Jonathan K. Waldrop

Waldrop has developed a close relationship with one of the most coveted tech clients in the world by repeatedly proving his worth in litigation.

Waldrop started representing Google Inc. in 2012, helping the company fend off litigation brought by Eolas Technologies Inc. He’s since handled two more cases against Eolas and defended Google from other plaintiffs.

Eolas brought cases against a wide swath of tech companies, claiming that it owned patents covering the basic concept of embedding videos in a web browser.

“It was a patent that implicated the very beginning of the internet and a case involving huge luminaries and interesting people who were part of that, true geniuses,” Waldrop said.

The litigator helped invalidate the patent and won the next two cases on motions for declaratory judgment.

He also defeated claims brought by Data Engine Technologies LLC, the current owner of patents created by a previous company, Borland Software Corp., which devised a spreadsheet program in the 1990s. Data Engine alleged that the Google Sheets application infringed on those patents.

Waldrop got five of the patents invalidated, three of which were defeated by a 101 Alice motion. He said IBM Corp. was facing parallel litigation at the same time and it was fascinating to watch that case unfold simultaneously to his own battle, particularly at a time when Alice was a hotly contested subject matter.

Now he’s defending Google against a case brought by Ryujin Fujinomaki, a Japanese inventor who claims that cellphone theft prevention technology cribs off of his creations.

Waldrop successfully moved the case out of the Eastern District of Texas and it’s now pending in the Northern District of California.

The litigator continues to deliver wins for the tech behemoth.

“It’s been one of the biggest privileges and honors of my life,” he said. “It’s been professionally and personally gratifying and life changing.”

Waldrop said he has worked at a variety of firms with different cultures and strategies but coming to Kasowitz allowed him to take his career to the next level.

“This is the firm that is as close to a true meritocracy as possible,” he said. “There are no limits on my potential other than what I can conceive.”

— Joshua Sebold