Adam R. Alper

After winning a $765 million federal jury verdict in a trade secrets case in January 2020 against a Chinese-based defendant, Alper and his Kirkland & Ellis team are working to get the money.

Alper, who leads Kirkland's intellectual property litigation group in the Bay Area, specializes in patent and trade secrets law and focuses on representing plaintiffs whose complex technology has been stolen by key competitors. He leads the majority of those cases with law partner Michael W. DeVries.

Alper and colleagues prevailed for client Motorola Solutions Inc. against key competitor Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. in one of the largest trade secrets outcomes in U.S. history, following a three-month trial in Chicago, where his client is based. Motorola Solutions Inc. v. Hytera Communications, 17-cv-01973 (N.D. Ill., filed March 14, 2017).

Instead of posting an appeal bond, Hytera filed for bankruptcy protection for its U.S. entities while their post-trial motions are pending. "Their claim is that we can't enforce a judgment extraterritorially, and they're completely wrong about that," Alper said. "Our motion to enforce the judgment is before the court, and the bankruptcy court has stayed their case there in order for our judge to rule. We're now debt collection attorneys as well as IP litigators."

The trial was part of a larger case that encompassed litigation at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the International Trade Commission. There were proceedings in Australia and Germany. "Mike and I found our focal point by not just explaining the technology but also the high level of responsibility corporations have not to do the wrong thing," Alper said of the Chicago trial and, more generally, of the entire dispute with Hytera. "The technology is critical, of course. But there's also the moral aspect, the stealing and the copying. It comes down to right and wrong, and that was very appealing to the jury in Chicago."

In July 2020, Alper achieved a significant early win in trade secrets litigation soon after client Inventus Power Inc. discovered that some of its former executives and senior engineers downloaded and brought with them confidential information to a Chinese competitor. Inventus Power Inc. v. Shenzhen Ace Battery Co. Ltd., 1:20-cv-03375 (N.D. Ill., filed June 8, 2020).

"This defendant came up with a plan to attack Inventus from the inside, by luring employees. We discovered through forensic investigation that they took more than 140,000 code files--one of the largest thefts in tech history," Alper said.

Despite the work-from-home restrictions, his Kirkland team quickly put together a strong case seeking immediate relief. After five rounds of expedited briefing that included 11 fact witness declarations, the team took home a temporary restraining order, and order for expedited discovery and a requirement that Shenzhen Ace notify its distributors and resellers of the TRO.

"That was a big deal in the early weeks of the case," Alper said.

-- John Roemer