Neel I. Chatterjee

The spark for Neel Chatterjee's 30-year career in IP law began in college with a copyright dispute encountered while working at a radio station. This early exposure to the complexities of IP law laid the foundation for his career.

More recently, his clients range from innovative startups to global brands and his work often entails bet-the-company litigation.

He has been involved in several high-profile cases, including representing HotSpot Therapeutics, Inc. in a case that revolved around trade secrets and breach of contract concerning "DNA encoded libraries," crucial for potential cancer treatment drug discovery. HotSpot Therapeutics, Inc. v. Nurix Therapeutics, Inc., 3:22-cv-04109 (N.D. Cal., filed July 13, 2022).

"This was a hotly contested matter which was an important dispute associated with potential drug discovery for cancer treatments," Chatterjee said.

He continued: "One of the biggest obstacles in the Nurix case was that the technology was extremely complex and hard to explain. We overcame it by systematically teaching the court about the technology and engaging in motions practice where necessary to advance our case."

Despite the case's technical complexity, Chatterjee's approach and engaging in motions practice was pivotal in advancing their client's position, leading to a settlement.

Currently, he is navigating the intricacies of representing Smartcar in a case which presents challenges due to the evolving legal and regulatory landscape of car telematics and computer systems access. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. v. Smartcar, Inc., 5:21-cv-04895 (N.D. Cal., filed June 25, 2021).

Smartcar is a technology company that makes it possible for application developers to work with vehicle owners and their telematics data.

Volkswagen sued Chatterjee's client to prevent vehicle owners from being able to use this technology and is asserting various claims related to trademark infringement, computer fraud and abuse and breach of contract.

Smartcar countersued and is asserting that Volkswagen is behaving anticompetitively in violation of California's Unfair Competition Law, the Cartwright Act and the Sherman Act.

"This case raises several fundamental issues, including whether automobile companies like Volkswagen can control the aftermarket by seizing vehicle owner data and limit its use to Volkswagen exclusively, and whether automobile companies can require that vehicle owners exclusively use that company's software to access data on a vehicle owner's own vehicle," Chatterjee said.

Chatterjee said he has observed a trend in trade secrets litigation, noting an increase in trials and larger judgments for plaintiffs.

"A lot more trade secrets cases are getting filed as the trend in the nation is to disfavor restrictive covenants," Chatterjee said. "Trade secrets are used more in cases where commercial relationships have gone bad."