Eduardo Santacana is a partner in the Litigation Department of the San Francisco office. On behalf of his clients, he uses his diverse experience and advocacy skills to develop winning strategies in complex cases litigated in federal and state courts, in arbitration, and before immigration judges. He represents a broad range of clients, including public entities, technology companies, class action defendants, and pro bono clients.
- Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Arista Networks, Inc.: Defended Arista Networks in this groundbreaking case which raised the important question of whether and to what extent functional computer commands merit copyright protection. Cisco accused Arista, run by a former Cisco vice president, of copyright infringement for the use of more than 500 commands used to configure network switches. Cisco also accused Arista of infringing two patents, one of which it dismissed before trial. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a verdict in Arista’s favor on both the copyright and patent claims.
- Golden State Warriors, Inc. v. Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority: Represented the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority in this arbitration centering on the Golden State Warriors’ decision to leave the Oracle Arena without paying the remainder of the debt service owed under the lease. Our trial team secured a complete victory from the Arbitrator, ensuring the approximately $50 million in remaining debt will be paid by the Warriors.
- Downey v. Public Storage and Perez v. Public Storage: Represented the United States’ largest self-storage operator, Public Storage, in two class actions filed in California alleging violations of Business & Professions Code Section 17200 and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Obtained a complete victory in the trial court and again on appeal in Downey v. Public Storage, a consumer fraud class action. Defeated class certification in the Downey case in May 2018 and won a complete defense verdict in the Perez case at trial—one of only a handful of class action trials recently conducted in California.
- Riot Games, Inc. v. Shanghai Moonton Technology Co. Ltd.: Represented Moonton, a Chinese video game developer, in a lawsuit filed by Riot Games asserting claims of copyright and trademark infringement relating to Riot’s League of Legends video game. A motion to dismiss based on the doctrine of forum non conveniens, argued that Riot should be required to pursue its claims in China because its lawsuit was intertwined with and inconsistent with a pending Chinese lawsuit filed by Riot’s parent company, Tencent. The Court granted the motion and dismissed the lawsuit.
- Ethicon v. Intuitive Surgical: Defended Intuitive Surgical against patent infringement allegations targeting Ethicon’s surgical staplers and endocutters used with Intuitive’s Da Vinci robotic surgical systems.
- LLE One LLC v. Facebook, Inc.: Defended Facebook against a putative class action alleging the company misled advertisers with erroneous advertiser metrics, and asserting claims for violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law, breach of contract, and common law fraud.
- Glaukos v. Ivantis: Represented Ivantis, Inc., the maker of a revolutionary eye stent designed to treat glaucoma, in a case brought by competitor Glaukos Corporation alleging infringement of two of Glaukos’s patents. The case is pending in the Central District of California.
* These matters were handled prior to joining Willkie.