James Pooley

Overview:

As a “grandfather of this industry” James Pooley is held in high esteem and affection by trade secrets practitioners, in the US and globally, and rightfully retains his position as a Senior Statesperson.

“Jim Pooley is a wonderful man and absolutely deserves the Hall of Fame position,” says one individual. Explains another: “James Pooley at James Pooley, PLC, is considered a dean of the trade secrets bar, and no list would be complete without him.”


Key matters:

James Pooley no longer acts as lead counsel in legal cases. His professional practice is largely focused on serving as a testifying expert or providing advice on trade secret issues—by its nature almost entirely confidential work. The two significant recent matters where he has acted as counsel of record are:

  • On behalf of Qualcomm, the trade secret litigation brought against Apple which was settled as part of the global litigation settlement between the two companies in 2019, and a subsequent trade secrets action brought by Apple against a senior manager who left to form Nuvia, which was acquired by Qualcomm in 2021, and is still pending. In these lawsuits Pooley acted as co-counsel with Jones Day, Quinn Emanuel, and the Keker firm.
  • Trade secrets litigation brought by Applied Materials against Mattson Technology and a recruited engineer (a pending matter). In the Applied lawsuit, Pooley is co-counsel with King & Spalding.

Clients:

Qualcomm, Applied Materials, Aon, LG Chemical, Corning. Past clients: Adobe, Motorola, General Electric, Nichia, Nomura, UMC, Hewlett Packard.




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Patents
30 December 2025   As the Unified Patent Court continues in its third year, there are inevitable issues that continue to arise as it grows as a jurisdiction, writes Darren Smyth of EIP.
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More on this story

Trademarks
31 December 2025   Decisions on post-sale confusion, AI-generated content and lookalike packaging are set to shape brand protection for 2026 and beyond, says Varuni Paranavitane of Finnegan.
Patents
30 December 2025   As the Unified Patent Court continues in its third year, there are inevitable issues that continue to arise as it grows as a jurisdiction, writes Darren Smyth of EIP.
Patents
29 December 2025   A recent hearing in the UK between the tech megaliths highlights how conflicting approaches by foreign courts make for a challenging SEP licensing landscape, writes Myles Jelf of Bristows.