Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Firm overview:

Trade secrets are a cornerstone of Quinn Emanuel’s litigation capabilities; peers comment that the firm is active in the space and instructed on some “interesting cases”. The firm is routinely instructed by multinational corporations and technology-driven businesses to protect proprietary information in some of the most consequential disputes in the market. Its trade secrets client base spans sectors including technology, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, energy and aerospace, with mandates from companies such as Google, General Motors, IBM, Mattel, Shell, Pfizer, Virgin Galactic and Motorola.

Quinn Emanuel is best known for taking on complex, bet-the-company matters, and its trade secrets work is no exception. The firm regularly appears in high-profile proceedings before state and federal courts, as well as in domestic and international arbitrations. While views differ among competitors as to how narrowly specialised the practice is, there is broad agreement that the firm is a dominant force in contentious trade secrets matters and a frequent choice for high-value, high-risk instructions.

The team’s work highlights include obtaining a preliminary injunction that led to a settlement valued at nearly $250 million in Waymo v Uber, and securing a jury verdict finding willful trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement in Proofpoint v Vade Secure.

Team overview:

Quinn has built a team that is able to mobilise rapidly in response to time-critical trade secrets breaches, and has 140 attorneys firmwide with technical degrees spanning almost every area of science and engineering. The firm’s Trademark, Copyright and Trade Secret practice is co-led by Todd Anten and Rachel Epstein in New York, with overall leadership of the Trade Secret Litigation group held by Los Angeles-based partner Michael Zeller.

Zeller has more than three decades of experience in intellectual property and complex commercial disputes. He is particularly noted for his appellate work, including a landmark Ninth Circuit win for Mattel that successfully defeated trade secrets claims brought by MGA Entertainment, a decision widely regarded as highly influential in the federal IP landscape.

In Silicon Valley, Andrew Bramhall is a key figure in the firm’s trade secrets bench. Bramhall “knows his stuff and he’s a very good attorney”, says a peer. He focuses on high-stakes IP disputes involving cutting-edge technologies and is frequently called upon in matters spanning semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and consumer electronics. He is consistently described by peers as a highly effective and technically fluent litigator.

Key matters:

• Lupin Atlantis et al v Zeng et al

Quinn represented Transpire Bio and its founder in a trade secret litigation brought by Lupin in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Transpire is a startup developing inhalation drugs. Lupin is an Indian generic pharmaceutical company. Lupin alleges Transpire’s founder took trade secrets when he left Lupin and used those trade secrets to build Transpire. The individual and Transpire believe Lupin’s case has no merit and that Lupin is using this lawsuit to prevent Transpire’s founder from lawful competition.

Following a trial in November, the parties reached a stipulation of dismissal.

On Quinn’s team were Sam Williamson, Olga Vieira, Jared Newton, John Bash, Jocelyn Ma, Shalia Sakona, Nima Hefazi, Olivia Yeffet, Andrew Shifren, David Walsh, Ashley Knoblauch, and Kelly Matthews.

• Samsung Display v BOE

Samsung Display Co (SDC) makes high-end organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, such as the displays that go into premium smartphones. Quinn represents SDC in a wide-ranging trade secret misappropriation case at the International Trade Commission against BOE Technology Group and its related entities.

SDC accused BOE of misappropriating its trade secrets to achieve higher manufacturing yields and quality related to OLED displays, while also reducing the amount of time required to manufacture. In July 2025, the administrative law judge found that BOE misappropriated nearly all of SDC’s asserted trade secrets, and that BOE’s “egregious trade secret misappropriations” and “corporate espionage in which [BOE] engaged for years” caused substantial injury and a threat of substantial injury to SDC’s domestic industry.

The ALJ recommended a 14-year-and-eight-month limited exclusion order barring BOE from importing into the US OLED displays manufactured using SDC’s trade secrets. In addition, the ALJ recommended a cease-and-desist order against all named BOE entities, both foreign and domestic, and a 100% bond rate during the presidential review period.

On Quinn’s team are Sean Pak, Dave Nelson, Alex Lasher, Jeff Gerchick, James Pak, Kevin Chu, Alex Rudis, Pat Curran, and Marc Kaplan.

• AbbVie v Adcentrx Therapeutics et al

Quinn Emanuel represented Adcentrx Therapeutics and an employee in a lawsuit brought by the individual’s former employer AbbVie in the Southern District of California. Adcentrx is a clinical-stage biopharma company focusing on antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drugs for treating cancers.

The individual joined Adcentrx in June 2021 as a medicinal chemist. In December 2023, AbbVie filed this lawsuit against Adcentrx and the former employee, asserting that Adcentrx and the individual misappropriated alleged trade secrets of AbbVie, and that the individual breached his employment and confidentiality agreements. AbbVie sought transfer of ownership rights to Adcentrx patent applications that named the individual as one of the co-inventors. AbbVie also sought damages and injunctive relief.

This is a truly high-stakes and bet-the-company case for Adcentrx. District court litigation against Adcentrx proceeded to fact discovery in 2025. One week before the close of fact discovery, the parties reached a settlement in principle.

Quinn’s team was John Quinn, Harry Olivar Jr, David Elihu, Haiyan Tang, Nathan Sun, Jihong Lou, Michael LaFond, Shengling Zhu, and Ian Koster.

Clients:

Avery Dennison, Barnes & Noble, Corbis, Dow Chemical, easyJet Airlines, eBay, Fox, General Motors, Google, HBO, Home Depot, IBM, Intuit, Mattel, Meijer, Motorola, MTV, Napster, Northrop Grumman, Olaplex, Optilogic, Paramount, Pfizer, Pinterest, Redzone, Shell, Warner Home Video