Google Lawyer Sticks to His Guns: Facing Long Odds Robert Van Nest, Wins Over Judge and Jury
Robert Van Nest spent weeks during his defense of Google Inc. against Oracle Corp.'s copyright claims hauling out an old filing cabinet to explain why his client was not liable for infringement.
The San Francisco-based name partner at litigation boutique Keker & Van Nest LLP was trying to explain Java application programming interface packages, known as APIs, and why Google should not be held liable for using the same structure in its Android operating system.
"It's only a system of organization," Van Nest told the jury during his closing statement in the copyright phase of the trial. "It's my file cabinet."
Van Nest was trying to reach two audiences. He hopes to persuade the jury that Google did not infringe those Java programming tool but also was aiming his argument squarely at U.S. District Judge William Alsup at the Northern District of California.
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Bob Van Nest is a nationally recognized trial lawyer who frequently handles high-stakes cases for clients such as Intel, Google, Medtronic, Broadcom, and American Honda. His practice ranges widely over the field of complex business litigation and intellectual property. He has tried cases involving patent infringement, securities fraud, trademarks, commercial contracts, RICO, partnership disputes, real estate, insurance bad faith and mail and wire fraud.
Mr. Van Nest is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is consistently recommended as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA and other legal industry publications. In 2012, Daily Journal named him to its Top 75 Leading Litigators and its Top 100 Attorneys in California lists, and in 2011 Best Lawyers named him Bet-the-Company Litigator of the Year for the San Francisco region.