Software Litigation Attorney

Software is the heartbeat of almost every industry. The licensing and litigation of IP covering software and source code present distinct challenges.

With approximately 50 attorneys in Minnesota, New York, and California, the Robins Kaplan Intellectual Property and Technology Litigation Group has a long history of extraordinary courtroom victories, IP asset monetization, and innovation defense.

Our IP attorneys—some of whom are former software engineers—understand the balance of achieving business goals through licensing and litigation, while also proactively protecting valuable IP assets throughout product development.

Representing Software Providers

We represent software providers in litigation and arbitration of disputes involving claims like breach of license agreement and over-deployment, as well as infringement of patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. Recent experience includes representing a software developer in a high-profile case against the U.S. Government for alleged violation of a copyright license agreement, with damages in the billions of dollars.

We leverage our litigation perspective to counsel software providers on the optimization of their IP assets and license agreements throughout every stage of development so that they are poised to be competitive and profitable. The following is a sampling of ways by which we can help software companies develop effective licensing and audit enforcement strategies:

• Audit master software license agreements and End User License Agreements (“EULAs”), leveraging our experience litigating software license disputes to help identify risks, improvements, and potential compliance issues;
• Conduct patent portfolio analyses highlighting key strengths, opportunities, and the competitor landscape using our proprietary patent analytics tool, Pinpoint IP®, for which The American Lawyer recently recognized us as a finalist for its 2021 Industry Award for Best Use of Technology;
• Audit software technology assets in order to identify IP protection options and develop best practices; and
• Audit M&A materials (e.g., recent or pending acquisitions) to identify key software-related risks and compliance issues.

Representing Other Clients with Software-Related Issues

Every operating company faces software-related issues. Our experience representing innovative software providers has positioned us to effectively help clients in other business sectors protect and enforce their own software-related assets, as well as to defend against claims such as patent or copyright infringement, trade secret theft, or breach of license agreement.

Our attorneys have counseled and represented clients with software-related issues in a diverse range of business sectors, including:

• Aerospace and Defense
• Consumer Electronics
• Entertainment and Media
• Food and Beverage
• Retail

Delivering Value with Our In-House Suite of Interdisciplinary Professional Services

Our in-house team includes Ph.D. science and engineering advisors with experience in computer science and other technical disciplines underpinning our clients’ core technologies, as well as financial and economic consultants who provide a wide range of quantitative assessments and analyses needed throughout litigation and in complex business decisions.

In partnership with seasoned trial attorneys, these professionals provide our clients in the software industry with a strategic advantage inside and outside of the courtroom. Our holistic approach limits the need for costly external damages experts and offers our clients clarity in decisions related to the value of their intellectual property assets.

We’re not just a law firm that understands software; we are a law firm that writes software. Our in-house software development team has created a number of tools designed to revolutionize case management. Our custom-built suite of legal project management software—including our proprietary OneBudget® software tool—tracks, manages, and reports individual case budgets providing complete transparency into budget information for in-house counsel. These tools help us reduce costs and increase predictability for corporate counsel concerned with keeping their department on budget and accessing more reliable information for their business decisions.

Technical Experience

Our work in connection with software-related disputes includes:

• Video streaming protocols
• IoT and AI software technologies
• Mobile wireless telecommunications
• Mobile broadband
• Internet technologies
• TCP/IP communications standards and protocols
• Server architecture
• Database encryption
• Computer processing and graphics
• Semiconductor design and fabrication
• Consumer products and peripherals