Morgan Chu

Chu is chair of Irell’s litigation group and has been a partner since 1982. He has been lead trial counsel in cases resulting in actual payments to clients of more than $5 billion. “We are relentless in terms of getting great results,” he said.

On June 6 U.S. District Judge William M. Conley of Madison, Wisconsin confirmed — and more than doubled — for client Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation a $234.2 million jury award against Apple Inc. in a patent dispute over a key computer architecture design, invented at the University of Wisconsin, that lets processors run faster on less energy. The judge also granted Chu’s client a bid for an ongoing royalty at the rate of $2.74 per unit from the date of the judgment plus supplemental damages and interest and more than $841,000 in costs. Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation v. Apple Inc., 3:14-cv-00062 (W.D. Wis., filed Jan. 31, 2014).

The total Apple must pay WARF, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s technology transfer arm, has now reached $506 million, and there is likely more to come.

In 2015 Chu filed a second case on identical claims. “Apple introduced more products after the discovery cutoff date in our first case,” Chu said. “We had so much fun the first time around, we thought we’d do it again.” He said the case looks to be a winner. The litigation is postponed while Apple appeals the first outcome to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, but “We believe Apple will have no meaningful defenses,” Chu said. “We think it will be a matter of accounting for sales of the products at issue, then applying the new royalty rate.” Some predict the case will add hundreds of millions of dollars to Apple’s tab. Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation v. Apple Inc., 3:15-cv-00621 (W.D. Wis., filed Sept. 25, 2015). Chu said he’s proud that a trio of Irell associates worked with him and three partners to try the case. “Three associates spoke before the jury, including a first-year associate,” he said. “There were no associates speaking for the other side. I just love to see our youngest lawyers shining in the crucible of the courtroom.” The addition to the jury’s award since the trial’s conclusion of more than a quarter of $1 billion is unusual, Chu agreed. “Sometimes a defendant fighting and fighting on post trial works against it,” he said. “We were willing, but Apple never wished to talk settlement.”

— John Roemer