Daniel P. Muino
Dan is an intellectual property litigator and trial lawyer with more than two decades of experience litigating patent, trade secret, and copyright matters in federal courts around the country and at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). He is co-lead of the firm’s ITC Working Group and an editor of the MoFo@ITC guide to Section 337 investigations.
Dan has led litigation and trial teams in complex IP cases. Most recently, he led the trial team in a confidential arbitration involving complex semiconductor fabrication technology. He was first-chair trial counsel at an ITC trial defending chipmaker Renesas against Broadcom’s patent infringement allegations, which resulted in a complete victory for Renesas before the judge, the Commission, and the Federal Circuit. In the closely-watched Waymo v. Uber autonomous vehicle trade secret litigation, Dan helped lead the technology team defending Uber against Waymo’s claims. He also served as trial counsel at a patent jury trial that resulted in a verdict in favor of client Microscan against competitor Cognex. He managed the trial team for Oracle in its IP lawsuit against Google over the Android operating system, and managed the trial team for Novell in a jury trial that resulted in a complete win against SCO’s claims concerning the ownership of the UNIX copyrights.
The technologies in his cases have been diverse, including semiconductor fabrication, integrated circuits, instruction set architectures, self-driving vehicles, LiDAR, the Java and Android software platforms, the UNIX operating system, IEEE 802.11 wireless networking devices, MEMS gyroscopes and accelerometers, web advertising platforms, rare earth magnets, and medical devices.
Experience
Arm v. Qualcomm (District of Delaware)
Representing plaintiff Arm in a high-profile action for breach of contract and trademark infringement for Qualcomm’s use of unlicensed Arm-based technology in its CPU products.
Confidential Semiconductor Arbitration (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre).
Lead counsel for a yield improvement services provider in a dispute with a major semiconductor foundry. The dispute involves complex issues of semiconductor fabrication technology.
Certain Integrated Circuits (Amazon, International Trade Commission, 337-TA-1287
International Trade Commission, 337-TA-1287) Represented Amazon in an ITC investigation filed by NXP Semiconductors N.V. and NXP USA, Inc. against MediaTek involving certain accused integrated circuits and downstream electronic devices containing the same.
Certain Infotainment Systems (Renesas, International Trade Commission, 337-TA-1119).
Lead counsel for respondent Renesas in an ITC investigation initiated by Broadcom involving systems-on-chip powering automobile infotainment systems. Following an ITC trial, secured a complete victory before the Administrative Law Judge and the Commission on all four patents asserted against Renesas; invalidated claims of two of the patents in related IPRs; and successfully defended these victories on appeal to the Federal Circuit.
Teradata v. SAP (Northern District of California).
Representing plaintiff Teradata in an action against SAP for trade secret misappropriation and antitrust violations relating to SAP’s HANA database.
Waymo v. Uber (Northern District of California).
Represented Uber in a high-profile action brought by Waymo for alleged trade secret misappropriation pertaining to LiDAR sensors for autonomous vehicles.
Certain Portable Electronic Devices (Blackberry, International Trade Commission, 337-TA-994).
Lead counsel for respondent BlackBerry in an ITC investigation involving a hierarchical user interface for accessing music tracks on portable media players. Respondents obtained an early initial determination from the ALJ finding the asserted patent invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
Microscan Systems, Inc. v. Cognex Corporation (Southern District of New York).
Won a jury verdict of infringement, validity, and reasonable royalty damages for plaintiff Microscan in a patent case related to high-end barcode scanners.
Certain Sintered Rare Earth Magnets (Hitachi Metals, International Trade Commission, 337-TA-855).
Represented complainants Hitachi Metals and its U.S. affiliate in an ITC investigation involving high-strength magnets made of neodymium and other rare earth elements. Obtained favorable settlements for clients with more than two dozen respondents.
Augme Technologies LLC v. Yahoo!, Inc. (Northern District of California).
Won summary judgment of non-infringement for Yahoo! on two patents asserted by Augme covering Internet display advertising technology. Augme stipulated to infringement of one of Yahoo!’s patents. The judgment was affirmed on appeal.
Oracle America v. Google (Northern District of California).
Represented Oracle America in an action for copyright and patent infringement based on Google’s inclusion of Java platform technology in the Android software platform and operating system, culminating in a month-long jury trial.
SCO Group v. Novell (District of Utah).
Won a defense jury verdict for Novell following a three-week trial in which the jury determined that Novell owned the copyrights to the UNIX computer operating system. Successfully defended the judgment on appeal.
Confidential Life Sciences Arbitration.
Obtained a complete victory for our client in high-stakes arbitration. Our client, a multinational corporation in the medical field, was accused of infringing a number of its competitor’s patents, with potential damages well into the nine-figure range. Following fact and expert discovery and a two-week evidentiary hearing, our client prevailed on either non-infringement or invalidity on every patent—an unusually complete victory for one side in the arbitration context.
Resonate v. Alteon (Northern District of California).
Won summary judgment of non-infringement for Alteon on a patent related to website load balancing methods, and successfully defended the judgment on appeal.
Rankings
Recommended in DC Metro Area: Litigation
IAM Patent 1000, 2024
Recommended for Patent Litigation and ITC
Legal 500, 2024