Practices

Issues and Appeals

Why Cooley

Recognized as a top litigation firm by Chambers USA, Legal 500 US and Benchmark Litigation, we regularly appear before appellate courts on behalf of leading companies in high-profile disputes. From bet-the-company cases and consumer class actions to complex white-collar suits and defenses of intellectual property rights, our appellate victories often shape the legal landscape.

Drawing upon the experience of our dedicated appellate lawyers, trial lawyers and 40+ appellate clerks – including clerks to the US Supreme Court and US Courts of Appeals – we represent parties and amici curiae in appellate proceedings across the country. Clients engage Cooley to address the most difficult questions with the highest stakes.

Representative Matters

  • Secured a critical win for Google in an important “genericide” trademark suit that threatened to deprive the company of one of its most valuable assets – the Google trademark – when the Ninth Circuit affirmed that the mark is not generic and remains a valid trademark for Google's world-famous search engine. 
  • Obtained victory for Airline Tariff Publishing Co. affirming dismissal of an antitrust suit alleging collusion and price fixing on multicity flights. 
  • Representing 47 Members of the United States Senate as amici curiae in a Supreme Court case that represents an existential threat to the Affordable Care Act, by providing the Senators’ arguments that invalidation of the law would thwart Congress’s intent, violate the separation of powers and needlessly upend a stable health care system upon which tens of millions of Americans rely.
  • Representing Uber in First Circuit appeal of trial victory in case brought by 34 taxi medallion-owning corporations that alleged unfair competition and conspiracy and sought over $400M in damages. 
  • Representing peer-to-peer ridesharing company Turo in appellate litigation across the country in disputes over access to airports and the proper interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—a fundamental protection for online platforms with disruptive business models.
  • Providing representation in the Supreme Court to an incarcerated transgender woman who prevailed on an Eighth Amendment claim that the state’s denial of gender confirmation surgery reflected deliberate indifference to her medical needs—including defeating the state’s request for a stay and opposing its petition for Supreme Court review.
  • Representing state and local legal organizations as amici curiae in an important Supreme Court case raising foundational questions about the scope of the Fourth Amendment seizure doctrine.
  • Representing The Innocence Network and Southern Center for Human Rights in appellate dispute with the US Attorney General to ensure state and federal habeas corpus protections for individuals sentenced to death. 
  • Obtained the dismissal of a class action against BevMo alleging violations of California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act. The decision was affirmed on appeal.
  • Obtained a summary judgment victory for eBay in a nationwide class action brought by eBay sellers who claimed search delays deprived them of the expected benefits of listing items on eBay. The ruling was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit.
  • Defended Facebook in its first-ever patent infringement case, which came to a close when the Federal Circuit upheld the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s rejection of all claims in a patent asserted by Cross Atlantic Capital Partners.
  • Successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to vacate an adverse summary judgment ruling against Gevo in its patent dispute with Butamax.
  • Represented HTC in a case brought by Eon Corp. IP Holdings alleging infringement of a television device patent where the lower court found Eon’s software patent invalid. The decision was upheld by the Federal Circuit.
  • Obtained a victory for Kinder Morgan’s subsidiary Santa Fe Pacific Pipelines when the California Court of Appeals ruled the lower court erred in determining that Union Pacific Railroad Co. was owed $100 million in back rent for pipeline easements it provided to SFPP.
  • Secured a favorable summary judgment ruling that was upheld by the Second Circuit for best-selling author Michael Lewis and publisher W.W. Norton & Company in a case accusing Lewis of including defamatory statements about the plaintiff in The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.
  • Obtained a decisive appellate victory on behalf of New York University in what one publication called an “epic battle” over NYU’s plan to build four new buildings on two “superblocks” that it owns in Greenwich Village.
  • Obtained a victory for Patheon in its multiyear antitrust battle with former joint venture partner Procaps Laboratories when the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment rulings dismissing the case.
  • Obtained the dismissal of a nationwide class action against affiliated Sony companies alleging violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act. The decision, which involved an issue of first impression, was upheld by the Ninth Circuit.