Gregory P. Stone

Intellectual Property

Mr. Stone has been lead counsel in a large number of patent cases, and also has tried copyright and trade secret cases. He has argued a number of appeals in IP cases, principally in the Federal Circuit. Some exemplary matters include the following:

Rambus Inc.

Mr. Stone represented Rambus Inc. in a number of patent infringement actions against the world’s largest DRAM manufacturers in a closely watched battle for the rights to the fundamental design of memory chips used in nearly all major computing devices. In 2006, in a case against Hynix Semiconductor, a jury found in favor of Rambus and awarded damages of $306.5 million, later reduced to $133.6 million. The Daily Journal reported that this was the largest plaintiffs’ jury verdict in California that year. As part of these cases, Mr. Stone has defended Rambus against antitrust and unfair competition claims and against claims that Rambus spoliated evidence. In 2008, one of these cases was named by the Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the top 10 defense verdicts in California.

Microsoft Corporation

Mr. Stone successfully defended Microsoft against patent infringement claims asserted by Walker Digital, obtaining summary judgment of non-infringement, and upholding that decision in the Federal Circuit. Walker Digital claimed that Microsoft’s Office Suite infringed upon its patents for database searching apparatus and methods.

In defending Microsoft against antitrust claims brought by a UK-based device manufacturer, Datel Holdings, Mr. Stone also prosecuted claims against Datel of copyright infringement, patent infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Autocell Laboratories, Inc. v. Cisco Systems

Mr. Stone was lead counsel in a patent infringement action brought by Autocell in the District of Delaware. Autocell claimed that its patents covered the technology employed to limit interference between transmitters and receivers on Cisco’s wireless networks. Mr Stone successfully obtained summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of Cisco.

Tessera, Inc.

Mr. Stone represented Tessera in a number of actions for infringement of Tessera’s semiconductor packaging technology patents against some of the world’s largest packagers and manufacturers of semiconductor products. 

Other IP Matters

Mr. Stone has handled patent cases in all of the popular jurisdictions, including in California, Delaware and Texas, as well as in a number of other jurisdictions. He also has tried copyright infringement cases, including a case involving the significant issue of whether APIs are copyrightable, and he has handled cases alleging misappropriation of trade secrets. 

News

Antitrust

Mr. Stone has tried antitrust cases in U.S. district courts, California state courts, and before the Federal Trade Commission. He has handled antitrust inquiries and investigations brought by both the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, including investigations with regard to mergers and acquisitions, assertion of patents, and alleged agreements among companies not to hire each other’s employees. The FTC’s case against Rambus was one of the longest trials held in the FTC, and Mr. Stone was successful in defending Rambus against the claims in that case. Several of the cases Mr. Stone has defended have been class action price-fixing cases, including one that he took to a jury verdict in his client’s favor.

Class Actions

Mr. Stone has defended nationwide and statewide class actions for a variety of clients in tort, product liability, unfair competition, and antitrust cases. Some examples are:

In re Tobacco Cases II

Mr. Stone served as lead counsel for Philip Morris USA and liaison counsel for all defendants. Filed in 1997 on behalf of all Californians who smoked during an eight-year period, the case went to the California Supreme Court, which, in its first interpretation of the standing requirements of Proposition 64, reversed the trial court’s decision to decertify the class and remanded. In 2013, the firm successfully defeated the class action, which sought as much as a billion dollars in restitution. 

Curtis v. Philip Morris USA Inc.

Mr. Stone served as lead counsel in this certified “lights” class action. He obtained a dismissal of the case in the trial court after it had been certified to proceed as a class action. Two appeals followed, each of which Mr. Stone argued. The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court, and then the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed that decision, reinstating the trial court’s dismissal of the action. Mr. Stone has been lead counsel in a number of other “lights” class actions, including cases in California, New Mexico, and Washington.

Major Technology Company

Mr. Stone successfully defended in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals the district court’s dismissal of this purported class action, in which plaintiffs asserted that certain laptop computers were defective, giving rise to various consumer protection law claims.

McCampbell. v. Ralphs Grocery Co., et al.

Mr. Stone was lead trial counsel for The Vons Companies, Inc. in a class action brought against Vons and other supermarket chains alleging price-fixing and other state law violations. A jury in San Diego County found in favor of the defendants and that verdict was affirmed on appeal.

Other Class Actions

In addition to numerous other class actions in California, Mr. Stone has defended class actions in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and the Marshall Islands. His cases have involved a wide variety of products and services, from computers, cell phones, data storage, and video game hardware, to grocery items, coupons, and cigarettes, and have involved legal theories ranging from price-fixing and unfair competition to defective products and medical monitoring.