Joe Farris | People | Arnold & Porter

Joe Farris is a trial attorney and trusted advisor to technology companies facing high-stakes litigation, with a focus on the novel legal questions reshaping the technology industry. Recently, Joe has been one of a small number of litigators at the forefront of generative AI litigation — having represented leading AI companies in closely watched copyright class actions and advised clients on a range of legal issues impacting AI technology.

His broader practice centers on many forms of intellectual property and technology litigation: including copyright and trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, virtual item economies, and hacking and web-scraping claims. Joe also litigates a range of commercial disputes impacting technology companies — including contract breaches, employee mobility claims (including non-disclosure, non-competition, and non-solicitation agreements), licensing and royalty disagreements, and founders' disputes. His clients include leading AI companies and major technology companies, global venture capital firms, video game designers, medical technology companies, and electronics manufacturers.

Before joining Arnold & Porter, Joe practiced at another international law firm and also served as an Assistant District Attorney in San Francisco, where he tried numerous jury trials to verdict.

Focus Areas

Experience

Anthropic, in defense of copyright infringement claims involving generative AI technology brought by a putative class of books authors.
Adobe, in defense of copyright infringement claims involving generative AI technology brought by a putative class of books authors.
Cynosure Lutronic (a leading provider of medical aesthetic devices), in securing a unanimous jury verdict in a non-competition and trade secret case, resulting in a judgment of over $30 million in damages
Adobe, in defense of copyright infringement claims by former technology licensing partners
Machine Zone in copyright litigation asserting infringement of highly successful mobile video game by competitive game designer.

Venture capital firm asserting trade secret misappropriation against former employees based on dispute over investment algorithms.
Technology company in trade secret and breach of contract action related to network infrastructure operation centers.
Cybersecurity company in defending trade secret misappropriation claims brought by competitor.
Data pipeline technology company in defending claims for trade secret misappropriation claims claim and breach of non-solicitation agreements brought by competitor.
Identity management company in breach of contract action against former business partner.
Hadoop company in defending claims of trade secret misappropriation and breach of non-solicitation agreements brought by competitor.
Video game company defending claim of trade secret misappropriation by competitor related to hire of key manager.
Multinational toy company in successful trademark litigation regarding the use of the color yellow on water slide toys. SLB Toys USA Inc. v. Wham-O Inc., 330 Fed. Appx. 634 (9th Cir. 2009).