William Molinski,

named among California Lawyer magazine’s 2011 “California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year,” heads the global Commercial Litigation practice at Orrick. He represents corporations and individuals in all aspects of complex commercial litigation with a particular emphasis in the areas of trade secrets, trademarks and other intellectual property, consumer class actions and life settlements.

Mr. Molinski has represented corporate clients in a wide variety of commercial disputes. His representative cases include the following.

Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets Litigation

DISH Network. Representing DISH Network in litigation against the four major television networks in the Central District of California and Southern District of New York. The cases, which involve DISH’s ad-skipping technology, have received intense media coverage from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, CNN and Time magazine, and implicate important and far-reaching copyright issues in the entertainment industry.
MGA Entertainment. Obtained a stunning jury verdict for MGA Entertainment in the company’s battle for the rights to the Bratz doll. A jury in California federal court found that MGA, not Mattel, owns the rights to the doll, and that Mattel stole MGA’s trade secrets through a campaign of corporate espionage. Mr. Molinski spearheaded the trade secrets aspects of this case. His work included MGA’s defense of Mattel’s trade secret claims over MGA’s hiring of former Mattel employees, as well as leading the MGA team on the prosecution of MGA’s affirmative trade secret claims that resulted in an award of nearly US$310 million for MGA. Mr. Molinski discovered key documents and deposed a former Mattel employee who admitted to engaging in corporate espionage, which enabled MGA to introduce its trade secret claims in 2010.
Hoffman La-Roche. Represented pharmaceutical giant in defeating an action by Johnson & Johnson for an injunction based on alleged theft of trade secrets by departing employees.

Complex Commercial and Class Action Litigation

Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLC. Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of PwC after a 16-day jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court in a suit brought against PwC for alleged accounting malpractice. The jury deliberated just over two hours in finding that PwC was not negligent.
Rabobank, N.A. Lead counsel in securing a trial victory for Rabobank, a bank based out of the Netherlands with offices in California. Mr. Molinski tried the public policy claim—essentially a whistleblower cause of action—in a jury trial in the Central District in Los Angeles. The jury returned a complete defense verdict for Rabobank.
Equifax Information Services. Lead counsel for Equifax in a three-week jury trial involving antitrust claims. The jury returned a unanimous defense verdict for Equifax. Mr. Molinski also represented Equifax in a class action 17200 lawsuit where he obtained summary judgment for Equifax.
KBC Financial Products. Represented U.S. subsidiaries of KBC, an affiliate of KBC Bank in Belgium, in several high profile cases involving life settlement transactions. Cases included CBPC 17200 claims and consumer class action claims. Secured summary judgment for KBC in a closely watched life settlements litigation in February 2012, adding to the growing list of favorable decisions that Orrick has obtained in the life settlements area.
Mutual Credit Corporation. Obtained summary judgment in favor of MCC in precedent-setting action involving non-recourse life insurance policy loans in 2009.
Aquila Merchant Services. Represented Aquila, then one of the largest energy marketers in the United States, in a consumer class action filed by the California Attorney General involving claims of energy market manipulation. Obtained dismissal of claims on demurrer. Also, represented Aquila Merchant Services in a lawsuit in which AMS and various other energy companies were accused of manipulating the natural gas futures market on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
City of Los Angeles. Obtained dismissal of class action claims brought by all Los Angeles taxpayers for alleged unconstitutional collection of telephone tax.