Paul Lin is a corporate partner in Morrison Foerster’s Los Angeles office, where he advises clients on complex, cross-border transactions, including M&A, strategic investments, joint ventures, takeovers, real estate, and corporate finance.

Paul also acts as outside general counsel for many clients, managing litigation relating to commercial disputes, antitrust, international trade, intellectual property, class action matters, and other areas.

Paul serves as trusted counsel to a wide spectrum of clients, from multinational public companies and Chinese state-owned enterprises to private businesses and family offices, with experience across industries including technology, consumer products, infrastructure and urban development, automotive, green energy, and biotech.

Paul also offers significant experience advising global technology and consumer electronics companies on U.S. transactions and related commercial and intellectual property matters, and regularly counsels Asia-headquartered clients on U.S. transactions and dispute resolution strategy.

Paul is active in the cross-border legal community and frequently speaks on international M&A and U.S.-Asia transactions. He serves on the Dean’s Board of Visitors and Business Advisory Council at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, is a board member of the Hoag Hospital Foundation, and is a member of Committee of 100.

Representative Experience

Corporate

• Led the team in advising one of the world’s largest independent manufacturers of memory products, as a member of a consortium, in the $18 billion purchase of a major Asian semiconductor company. The work included negotiating a long-term supply agreement and investment documentation governing the client’s participation in the consortium. The deal was the largest M&A transaction in Asia in 2018.
  
• Represented a multinational technology manufacturing company in its acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of a leading provider of collaboration solutions.
  
• Represented the U.S.-based and world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products, in an agreement with a Taiwanese public company, to acquire certain assets of the Taiwanese company in a deal valued at approximately $200 million. The U.S. company simultaneously entered into a transaction pursuant to which the acquired company will provide foundry services to the buyer for a two-year period in a deal valued at approximately $380 million.
  
• Advising a Taiwanese multinational electronics manufacturing company in its acquisition of a 90 percent interest in a well-known international consumer electronics company and in certain manufacturing assets related to a television manufacturer from its parent company.
  

• Advising a Chinese company in its acquisition of a publicly listed display technology manufacturer and in a related tender offer.
  

Litigation

• Representing a major global television brand in a first-of-its kind multidistrict class action litigation concerning alleged violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act.
  
• Acted as trial counsel for a leading HDTV client in two patent infringement investigations at the International Trade Commission (ITC). At stake in each investigation was the exclusion from importation of virtually all products sold by the client. In the first investigation, the Administrative Law Judge found that the client did not infringe the asserted patents, and the ITC confirmed that finding. In the second investigation, the client settled the matter after an evidentiary hearing and review by the ITC, but before appeal.
  

• Representing an American maker of LCD HDTVs in connection with a putative nationwide class action regarding allegedly defective component parts in plasma and LCD televisions.
  
• Representing a high-definition television company in federal antitrust and California state law litigation filed against a Japanese communication equipment manufacturer in California federal court.
  
• Obtained a favorable ruling for an electronics technology manufacturer and a digital television and monitor manufacturer in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
  

• Representing an electronics manufacturer in a patent infringement dispute with a computer manufacturer involving patents related to various aspects of television technology.
  

Real Estate

• Advised a family trust office in its acquisition of 25 extended-stay hotel properties located in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Texas, along with a joint venture partner, sponsor, and 10 percent partner.
  
• Represented a family trust in its investment in the acquisition vehicle that acquired a 392-room luxury hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
  
• Advised a family trust office in its acquisition of 25 Extended Stay America hotels located in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Texas, along with a joint venture partner, sponsor, and 10 percent partner.
  
• Counseled a family trust in the development and long-term ownership of a four-building, 141-unit multifamily and mixed-use project located in Pasadena, California.