Krista Schwartz

For Krista S. Schwartz, co-chair of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP’s intellectual property litigation practice group, the appeal of her work is all in the variety.

“You can be working on everything from patent law to copyright to trade secrets,” the San Francisco attorney said. “Then there’s often other causes of action that get mixed in, so you get to work on antitrust issues, breach of contract — there’s a big range of legal issues that you touch on. Couple that with the different technologies that you’re getting to learn about and litigate the issues over — it keeps the job fresh.”

In one of her most significant recent cases, Schwartz successfully defended client Synopsys, Inc. against Siemens Industry Software Inc., who initiated an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration with claims the latter was licensed to four of the former’s patents under a Patent Licensing and Settlement Agreement. Siemens’ claim was ultimately rejected by the arbitration tribunal.

Schwartz said that the ability to help select arbitrators in the proceedings distinguished the case from a more typical district court affair.

“The whole process was a little more expedited and focused,” she said. “You still had expert reports, you still had a hearing where you put on witnesses and add opening and closing arguments. So there are a lot of similarities, but I think the issues being more focused and helping to choose the arbitrators was certainly a little different, as well as, since there were still some COVID issues at the time of the hearing, having to handle a major evidentiary hearing remotely was also a little bit of a challenge.”

Schwartz also represents Synopsys and several of its customers in ongoing patent litigation brought by NPE Bell Semiconductor LLC in district courts across the country, alleging that electronic design automation tools provided by Synopsys infringed on a patent involving the metals used in semiconductor manufacturing.

“It’s a very unusual case just because of the complexity, the scope, and also since you have three software suppliers whose technology is really the issue, you also have the added complexity of having to work with your clients’ competitors to coordinate the defense of the cases, so it’s a very unusual and complex case,” Schwartz said.

—Skyler Romero