Morgan Chu

Los Angeles

Litigation

In 1977, Morgan Chu started as a junior associate at Irell & Manella LLP. Almost 47 years later, he's the head of the firm's litigation practice and a prominent intellectual property authority -- a strong combination at an IP and general business litigation firm.

"I recall my first day arriving at 1800 Avenue of the Stars, and I'm still there," Chu said. He began in business litigation. "It was by luck one year later that a client wanted me to take over a patent case. The firm said, 'No, he doesn't know anything about patent law,' but the client, Mattel, had a GC who insisted."

Inventor and electrical engineer Gilbert P. Hyatt was suing over the patents used in Mattel's popular hand-held electronic games, starting with its Auto Race, released in 1976.

"They were outselling Barbie dolls at the time," Chu said. "Luckily, we prevailed. It was my first trial. It was terrifying and fun." Chu won a declaratory judgment of invalidity of Hyatt's patents and was affirmed by a federal appellate panel. Mattel, Inc. v. Hyatt, 664 F.2d 757 (9th Cir., 1981).

"I was so new that I didn't know where to stand in the courtroom for my opening argument," Chu said.

He knows where to stand now. In 2021, he co-led the team that scored a $2.3 billion final judgment for VLSI Technology in an infringement suit against Intel, the largest patent judgment in U.S. history. The sum includes more than $162 million in prejudgment interest on the jury verdict. Intel's appeal is in progress. VLSI Technology LLC. v. Intel Corp., 6:21-cv-00057 (W.D. Tex., filed April 11, 2019).

Chu relishes the significance of his chosen field. "IP is the most important area of law for the U.S. economy," he said. "It remains a vibrant litigation scene. The U.S. is the leader in virtually every technological area, from chips to communications to defense systems to biotech to software. Without IP protection, those industries could not exist. And working within this system is great fun."

In mid-August, Chu was prepping for a September trial against Intel in the Western District of Texas. This time, his client is Richard Ernest Demaray, a pioneer scientist and inventor of semiconductor optical devices and other high-tech products, including low-defect thin films for advanced electronic devices.

"In the course of his work, Dr. Demaray discovered that his patented technology was being used by Intel, without authorization, to manufacture thin films in Intel electronic devices with which Intel is generating many tens of billions of dollars a year," Chu wrote in an amended complaint. Demaray LLC v. Intel Corp., 6:20-cv-00634 (W.D. Tex., filed July 14, 2020).

"We think damages are quite large, and we can expect a first-rate defense, and that's the way I like it," Chu said.

--John Roemer