Intellectual Property Finalist
Winston & Strawn has deep expertise in handling patent cases for generic drugmakers, thanks to what IP practice chair James Hurst calls a “historical quirk.” Former Winston attorneys have gone on to lead such generic drug companies as Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc.–then tapped their old firm when they needed legal help.
In recent years the firm made a strategic decision to expand its IP practice. This year, that move truly began to pay off. While few firms can credibly argue that their litigation wins affect how we all use the Internet, Winston & Strawn can make that claim–more than once.
The first matter involved Veoh Networks, Inc., a San Diego–based online video company that hosts user-generated and professionally produced content. Hit with a copyright suit by adult entertainment company Io Group, Inc., Veoh turned to Michael Elkin, who heads Winston’s New York office. A 2007 arrival from the now-defunct Thelen, Elkin is steeped in digital copyright issues after years of working on cases for record labels and other big-media clients.
Elkin beat Io on summary judgment in 2008, but that was a mere prelude to the main event: A suit filed by Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, which claimed that Veoh owed it money because UMG songs were featured in user-generated videos that Veoh hosted. As major industry players weighed in with amicus briefs on UMG’s behalf, the suit quickly became a proxy for the fight between Hollywood and small technology start-ups.
The suit was a huge drain on Veoh’s resources, says founder Dmitry Shapiro, who let go more than 100 of his 128 workers during the litigation. “This is something that could have killed the company,” he says. “Winston’s small team went against a very large team, and they did it very efficiently. These guys are pros.”
The Elkin-led team didn’t just win the case. It won precisely as Veoh’s peers wanted: The court ruled that Veoh had handled potentially infringing third-party content properly, and thus enjoyed “safe harbor” protection from suits filed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Says Shapiro: “After it was announced we had won, I probably got a dozen phone calls from executives saying, ‘Look, you’ve done important work for the freedom of the Internet.’ ”
Elkin was involved in another major Internet decision in August, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Yahoo! Inc. wasn’t required to pay hundreds of millions in licensing fees to record companies in connection with its Launchcast service, which lets users create personalized music streams. The decision was a boon to dozens of Web-based radio services that offer similar services–and to the millions of listeners who use them.
Elkin isn’t the only new media star recruited by Winston. Andrew Bridges, who has helped tech companies repel entertainment industry copyright suits since the dawn of the MP3 era, moved over from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in 2004. When Perfect 10, Inc.—an adult entertainment company that has challenged the legality of Internet search in suits against several big tech companies–sued Microsoft, Bridges got the call. (That suit ended in a confidential settlement, but Bridges appears to have kept the world safe for the Internet search.)
Amid the digital copyright wins, Winston’s core patent practice kept rolling, helping clients Barr and Hospira, Inc., bust or dodge patents, respectively, on the popular Yasmin birth control pill and Eloxatin, an anticancer drug that generated $1.5 billion in sales for Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC last year. The blend of new work and old looks to be coming together nicely.
–Joe Mullin
Practice Group Size
Partners: 55
Associates: 80
Counsel: 6
Practice Group (as Percent of Firm)
15%
Estimated Percent (of Firm Revenue 2009)
17%
