David Tsai

Tsai's Taiwanese heritage has been a boon in helping his firm to generate business in that country, along with putting out fires.

"It's all about respecting and understanding how to do business in that culture," said Tsai, whose parents moved to the U.S. from Taiwan.

Last year, he helped Perkins Coie open its Taipei office, and he frequently speaks on intellectual property law, most recently as a guest of the director general of the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office.

Tsai is the lead associate handling the day-to-day matters of a lawsuit pitting Fry's Electronics Inc. against his client, Elitegroup Computer Systems Co., Ltd. Taiwan-based Elitegroup, one of the world's largest motherboard manufacturers, is accused of making improper commission payments to a former Fry's vice president. Fry's Electronics Inc. v. Elitegroup Computer Systems Inc. et al, 1-09-CV-143298 (Santa Clara Super. Ct., filed June 4, 2010).

Tsai also served as co-lead associate in the countersuit brought by Taiwanese-based High Tech Computer Corporation against Apple Inc. in an action alleging infringement of patents relating to operating systems and mobile handsets. Apple Inc. v. High Tech Computer (HTC) Corporation, C.A. 10-167-RK (D.Del., filed July 6, 2010).

The matter settled last fall, with the terms being kept confidential.

"It was a pretty amazing learning experience for me," Tsai said. "We were working with our client's founding inventors and asserting our client's innovative patents against Apple. The best challenge was to come up with the most creative arguments to make the best case."

- PAT BRODERICK