Adam R. Alper

Adam R. Alper — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Specialty / focus areas. Alper is a trial-focused IP litigator whose practice centers on high-stakes patent and trade secret disputes, predominantly competitor-versus-competitor matters in the semiconductor, telecommunications, computer hardware, and pharmaceutical industries (per his Kirkland & Ellis bio and Chambers profile). His technology exposure is broad: Wi-Fi/telecom standards (including patent-essentiality and RAND royalty work in In re Innovatio IP Ventures), semiconductor processors and manufacturing, software and consumer apps, and medical technology. The tracked docket reflects that range — semiconductor (Greenthread v. ON Semiconductor), telematics software (Motive v. Samsara), consumer apps (Trinity Info Media v. Raya App), and firearms accessories (Rare Breed Triggers v. Nguyen).

Side preference / firm context. In his six tracked appearances he is defense-heavy — five for operating companies (Samsung, ON Semiconductor, Samsara, Raya App, Symantec) versus one plaintiff-side matter (Rare Breed Triggers) — and he served as lead counsel in five of six. That mix mirrors a genuinely dual-sided practice: firm materials describe him representing plaintiffs and defendants, with roughly $2.5 billion in verdicts and settlements secured since 2018. He is a partner in Kirkland & Ellis's San Francisco office and a leading member of its IP litigation group, frequently co-first-chairing trials with Michael De Vries; case records also reflect earlier patent litigation work at Fenwick & West (Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp.) before his long tenure at Kirkland.

Notable cases / outcomes. His most prominent tracked matter is Malikie Innovations v. Samsung, where he led Samsung and Applied Materials to a complete defense verdict in Waco, Texas (Feb. 2024), defeating a $4 billion damages demand in what has been reported as the largest defense-side patent win in U.S. history (Kirkland, Law360). Plaintiff-side highlights include a $125 million patent verdict for EagleView Technologies (2019), a $765 million trade-secret verdict for Motorola Solutions v. Hytera (2020), an $855 million verdict for Cognizant/TriZetto (2020), and a $25 million patent verdict for Finch Therapeutics and the University of Minnesota (2024). The Motorola award — affirmed at roughly $407 million by the Seventh Circuit in July 2024 — is reported as the largest standing trade-secret judgment in U.S. history.

PTAB / IPR; bar / education. His firm bio states his cases routinely involve co-pending USPTO PTAB (IPR/PGR) and USITC proceedings alongside district court litigation, so he appears in the IPR context regularly — though his reputation is as a district-court jury trial lawyer rather than a PTAB specialist. He has been admitted to the California bar since 1998 and is admitted to the Federal Circuit; he holds a J.D. summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law (1998) and a B.A. in economics from Stanford (1994).