Sam Stake

Sam Stake is a partner and co-chair of the Artificial Intelligence practice group at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, based in their San Francisco office. He specializes in intellectual property and complex commercial litigation, with extensive experience in patent, trade secret, antitrust, copyright, and general commercial disputes. His practice spans diverse technology sectors including AI, robotics, wireless devices, SaaS, social media, security, microchips, and life sciences such as biotech, genetics, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals.

While tracked cases show his appearances exclusively on the plaintiff side, including matters for Bissell Inc. before the International Trade Commission and against Tineco Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Stake’s broader practice includes significant defense work. He has represented major technology companies as both plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes patent litigation.

Notable achievements include securing a $174.5 million jury verdict for Voxer against Meta (then Facebook) in the Western District of Texas for patent infringement related to live messaging and store-and-stream technologies. He also obtained a complete defense verdict for Symantec in a patent action filed by Finjan, involving network security and antivirus software, after a three-week jury trial in the District of Delaware. Additionally, Stake successfully represented Twitter, Salesforce, and LinkedIn in a patent litigation where the court granted a motion for judgment on the pleadings, finding the patents invalid for failure to claim patent-eligible subject matter. His experience also includes International Trade Commission (ITC) proceedings and securing an anti-suit injunction against Huawei in the Northern District of California.

Stake is admitted to the State Bar of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Federal Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of California. He earned his J.D., with honors, from Georgetown Law in 2008 and a B.A., with honors, from Harvard University in 2003.