Yar Chaikovsky

As the current global chair of White & Case’s technology intellectual litigation property practice, Yar Chaikovsky serves as lead counsel for prominent global technology companies, as he specializes in IP litigation, Section 101 challenges, appellate review, and ITC 337 Investigations.

Chaikovsky and his team are currently defending ByteDance and its application TikTok in a dispute against Beijing Meishe Network Technology. Meishe alleges infringement of Chinese copyrights and trade secret misappropriation, claiming that a former employee who now works for ByteDance incorporated some of Meishe’s source code into the TikTok and Douyin apps in the U.S. and China. Under the umbrella of U.S. copyright law through the Berne Convention, Meishe seeks to assert unregistered Chinese copyrights and to enforce U.S. trade secret laws related to activities in China. Beijing Meishe Network Technology Co., Ltd. v. TikTok Inc. 6:21-cv-00504 (W.D. Tex., filed May 18, 2021).

“It’s just an exciting case to work on,” Chaikovsky said, noting a peculiar “forum-shopping” on the part of the plaintiff. “We’re working to achieve positive results for the client.”

Chaikovsky and his team also represent Snap against Palo Alto Research Corporation (a part of Xerox) after PARC filed patent infringement against Snap, Facebook, and Twitter. An early victory in which the court invalidated one of the three patents was followed swiftly by the team filing IPRs on the two remaining patents and convincing the court to stay the case. Palo Alto Research Center Inc. v. Snap Inc. 2:20-cv-10755 (C.D. Cal., filed Nov. 25, 2020).

“I think we did a good job fending off the attack both in front of the court and in front of the patent office,” he said.

Chaikovsky’s accolades include being a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only honorary society with membership limited to less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. He was also featured eleven times in the Daily Journal’s list of Top 75 IP Attorneys. As an adjunct lecturer at Stanford Law School and a speaker at national legal conferences, Chaikovsky said he enjoys teaching and hopes to find more time to incorporate it into his busy schedule.

—Kathryn Stelmach Artuso