Yar Chaikovsky

Yar Chaikovsky is a highly recognized intellectual property trial lawyer, currently serving as Chair of the Global Intellectual Property practice group and a partner in the Global Technology Industry Group at White & Case LLP. Based in Silicon Valley, his practice encompasses a broad spectrum of technology commercial litigation, including patent, trade secret, and copyright disputes. Mr. Chaikovsky's expertise spans diverse technology fields such as networking, broadband infrastructure, LEDs, software, hardware, internet, navigation systems, video compression, wireless communications (including Wi-Fi standards), semiconductors, consumer electronics, and medical devices. His background as an engineer in missile systems defense at Hughes Aircraft Company precedes his legal career, providing a deep technical foundation.

In his practice, Mr. Chaikovsky acts as lead trial counsel for prominent global technology companies in high-stakes disputes, working effectively for both plaintiffs and defendants. While tracked cases show a slight leaning towards plaintiff-side appearances (2 plaintiff, 1 defendant), his experience includes robust defense strategies. For instance, he served as lead counsel for the defendant in Shoals Technologies Group, LLC v. Voltage, LLC. His capabilities have been highlighted for "gutting a plaintiff's damages theory" and "challenging validity on Section 101 grounds."

Prior to joining White & Case LLP, Mr. Chaikovsky was the Global Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation practice at Paul Hastings LLP for seven years (2015-2021), and earlier in his career, he served as Yahoo!'s first head patent counsel. He regularly appears before U.S. District Courts, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and agencies such as the International Trade Commission (ITC) and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the USPTO. Notable representations include securing a Federal Circuit affirmance of a jury verdict for McGaw in a patent infringement suit, where findings of infringement and invalidity were upheld, and two patents were declared unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. He is also currently involved in a complex trade secret and copyright case for TikTok and ByteDance, as well as multi-forum patent litigation for OpenText and Trend Micro, and ITC cases for Voltage and Minka Lighting.

Mr. Chaikovsky is admitted to the State Bar of California (1994). He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law.