Morgan Chu

Irell & Manella LLP

Los Angeles

Patent litigation

As a longtime veteran of high-stakes intellectual property litigation, Chu recently lodged two huge wins in a single month: a U.S. Supreme Court decision in his favor, and a $752 million jury verdict in a patent infringement trial.

Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor wrote a unanimous opinion issued Dec. 11 that struck down a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office policy that required appellants to the district court pay the office's legal bills, even if the office lost.

It was a win for Chu's client NantKwest Inc., a biotechnology company founded by billionaire and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, and it rejected the office's argument that Congress intended to include attorney fees when it mandated appellants pay "all expenses of the proceeding."

The office previously interpreted the provision to include only expenses such as expert fees, but in 2013, it started seeking to recover attorney fees too. Chu argued the case Oct. 7 in October. Peter v. NantKwest Inc., 18-801 (S. Ct., filed Dec. 11, 2019).

He said he learned of the ruling as he was preparing for closing arguments in a jury trial before Senior U.S. District Judge S. James Otero in Los Angeles.

Arguments lasted into the next day, then the jury deliberated less than a day before ordering defendant Kite Pharma Inc. to pay $752 million to Chu's clients, Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research and Juno Therapeutics Inc., for patent infringement. Juno Therapeutics Inc. v. Kite Pharma Inc., 17-CV07639 (C.D. Cal., filed Oct. 18, 2017).

The jury concluded Kite willfully infringed a patent for a cancer immunotherapy called CAR T-cell therapy. Kite argued the patent was invalid, but the jury awarded Chu's client exactly the amount requested. The award included an initial payment of $585 million, as well as a running royalty rate of 27.6 percent.

Chu is now defending shoe company Skechers USA Inc. in patent litigation brought by Nike Inc., related to the design patterns on shoe soles. He won at trial, is defending an appeal and is back before the U.S. International Trade Commission.

An Irell lawyer since 1977, Chu said he has "the funnest job in the world."

"These brilliant people teach me about what interests them the most, and I get to ask a lot of dumb questions," Chu said. "All of it's fun and interesting. Every week, I learn something new from energetic, creative people."

He also credits his Irell colleagues, whom he called "the greatest group of people."

-- Meghann M. Cuniff