Michael D. Weil
Partner
San FranciscoMichael Weil, an Employment and Trade Secrets partner in the San Francisco office, represents clients in high-stakes trade secrets, employee mobility and employment litigation throughout the United States.
Michael's trade secrets engagements frequently arise from employee departures or commercial settings. He has handled trade secrets and non-compete cases involving a variety of intellectual property, such as organic chemistry, genetic sequencing, chemistry lab processes, near field payment technology, client lists, shipping cost information, and many others. As an employment lawyer, Michael also regularly handles matters involving independent contractor status, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and compensation matters, including wage-and-hour class actions and representative actions under state and federal laws. Finally, Michael counsels clients on a wide variety of employment and related business issues.
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Some of Michael's representative litigation engagements include the following:
Trade Secrets Matters:
- eBay v. Google. Michael represented eBay in this lawsuit alleging trade secrets misappropriation in connection with Google’s hiring of a former PayPal employee. The case resolved confidentially.
- Bio-Rad v. 10X Genomics. Michael successfully defended the founders of 10X in a multi-week arbitration, brought by Bio-Rad, seeking to enjoin the founders from working at 10X.
- Williams-Sonoma v. Arhaus. Michael represented Williams-Sonoma in this trade secrets lawsuit alleging that a former employee and his new employer misappropriated trade secrets. Following a three-day evidentiary hearing, the Court granted Williams-Sonoma's motion for preliminary injunction.
- Varian Medical Systems v. Elekta, Inc. Michael represented Varian in this trade secrets dispute alleging that a former employee and her new employer misappropriated trade secrets. Following a two-day evidentiary hearing, the Court granted Varian’s motion for a temporary injunction. The case resolved confidentially thereafter.
- Zynga v. Scopely Inc. Michael successfully defeated an application for TRO and preliminary injunction under the Defend Trade Secrets Act filed against Scopely.
- AllCells, LLC v. Cepheus Biosciences. Michael secured a preliminary injunction under the Defend Trade Secrets against the defendants for misappropriation of biomedical trade secrets.
- First American Equipment Finance v. US Bancorp. Michael represented a U.S. Bank in this lawsuit alleging trade secrets misappropriation in connection with US Bank’s hiring of two employees from First American. The case settled confidentially.
- Hewlett Packard v. Adrian Jones. Michael represented Mr. Jones in this lawsuit alleging trade secrets misappropriation following Mr. Jones’ departure from HP to Oracle. The case settled confidentially.
- Silvaco Data Systems v. Agilent Technologies, Inc. Michael was part of a team representing Agilent Technologies Inc. in a trade secrets action filed by Silvaco Data Systems. The court granted Agilent’s motion for summary judgment, which was affirmed on appeal.
- URS Corporation v. Earth Tech, Inc. Michael was part of a team representing Earth Tech Inc. and two individual defendants in a trade secrets, employee raiding and contract interference case involving over forty allegedly raided employees. The case resolved confidentially.
- Protiva Biotherapeutics, Inc. v. Sirna Therapeutics, Inc. Michael was part of a team representing Protiva Biotherapeutics, Inc. in a trade secrets case filed by Protiva for misappropriation of biotechnology trade secrets. The court granted Protiva’s motion for preliminary injunction, and the case settled thereafter confidentially.
Employee Mobility Matters:
- Netflix matters. Michael currently represents Netflix in two separate lawsuits filed by Twentieth Century Fox and Viacom, respectively, involving allegations of unlawful solicitations and hiring of employees and use of unlawful non-compete agreements.
- Adobe Systems Incorporated v. Joshua G. James. Michael represented Mr. James, the former CEO of Omniture, Inc., in this multiple lawsuit cross-border dispute arising out of purported non-compete and non-solicit agreements Mr. James’ signed with Adobe. The case resolved confidentially.
- Oracle America, Inc. et al v. International Business Machines. Michael represented Oracle in this multiple lawsuit cross-border dispute arising out of Oracle’s hiring of an executive from New York who signed a non-compete agreement with IBM. The cases resolved confidentially.
- Honeywell International Inc. v. David Stacey. Michael represented Mr. Stacey, a former Honeywell employee who joined Nest Labs, in this lawsuit alleging breach of restrictive covenants and inevitable disclosure of trade secrets. The case resolved confidentially.
Class Action Matters:
- Kilby v. CVS. Michael represents CVS in this class action alleging that CVS violated California law by failing to provide suitable seats for its cashiers.
- Ortiz v. CVS. Michael represented CVS in this class action alleging that CVS violated numerous California Labor Codes. The Court denied class certification and later struck Plaintiffs' Private Attorney General Act Claims.
- Rankin v. Longs Drug Stores. Michael represented Longs in this class action alleging that Longs’ employment application was unlawful. The court entered judgment for Longs after a bench trial, which was affirmed by the California Court of Appeal in a published decisi
