I. Neel Chatterjee

In representing entrepreneurs, startups and technology companies, Chatterjee’s cases often tackle undefined areas of the law. He has handled groundbreaking cases for Silicon Valley heavy hitters such as Facebook Inc., Oracle Corp., eBay Inc., Apple Inc. and more.

“I like to be on the forefront of new, big ideas, and helping people to execute them,” he said. “It’s exciting to figure out where the future will be and how we’ll get there.”

He represents Anthony Levandowski, who was at the center of a trade secret lawsuit filed by Alphabet Inc.’s subsidiary Waymo against Uber Inc. That suit alleged the former Waymo engineer had stolen confidential files and then used the information to advance Uber’s self-driving technology.

After four days at trial, Waymo accepted a settlement of $245 million in equity and a pledge that Uber would never use its trade secrets. Waymo is now taking Levandowski through arbitration proceedings for allegedly breaching employment contracts, fraud, tortious interference and other claims. The case will also address $120 million of incentive payments made by Waymo to Levandowski before he defected to Uber.

“That one stands out just because of the complexity of case, the high-profile nature of it, all the moving parts that were going on and continue to go on,” Chatterjee said.

The arbitration proceeding is ongoing.

In January, Chatterjee prevailed in a patent dispute on behalf of his client Alphonso Inc., a TV data company. In the three-year patent dispute, Samba TV claimed that Alphonso operates a TV-to-digital retargeting system in violation of its patents.

Chatterjee was retained mid-litigation and had to get up to speed for a trial scheduled for February. However, after a hearing in December regarding Alphonso’s motion for summary judgment, the judge ruled in his client’s favor.

“The case involved the emerging area of TV and online video data analytics,” Chatterjee said. “A key to getting the outcome was showing that the accused products used manual processes rather than automated ones.” Free Stream Media Corp. v. Alphonso Inc., 17-CV02107 (N.D. Cal., filed April 19, 2017).

Chatterjee also does significant pro bono work. For nearly 20 years, he has served on the board of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, a nonprofit that provides free legal services to underrepresented individuals and families.

“It’s part of our social responsibility to do it when you have a bar card,” Chatterjee said.

— Jennifer Chung Klam