Brian Dunne
Brian Dunne is a trial lawyer specializing in complex, cutting-edge cases on behalf of plaintiffs. At Pierce Bainbridge, Brian represents individuals, companies, and nationwide classes in a wide variety of large and high-profile matters. Brian is lead counsel on behalf of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in several matters; is co-lead counsel in multiple complex class actions, including a RICO case against Southwest and Boeing pending in the Eastern District of Texas; and continues to seek fair compensation for independent inventors and patentholders through intellectual property litigation covering a broad range of technologies.
Prior to joining Pierce Bainbridge, Brian was a cofounder of a litigation boutique that recouped tens of millions of dollars for clients, and appeared on Law360’s Top 5 list of plaintiff-side patent firms for the years 2015 and 2016. Brian has been lead counsel in more than five dozen patent cases over the course of a decade, and has unique expertise in maximizing the value of multi-patent portfolios by developing and executing nationwide litigation and licensing strategies.
Throughout his career, Brian has been praised for his ability to distill complicated, cutting-edge concepts into clear, accessible arguments—a skill that he uses as lead counsel for complex intellectual property, antitrust, RICO, and Constitutional litigation on behalf of plaintiffs.
Brian has a physics degree from Stanford University, graduated in the top five percent of his class at the University of Chicago Law School (where he was a member of the University of Chicago Law Review), and clerked for federal (Ninth Circuit) and State (New York Court of Appeals) appellate judges.
Brian is an accomplished legal writer and oral advocate, and is able to clearly and effectively articulate arguments in any area of the law—and in any tribunal. While at the University of Chicago Law School, Brian won the Joseph Henry Beale Prize for excellence in legal writing; was awarded a John M. Olin Fellowship in Law, Economics, and Policy; and wrote published articles on federal court standing and the competitive effects of API copyrightability. Over the course of his career, Brian has briefed and/or argued cases in California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, Washington, Indiana, Delaware, the International Trade Commission, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits.
PRACTICE AREAS
Intellectual Property Litigation and Licensing
Patent Litigation
Copyright Litigation
Antitrust
Class Actions
Appeals
Constitutional Litigation
Election Law
NOTABLE REPRESENTATIONS
Lead counsel for Sharidan Stiles, the inventor of the Stiles Razor, in patent and antitrust litigation against Walmart and its major suppliers.
Lead counsel for Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and her campaign in First Amendment and defamation matters.
Co-lead counsel for a putative class of airline ticket purchasers against Southwest Airlines and Boeing regarding the MAX 8.
Co-lead counsel for Alex and Ani LLC in a breach of contract and discriminatory lending matter against Bank of America.
Represented a secure computing and digital rights management company in licensing and litigation of its extensive, pioneering patent portfolio.
Represented St. Luke Technologies, the owner of groundbreaking computer security and secure cloud computing patents, in a highly-successful litigation campaign in the Eastern District of Texas.
Represented Dunti Networking Technologies, the inventor of novel ring and multi-layer networking techniques, in litigation and licensing in the Eastern District of Texas.
Represented a class of SoulCycle customers challenging the company’s illegal practice of selling fast-expiring vouchers; case settled for over $9 million.
Represented a class of LinkedIn customers challenging the site’s “add connections” feature; case settled for over $13 million.
NOTABLE CLIENTS
St. Luke Technologies
Intertrust Technologies Corporation
Dunti Networking Technologies
Virtual Gaming Technologies
Fellowship Filtering Technologies
Freight Tracking Technologies
EDUCATION
J.D., University of Chicago Law School
B.S., Stanford University
PREVIOUS ASSOCIATIONS
Partner
Olavi Dunne LLP
Associate
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
Law Clerk
Hon. Jay S. Bybee, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Law Clerk
Hon. Susan P. Read, New York State Court of Appeals
ADMISSIONS
State Bar of California
State Bar of New York
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Served on Law360’s “Voice of the Bar – IP Experts” panel, opining on important developments in intellectual property law