Adam Alper

Adam Alper is a prominent patent litigator and a leading member of the intellectual property litigation group in Kirkland & Ellis LLP's Bay Area office. His practice focuses primarily on high-stakes patent and trade secret disputes, often involving concurrent claims of copyright violations. He frequently represents clients in the semiconductor, telecommunications, computer hardware, and pharmaceutical industries. Case experience reflects a focus on technologies such as memory modules, voice assistant systems, and high-frequency trading hardware utilizing field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

While the provided case appearances show Alper acting as lead counsel for defendants in all four tracked matters, his broader practice includes significant plaintiff-side work, securing over $2.1 billion in damages awards and settlements since 2018. Notable defense victories include a complete jury verdict for Samsung in February 2024 in a multi-patent case that sought $4 billion in damages, and a complete defense verdict for APCON against Gigamon in a network technologies case, where the jury found no infringement and invalidated all asserted patent claims. He also achieved a walk-away settlement for Applied Materials following a related patent defense win for Samsung.

Alper has been involved in several high-profile cases for Samsung, including VB Assets, LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al., concerning voice assistant technology, and Omni MedSci, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics, Co. Ltd. et al.. In Netlist Inc. v. Samsung et al., the Federal Circuit notably affirmed the cancellation of a Netlist patent (US 10,217,523) in March 2025, marking a decisive appellate victory for Samsung. Other significant plaintiff-side results include an $855 million jury verdict for Cognizant in a software-related trade secret case, a $765 million jury verdict for Motorola Solutions in a trade secret case, and a $125 million jury verdict for EagleView Technologies in a patent case.

Alper's litigation strategy frequently involves co-pending actions in U.S. District Courts, before the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC). His PTAB experience is evident in cases like the Netlist dispute, which involved IPR proceedings and subsequent Federal Circuit appeal.

He earned his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in 1998 and a B.A. from Stanford University in 1994. He is admitted to practice in California.