Maya P. James

We represented a nonprofit research institute in its lawsuit against a giant pharmaceutical company regarding the latter’s refusal to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties it was owed for its intellectual property in a blockbuster drug. Following positive rulings on the merits of the case, we negotiated a very favorable settlement that entitles our client to ongoing royalties.

We represented a senior executive of a national bank in an investigation involving three United States Attorneys’ Offices, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, as well as parallel civil litigation. No criminal or SEC charges were lodged against our client, we secured a dismissal of the civil case against our client, and we reached a favorable settlement with the OCC.

We represented Genentech as the victim of a massive trade secret theft by its former scientists and founders of JHL Biotech, which was developing biosimilar versions of Genentech’s cancer medicines. The Keker team reported the theft to the DOJ and FBI and cooperated with the government’s investigation, which led to the indictment, guilty pleas, and prison time for JHL’s founders and top executives. On the civil side, the team won a preliminary injunction forbidding JHL from commercializing its products. This broad injunction, which rested on a finding that Genentech had a likelihood of success on its trade secret misappropriation claims, led to a settlement with JHL, in which JHL agreed to abandon development of all four of its biosimilars of Genentech’s products, destroy all related cell lines, stipulate to a permanent injunction, fully cooperate with Genentech’s investigation, and reimburse Genentech for its legal fees.

We successfully defended cloud-based telephony and unified messaging provider Dialpad in a patent infringement action brought by competitor RingCentral in the Northern District of California. Dialpad obtained a ruling that all five asserted patents claim ineligible subject matter.

We represented a founder of a sustainable foods company in a criminal antitrust investigation. Following discussions and presentations to the DOJ, the investigation was dropped; no charges were filed.