Daralyn J. Durie

Durie Tangri LLP

San Francisco

Intellectual property litigation

Durie, the co-founder of the IP powerhouse Durie Tangri LLP, has university degrees in human biology and comparative literature -- as well as in law -- and the combination is evident on the firm's website. "Law is a craft. Law is an art. Law is a science," the site proclaims as it emphasizes the power of narrative and graphics in telling the stories to juries and judges that underlie arcane technologies.

The decade-old firm's clients include tech standouts like Alphabet Inc., Genentech Inc., Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., Dropbox Inc., Medium Corp. and Pinterest Inc.

"I did study immunology," she said, and the science came in handy when she obtained a defense win on patent infringement claims for prenatal test developer Ariosa Diagnostics Inc.

The company's key product, Harmony, is partly based on two patents asserted by rival Illumina Inc. that are directed to natural phenomena and are ineligible for patent protection, U.S. District Judge Susan Y. Illston held in December 2018. Illumina Inc. v. Ariosa Diagnostics Inc., 18-CV02847 (N.D. Cal., filed May 15, 2018).

Ariosa turned to Durie after it was on the losing end of a $27 million judgment in Illumina's favor in an earlier case over other patents in which Ariosa was represented by another firm.

Ariosa, owned by Roche Molecular Systems Inc., and Illumina make competing tests that screen for genetic flaws using noninvasive techniques, reducing the risks associated with amniocentesis.

"The Court finds that the claims of each patent are not inventive," Illston wrote in granting summary judgment to Durie's client. "The claimed combination of elements lacks an inventive concept because the combination was well-understood, routine and conventional at the time of invention."

On Jan. 9, Durie defended the verdict on appeal. "We're waiting to see what the Federal Circuit does now," she said. "We were before a very hot bench. I'm confident the outcome will be 2-1, but I don't know which way. Using fetal DNA for diagnostic testing is an extremely hot topic at the Federal Circuit right now."

Durie is also defending Uber Technologies Inc. in a trade secrets theft suit by an inventor who claims Uber's former CEO, Travis Kalanick, and other company officials misappropriated his idea for a way to connect drivers and riders.

The initial complaint sought $1 billion in damages, but lawyers for the plaintiff declined to endorse that figure in a subsequent interview.

The case is in its early stages in San Francisco County Superior Court. In February, Durie lost a bid to have the matter dismissed on statute of limitations grounds; trial on the underlying claims lies ahead. Halpern et al. v. Uber Technologies Inc., CGC-15-545825 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed March 15, 2015).

-- John Roemer