G. Hopkins Guy III

Guy played a pivotal role as co-counsel for Apple Inc. before the U.S. International Trade Commission in the Cupertino-based company's successful legal battle against S3 Graphics Inc.'s infringement claims.

Working with Chris R. Ottenweller, his partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Guy was in the ITC courtroom in Washington, D.C. on every day but one, cross-examining S3 Graphics' experts and putting on witnesses on the question of whether Apple infringed the patents.

Guy said it was clear, from one key witness, that the developer had used a different technique on the invention used in the Apple product than the one patented by S3 Graphics.

The allegations became even more significant because HTC Corp. purchased S3 Graphics at a time when HTC and Apple are in the midst of major battles in the smartphone patent wars.

An ITC administrative law judge ruled that Apple infringed two S3 Graphics patent claims, but the commission reversed that decision and found no violations in November.

"It was really a strong team effort," Guy said. In the Matter of Certain Electronic Devices with Image Processing Systems, Components Thereof, and Associated Software, 337-TA-724 (ITC, filed May 19, 2010).

In another of Guy's cases, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the ITC's ruling last May in favor of clients Acer Inc., Nanya Technology Corp., and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., sustaining a finding of no violation against patent infringement claims by Tessera Technologies Inc. Tessera Inc. v. U.S. International Trade Commission (Fed. Cir., filed May 23, 2011). Guy briefed the case.

Guy also represented eBay Inc. and its PayPal subsidiary in a lawsuit claiming Google Inc. stole trade secrets to develop its own online payment system by hiring two senior executives who allegedly disclosed those secrets. The case settled in February.

- CRAIG ANDERSON

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