Litigation

James Blackburn is a partner in Arnold & Porter LLP's Intellectual Property and Litigation practice groups. He represents technology companies and other businesses in intellectual property matters and complex commercial litigation. Mr. Blackburn's experience includes every aspect of intellectual property, including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret law. He also represents clients in antitrust and unfair competition actions, and complex contract litigation in technology and nontechnology settings. Mr. Blackburn also has substantial experience in the use of alternative dispute procedures, including arbitration and mediation.

Litigation Representative Matters

Litigation

• CFIT v. VeriSign, Inc. Represented VeriSign in an antitrust action alleging violations of the Sherman Act and California's Cartwright Act arising out of VeriSign's entry into a new agreement for operation of the .com registry with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The action ultimately was dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a settlement that included no payment to CFIT, following resolution of several motions to dismiss in VeriSign's favor and the filing of a summary judgment motion by VeriSign on the grounds the CFIT's claims were barred by the Noerr-Pennington doctrine.
• FFI v. Microsoft Corporation. Obtained summary judgment in Microsoft's favor on all claims in action alleging breach of contract and fraud in connection with the provision and installation of enterprise software system.
• Seven Words LLC v. Network Solutions, Inc. Represented Network Solutions, Inc. in action claiming violation of federal state constitutional rights of free speech in connection with the registration of Internet domain names, and obtained dismissal of the action with prejudice.
• Frogface v. Network Solutions, Inc. Represented Network Solutions, Inc. in action alleging violation of Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 in connection with the registration of Internet domain names. Obtained summary judgment on all claims in Network Solutions' favor.
• Syncalot v. VeriSign, Inc. Represented VeriSign in action alleging violation of § 17200 with respect to a new service introduced by VeriSign and asserting false advertising, trademark, and quasi-antitrust claims under § 17200. Case voluntarily dismissed after filing of motion to dismiss.

Intellectual Property
Patent

• Geotag v. Frontier, et al. (E.D. Tex) Representing group of defendants in patent infringement actions alleging infringement of patent relating to searchable databases organized both geographically and topically.
• Stambler v. VeriSign, Inc. (E.D. Tex.) Represented VeriSign in declaratory relief action arising out of plaintiff's assertion against VeriSign's customers of patents on which VeriSign previously prevailed in a patent infringement action.
• Lucent Technologies, Inc. v. Dell, Inc. et al. (S.D. Cal.) Represented Dell in a multibillion dollar patent infringement action alleging infringement of twelve different patents relating to numerous technology areas, including video and speech coding and user interface technologies.
• Amado v. Microsoft Corp. (C.D. Cal.) Represented Microsoft in a patent infringement action alleging infringement of patent relating to interactions between database and spreadsheet software.
• Gart v. Microsoft Corporation (N.D. Cal.) Represented Microsoft in patent infringement action asserting infringement of an apparatus patent for the design of a computer mouse.

Trademark

• Sweet People, Inc. et al. v. LA Idol Fashion, Inc. (C.D. Cal.) Representing manufacturers of designer jeanswear products in copyright and trademark infringement action against alleged infringer. Obtained preliminary injunction barring further sale of infringing products during pendency of the action.
• Mattel v. Bburago (C.D. Cal.) Represented former Italian licensee in trademark infringement action brought by Mattel and Ferrari. Obtained summary judgment limiting action to sales within the United States.
• Jamdat v. Jamster et al. Represented VeriSign, Inc. and its subsidiaries in trademark infringement action alleging infringement of the "Jamdat" mark by the "Jamster" mark.

Trade Secrets

• Sify Limited v. Yahoo! Inc. Represented Sify, an Indian Internet service provider, in trade secrets misappropriation action against Yahoo! Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Yahoo! India.

Published Decisions

• Vehicular Technologies Corp. v. Titan Wheel Int'l, Inc., 212 F.3d 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2000).
• Seven Words LLC v. Network Solutions, Inc., 260 F.3d 1089 (9th Cir. 2001).
• Amado v. Microsoft Corp., 517 F.3d 1353 (Fed. Cir. 20008).
• Coalition for ICANN Transparency v. VeriSign, Inc., 771 F. Supp. 2d 1195 (N.D. Cal. 2011).