annual Conference, May 2018
• Speaker, “Hunting Pirates & Competitors at the ITC,” at Silicon Valley Association of General Counsel All Hands Meeting, October 2017
• Panelist, “Be an Expert on Experts,” at American Bar Association’s Litigation Annual Conference, May 2017
• Speaker, Taiwan Intellectual Property Training Academy’s Intellectual Property Symposium, 2016