O’Melveny & Myers
Firm overview:
Full-service international firm O’Melveny & Myers takes a multidisciplinary approach to trade secrets law, bringing together experts in IP, labour and employment, white-collar criminal law, antitrust, and other specialist areas. The firm has a deep bench of trade secret attorneys who represent both plaintiffs and defendants in high-end litigation as well as arbitration, and it sits within a small group of peers with capabilities at the top level.
O’Melveny’s contentious lawyers collaborate with transactional specialists on the trade secrets hazards in strategic M&As, partnerships and joint ventures. The firm also has the capacity to investigate leaks, evaluate and reduce risk as employees arrive and depart, and anticipate, prevent, and resolve issues before they turn into litigation.
Team overview:
There are more than 70 attorneys in O’Melveny & Myers’ Trade Secrets Group.
David Almeling (San Francisco) chairs the group and is widely recognised as a leading attorney in the field. In addition to representing clients in countless matters spanning the full range of trade secret and employee mobility issues, Almeling teaches trade secret law at UC Berkeley Law School and serves as the chair of the Sedona Conference’s Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets.
Over the last three years, Almeling has served as expert witness on trade secret law, testified before Congress on potential changes to federal trade secret law, and was one of three people asked to educate federal judges on the topic.
Former US attorney for the Southern District of New York David Kelley is known for his defence of high-profile matters involving sensitive white collar litigation and investigations. His clients include multinational and domestic companies, boards of directors, audit committees, and individuals, spanning a diverse range of industries.
Other experienced team members include David Eberhart, who is skilled in trade secrets investigations and litigation that involve both civil and criminal aspects, and Darin Snyder, who frequently first-chairs major trade secrets trials and co-authored the book Trade Secret Law and Corporate Strategy with Almeling. Both are based in the San Francisco office.
Co-chair of O’Melveny’s Labour and Employment Practice Eric Amdursky advises on cases involving employment-related aspects of trade secret litigation.
Key matters:
- Cryplex v Bitmain Technologies Holding Company
O’Melveny represents Bitmain Technologies in a trade secret and breach-of-contact case brought by Cryplex in California. Bitmain is one of the world’s largest designers of ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) chips for cryptocurrency mining.
In 2014, Cryplex approached Bitmain to discuss a potential business relationship. Although no agreement was reached, Cryplex sued Bitmain in 2018 alleging that Bitmain had agreed to merge the two companies in 2014 and used merger discussions to acquire technical trade secrets relating to ASIC chip design.
The team is currently defending Bitmain against these claims of trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract. In February 2025, the court granted summary judgment in Bitmain’s favour against all of Cryplex’s claims.
O’Melveny’s team consists of partners David Almeling (San Francisco), David Eberhart (San Francisco) and Vincent Zhou (Los Angeles).
The case is Cryplex, Inc v Bitmain Technologies Holding Company, Superior Court of California, Santa Clara County.
- CesiumAstro v Luther et al
CesiumAstro hired O’Melveny to investigate and bring trade secret misappropriation and related claims against a former executive and competitor, AnySignal, related to communications technology for the aerospace industry.
O’Melveny achieved a favourable settlement, pursuant to which the case was dismissed, and led CesiumAstro through a remediation process to secure the protection of its confidential information.
David Almeling, Kristin Cope and Patrick Plassio led the team.
- Scale AI, Inc v Mercor.io et al
Mercor and an individual hired O’Melveny to defend them against claims brought by Scale AI. Mercor, which debuted on the Forbes’ Cloud 100 list this year, provides data labelling and recruitment solutions for AI applications. Scale competes in the data labelling space.
Scale sued Mercor and a former employee in September 2025 in the Northern District of California, bringing claims for misappropriation of trade secrets against both defendants and breach of contract against the individual. Scale alleges that prior to his departure from Scale, the former employee “improperly acquired possession of more than 100 documents containing Scale’s most prized trade secrets,” which he “intends to use . . . to unlawfully and unfairly compete against Scale for customers”.
An O’Melveny team of David Almeling, Eric Amdursky and Patrick Plassio is defending Mercor and the former Scale employee against these allegations.
Clients:
AT&T, Bitmain Technologies Holding Company, CesiumAstro, Mercor and Ling, Openforce, Roman Health Ventures
