Adam R. Alper

Since 2019, Adam R. Alper, along with his regular co-lead counsel Michael De Vries, have won six jury trials in a row, bringing in almost $2 billion in verdicts from one patent and four trade secrets cases and a complete defense verdict in another patent case.

Just as satisfying to him have been the judges’ post-trial rulings in those cases. After all, juries don’t explain why one side won and the other side lost. “Judges do,” Alper said. Seeing the evidence and arguments that were persuasive “coming to life in a judicial opinion” validates his team’s approach and “shows we’re doing something right.”

For instance, in 2019, Alper won a nine-patent trial for a company that invented technology to determine the size of damaged roofs for insurance purposes without risky physical examinations. “The judge wrote a very extensive order denying the defendants’ request to overturn the verdict,” he said. The order carefully went through the evidence for Alper’s client and rejected all the defendant’s attempts to counter the evidence. Eagle View Technologies v. Xactware Solutions Inc., 1:15-cv-07025 (Dist. N.J., filed Sep 23, 2015).

In March last year, a jury awarded Alper’s client $40 million, half as punitive damages, against a competitor for willfully misappropriating trade secrets dealing with using radio frequencies to power machines that make computer chips. When the judge denied the competitor’s post-trial motions, he “relied on the important evidence and arguments that we adduced at trial,” Alper said.

That September, the judge also imposed a permanent injunction against the competitor. Comet Technologies USA Inc. v. XP Power LLC, 5:20-cv-06408 (N.D. Cal., filed Sept. 11, 2020).

Alper and his team have also had success seeking other injunctions and similar remedies. In Last month, in a trade secrets action for a digital cloud services company, they won a temporary restraining order against a large competitor. Unisys Corp. v. Gilbert, 2:23-cv-00555 (E.D. Penn., filed Feb. 13, 2023).

TROs can be very important to “stop a company’s trade secrets from proliferating through a competitor’s organization,” Alper said. “They’re very intense proceedings … [that] can have a real impact on the case.”

The Unisys case is set for trial in October, following a trial the month before defending a client whose two patents are used by Intel and Samsung. Demaray LLC v. Intel Corp., 6-20-cv-00634 (W.D. Tex., filed July 14, 2020).

Trying jury trials remains a main focus for him and his team, Alper said. “They’re exciting and … for me, one of the most rewarding experiences about the job.”

— Don DeBenedictis