Sarah Mullins
Senior Associate
旧金山
Sarah helps technology companies resolve high-stakes intellectual property and commercial disputes efficiently, from early strategy through trial. She represents clients in patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright litigation, as well as complex commercial disputes, in federal and state courts.
Sarah is a senior associate in the firm's Intellectual Property group. Clients value Sarah's trial experience and her practical, business-minded approach. She has served on two patent trial teams that obtained complete or partial defense verdicts and examined key witnesses during each trial. Sarah is known for keeping complex, high-volume cases organized and focused on the issues that matter most to a client's business.
Before law school, Sarah worked for four years in the in-house legal departments of major technology companies. That experience shapes how she practices. She understands the pressures in-house teams face and the importance of clear, actionable communication about litigation risk and cost. Sarah strives to be the outside counsel she wanted when she was in-house and to take as much burden off her clients as possible.
Before joining Orrick, Sarah clerked for Justice Daniel E. Winfree of the Alaska Supreme Court.
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The following is a sample of Sarah's notable cases.
Patent Litigation
- IGT v. Zynga (W.D. Tex.). Defended Zynga against patent infringement claims targeting its casino slot games, including Game of Thrones and Hit it Rich. After the team narrowed the case from six patents before trial, the jury found that Zynga did not infringe the remaining patent and that the patent was invalid as obvious.
- IBM v. Zynga (D. Del.). Defended Zynga and its subsidiary Chartboost against IBM's assertion of four patents against dozens of Zynga games, Zynga's website, and Chartboost's ad campaign platform. Orrick significantly narrowed the case before trial, and the jury found that most of the accused games did not infringe.
- Cambridge Mobile Telematics v. Zendrive (D. Del.). Defended Zendrive against a competitor's assertion of five patents. Orrick invalidated two of the patents on a targeted Section 101 motion, and the case settled soon after.
- Global semiconductor manufacturing company (E.D. Tex., D. Del.). Represents the company in several patent infringement cases brought by competitors, winning multiple venue challenges and securing transfers to proper venues.
- Global technology company (E.D. Tex.). Defended the company in patent infringement litigation involving videoconferencing technology, securing key claim construction wins that significantly narrowed the case.
Trademark
- A Global Leader in Aircraft Investments v. Babcock & Brown LLC et al (D. Conn.). Sarah represents a global leader in aircraft investments in a trademark infringement litigation against four defendants who started using Babcock & Brown's trademark.
Commercial Litigation and Class Actions
- Regents of the University of California v. Linea Solutions LLC et. al. (Alameda County Superior). Sarah represents UC in a breach of contract and fraud case filed against two contractors hired to implement and oversee a pension administration system software project.
- Santa Clara University (N.D. Cal.) and University of Washington (King County Superior). Defended both universities in pandemic-era class actions seeking tuition and fee refunds, securing early dismissals or favorable settlements.
- PayPal Honey litigation (N.D. Cal.). Represents PayPal in a series of consumer class actions targeting its Honey browser extension, part of a wave of suits covered by The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, TechCrunch, Business Insider, USA Today, Adweek and The Recorder. Was part of the team that secured an initial dismissal of a consolidated class action brought by influencer plaintiffs alleging that affiliate commissions were diverted from them — a win that was also highlighted in American Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week column and covered by The Recorder.
