Darin Snyder

When 2020 began, Snyder anticipated a very busy year. He was scheduled to go to trial in six cases around the country.

Of course, none of them took place. But the pandemic wasn’t the only reason.

Snyder and his team were defending Google LLC, a major client, against allegations by a holding company that it was infringing three patents involving a type of electronic data storage.

Snyder moved to change venue from the Eastern District of Texas. When the judge denied the motion, Snyder and his team won a potentially important reversal from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The judge dismissed the case in March. Super Interconnect Technologies LLC v. Google LLC, 18-CV00463, (E.D. Tex., filed Nov. 2, 2018).

Three potential trials against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. settled, including one in Texas that would have been one of the first in-person trials after lockdown.

Snyder’s team and international witnesses were in Texas observing quarantine protocols when the case resolved in July. Image Processing Technologies LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., 16-CV00505 (E.D. Tex., filed May 13, 2016).

The trials in the last two cases were put off until May.

In the first, Snyder’s client accuses a competitor of infringing its patents on technology that allows someone to surf behind a waterskiing boat without a rope. Malibu Boats LLC v. Skier’s Choice Inc., 18-CV00015 (E.D. Tenn., filed Jan. 12, 2018).

In another case, he is defending his client’s use of call center technology. He and his team have already eliminated many of the plaintiff’s copyright claims on summary judgment and persuaded a judge to eliminate its primary damages theory, eliminating $100 million in potential damages. LivePerson v. 24/7 Customer, Inc., 15-CV02897 (N.D. Cal., filed June 22, 2015).

A trade secrets case is taking most of his time now. His client claims an employee continued on the job for months acting as a spy for a competitor.

“It is as acute an instance of corporate espionage as I’ve seen in a very long time,” Snyder said. CareCentrix Inc. v Lanznar, 20-CV01765 (D. Del., filed Dec 23, 2020).

Snyder also co-leads O’Melveny’s diversity program, which is in its second year using a set of games to eliminate bias from consideration of candidates to join the firm.

“We think it has allowed us to greatly expand the number of candidates that we can quickly evaluate,” he said.

— Don DeBenedictis