Fenwick's Jedediah Wakefield, David Hadden Named Top Intellectual Property Lawyers
Fenwick litigation practice chair Jedediah Wakefield and litigation partner David Hadden were honored among the top intellectual property lawyers in California for 2020 by the Daily Journal.
One of the country’s preeminent intellectual property litigators, Wakefield focuses on trademark, copyright, trade secret and right of publicity matters, as well as licensing, technology transfers, and other complex commercial disputes for technology and life sciences companies. He also represents technology companies in advertising, privacy, unfair competition and other consumer related issues, and has successfully defended his clients in state and federal class action lawsuits.
Hadden is a top trial lawyer highly sought by the world’s most recognized and innovative companies to help them win complex and high-stakes patent litigation disputes. His growing record of resolving cases by securing summary judgment—a rarity in patent litigation—as well as his successes at trial and at the Federal Circuit, have made him the go-to counsel for patent litigation involving complex technologies, ranging from video encoding and streaming to cloud computing and web services.
Wakefield Leads Key Wins for Technology and Life Sciences Companies
The Daily Journal noted that Wakefield helped to secure litigation victories for technology and life sciences leaders including Peloton Interactive, Loxo Oncology, General Motors and SoundCloud.
Fenwick obtained a decisive victory for Peloton in a trademark infringement suit brought by Move Press, publisher of a cycling publication called Peloton Magazine. Wakefield won summary judgment in the Central District of California on the grounds that the equitable doctrine of laches barred plaintiff’s claims in their entirety. In the decision, the judge cited the plaintiff’s unreasonable delay in filing the lawsuit.
Wakefield noted that Peloton’s victory was representative of Fenwick’s success in defending successful technology companies against opportunistic trademark infringement claims.
The Daily Journal also noted Fenwick’s representation of Loxo Oncology in a trade secrets litigation with Array Biopharma. Wakefield scored a key victory for Loxo when the district court denied Array Biopharma’s preliminary injunction motion. Wakefield went on to defend that victory at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Array ultimately dropped its claims that Loxo and a handful of scientists stole trade secrets, and the victory leaves Loxo and its scientists free to continue important work developing cancer-fighting medicines.
Recognized by World Trademark Review and Managing Intellectual Property, Wakefield chairs Fenwick’s litigation practice, which over the past year has helped defeat patent challenges, securities litigation suits, and class actions and shareholder derivative lawsuits on behalf of tech clients including Amazon, Uber, Tesla and Cray. The group was named one of the finalists for Tech Litigation Department of the Year in The Recorder’s California Leaders in Tech Law and Innovation Awards, and Fenwick was recognized as a Law 360 Powerhouse, honoring the firm’s technology and life sciences work, including several major litigation wins and significant M&A and investment deals.
Hadden Reinforces Status as Go-To Patent Litigator for Complex Technologies
For the third consecutive year, Hadden – one of the most influential patent litigators in the country – has been honored by the Daily Journal as one of its top intellectual property lawyers.
In one of his several recent victories for Amazon, Hadden secured a 2019 win on behalf of Amazon when PersonalWeb ended its lawsuits against a number of Amazon’s customers. Hadden convinced the court to consolidate and stay all the cases except Amazon’s declaratory judgment action and a single case against Amazon subsidiary Twitch Interactive, saving Amazon’s customers from prolonged litigation. The court ultimately granted Amazon’s summary judgment motion, barred PersonalWeb’s infringement claims and issued a claim construction order favorable to Amazon and its customers, resulting in PersonalWeb ultimately asking the court to enter a judgment of non-infringement in Amazon’s favor.
Hadden also secured a victory for Netflix against Realtime Adaptive Streaming in a multi-patent dispute concerning video compression technology, ultimately securing Realtime’s involuntary dismissal of its cases in the Central District of California.
Hadden told the Daily Journal that he believes his record of resolving cases by securing summary judgement is a rarity, and the reason he is chosen by many well-known technology companies to head litigation involving complex technical issues.
Wakefield and Hadden’s full 2020 profiles are available through the Daily Journal (subscription required).