Roger G. Brooks is a partner in Cravath’s Litigation Department. His practice covers a wide range of courtroom litigation for technologically intensive companies, including disputes concerning trade secrets, standards-driven technology licensing, patents and software copyright, as well as antitrust and general corporate litigation. He also advises clients concerning the interactions between open source software and proprietary intellectual property.

Mr. Brooks is currently lead counsel for the world’s preeminent cellular technology development and licensing company, Qualcomm Inc., in defending against patent claims directed against GPS functionality in cellular phones, and in a separate action defending against antitrust claims arising out of the development of the next-generation “LTE” international cellular standard. He was lead counsel for Qualcomm in a licensing dispute against Nokia that resulted in a multibillion-dollar settlement payment to Qualcomm, and obtained dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit brought by Broadcom that sought to have many of Qualcomm’s patents declared unenforceable.

Mr. Brooks’ other recent significant intellectual property representations include:

• Served as lead counsel for Renaissance Technologies, the world’s preeminent statistical arbitrage hedge fund, in an action against former employees to protect the mathematical trade secrets underlying the client’s computerized trading strategy. A settlement was obtained in which the new employer discharged the former employees and made a multimillion dollar payment to the client.
• Represented IBM in defending against patent infringement claims relating to operating system design, computer security and CPU micro-architecture.
• Represented IBM in defending against allegations that the open source Linux operating system violated copyrights held by the SCO Group.
• Represented Schering AG (now Bayer Schering Pharma AG) as plaintiff in biotechnology patent infringement litigation relating to the recombinant production of a multiple sclerosis treatment, recovering $75 million for his client.

In both 2010 and 2011, Chambers USA recognized Mr. Brooks as one of the leading practitioners in the intellectual property arena. He was also recognized in The Legal 500 for his work in trade secrets litigation in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Mr. Brooks has additionally been recognized by Benchmark Litigation from 2009 through 2012 for his litigation work. In 2011, Mr. Brooks and his colleagues earned the Firm distinction as “Law Firm of the Year” in intellectual property litigation in U.S. News & World Report-Best Lawyers’ survey of the best law firms in the United States. The publication also ranked Cravath in the highest tier for patent litigation in New York and nationwide.

Recently, Mr. Brooks co-authored the chapter “Taking Contracts Seriously: The Meaning of the Voluntary Commitment to Licence Essential Patents on ‘Fair and Reasonable’ Terms” in Intellectual Property and Competition Law: New Frontiers, published by Oxford University Press. His article, Patent “Hold-Up,” Standards-Setting Organizations and the FTC’s Campaign Against Innovators, was published in the Fall 2011 issue of AIPLA Quarterly Journal.

Following the Cravath tradition of serving all of the mission-critical litigation needs of his clients, Mr. Brooks has also successfully represented clients on a diverse range of matters going well beyond intellectual property and licensing disputes, including:

• Mr. Brooks has represented IBM, PPG, and Qualcomm as defendants against antitrust claims and advises clients on antitrust compliance issues on an ongoing basis.
• Mr. Brooks has represented clients responding to SEC inquiries regarding trading practices.
• Mr. Brooks successfully represented handbag manufacturer Dooney & Bourke defending against trademark infringement claims brought by Louis Vuitton seeking over $100 million.
• Mr. Brooks has successfully represented clients in defending against class action securities fraud claims.

Mr. Brooks is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1984, an M.A. in history from the University of Virginia in 1987 and a J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1987, where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review. After a clerkship with the Hon. John D. Butzner, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Mr. Brooks joined Cravath in 1988. In 1992, he left Cravath to attend seminary and received an M. Div. from Regent College Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1995. He returned to Cravath in 1995 and became a partner in 1999.

Mr. Brooks may be reached by phone at 212-474-1072 or by email at rgbrooks@cravath.com.