Gabriel S. Gross

Gabe has a diverse litigation practice devoted to representing innovative clients in their most challenging disputes. For more than two decades, he has focused on IP and other complex commercial disputes, encompassing patent, trade secret, licensing, trademark, copyright, false advertising, employee mobility, and unfair competition cases. With a graduate degree in biotechnology and extensive experience working with cutting-edge technology companies, he serves as lead trial counsel for clients ranging from Fortune 500 tech companies to start-ups across the life sciences, high-tech, and consumer products industries. Gabe represents his clients all over the world, including in federal and state courts in California, New York, Texas, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, before the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as in arbitrations domestically and abroad. He also is a registered patent attorney with extensive experience in inter partes review and other proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Notable Experience*

Gabe has won jury verdicts, summary judgments, arbitration awards, and appeals, defeating billions of dollars in patent infringement and licensing claims on behalf of his clients. He has tried cases to juries in patent, copyright, and contract disputes, as well as before arbitrators in intellectual property licensing and other commercial disputes.  

Some of his notable experience as lead trial counsel includes representing:

• NAMSA, a leading medical contract research organization, in a trade secret and breach of contract action against executives and competitors in the District of Minnesota. 
• A global semiconductor leader in an international arbitration over allegations of breach of an intellectual property license with over $500 million in claimed damages.
• Acme United Corporation in:
  • A patent infringement and breach of contract action against Slice, Inc. relating to ceramic blade cutting products in the District of New Jersey. Obtained favorable resolution.
  • A trademark, trade dress, and breach of contract claim brought by Slice, Inc. relating to ceramic blade cutting products in the Northern District of California. Obtained favorable resolution.
• A global pioneer in CRISPR gene-editing technologies in an arbitration over allegations of breach of an intellectual property license.
• Adverum Biotechnologies, a gene therapy pioneer, in a breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and fraud action brought against the University of Washington. Obtained favorable resolution.
• Corcept Therapeutics, Inc. in a trade secret and breach of contract action against a services provider, in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Obtained favorable resolution.
• Mati Therapeutics, an ocular drug delivery company, in a breach of contract action over services relating to clinical trials, in the Southern District of New York. Obtained favorable resolution.

Some of his other noteworthy representations include:

• Co-lead counsel for aviation pioneer Skyryse in trade secret action against industry incumbent Moog Inc. in the Western District of New York and Central District of California. Obtained favorable resolution.
• Co-lead counsel for Codexis, Inc. in a case about patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, and other claims against competitor EnzymeWorks, Inc., relating to biocatalysis, in the Northern District of California. Obtained consent judgment of infringement, contempt of court finding, and attorneys’ fees.
• Co-lead counsel for Peloton, a leading exercise equipment and media company, in patent and trade dress infringement actions against competitor in the District of Delaware.
• As co-lead counsel for Peloton, won rare dismissal of patent infringement suit filed by competitor Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas.
• Trial counsel for Apple in copyright and trade dress infringement action over racially diverse emojis in the Northern District of California. Won victory on the pleadings with a finding that the subject emojis were not copyrightable and not entitled to trade dress protection.
• Co-lead counsel for Medivation, Inc. in breach of license suit against the University of California in Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. Obtained favorable resolution.
• Trial counsel for Apple in patent infringement actions against two non-practicing entities. Resolved both cases successfully, including by invalidating an NPE’s patents through IPRs at the Patent Office.
• Trial counsel for LG Chem, winning default judgment and a contempt finding in trade secret dispute at the ITC relating to electric vehicle batteries. Obtained landmark US$1.8 billion settlement.
• Won summary judgment of non-infringement of two patents asserted against Genentech’s blockbuster cancer medicines by competitor Sanofi-Aventis, which was affirmed on appeal in all respects. Obtained writ of mandamus from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordering transfer of a patent infringement case from the Eastern District of Texas to the Northern District of California.
• Trial counsel for Envia Systems, an innovator in lithium ion battery technology, in a trade secret action brought by competitor NanoeXa, and obtained favorable resolution.
• Won jury verdict for TransPerfect in a multi-patent infringement case between competitors in the Northern District of California. The jury found competitor’s patents invalid and not infringed, and that TransPerfect’s patent was valid and infringed.
• Represented Arista Networks in a series of patent disputes against Cisco Systems over network switching technologies before the U.S. International Trade Commission and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Obtained favorable resolution.
• Successfully represented Roche against Stanford University in patent case involving HIV diagnostic test kits, winning summary judgment of patent invalidity for obviousness.
• Represented Monster, Inc. in a trademark infringement action against Dolby to protect Monster’s branding of high-performance headphones, in the Northern District of California, and obtained favorable resolution.
• Represented General Electric Co. against University of Virginia in patent case involving MRI technologies in the Western District of Virginia, obtained partial summary judgment of no liability, and favorable resolution.
• Represented Yahoo! against Blue Spike in a patent infringement case involving technology for signal recognition and identification of digital information, in the Eastern District of Texas, and obtained favorable resolution.
• Obtained complete defense victory for Jawbone in the Northern District of California, winning summary judgments of non-infringement and invalidity of patent asserted by competitor Plantronics against Jawbone’s Bluetooth headsets.
• Represented Zynga Game Network in bringing copyright infringement action against competitor to enforce rights in computer code, in the Northern District of California, and obtained favorable resolution.
• Trial and appellate counsel for Acme United Corporation in a dispute with insurer over coverage for a false advertising suit brought by competitor Fiskars Brands, Inc. Won complete reversal of summary judgment from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, leading to the total recovery of the costs of Acme’s defense.

*Includes matters handled prior to joining Weil

Gabe’s pro bono practice includes representing clients in immigration and asylum matters, inmate civil rights cases, veterans’ benefits disputes, and unlawful detainer actions.

He enjoys giving back to the community and for years has coached his local high school’s mock trial team and volunteers as a mock trial coach, judge, and Deposition Course instructor at Berkeley Law.

Immediately prior to joining Weil, Gabe was a partner in the Intellectual Property practice of another top global law firm for more than 12 years, where served as Co-Chair of that firm’s national Trial Advocacy training program. Earlier, he was an IP partner at two other law firms.