Jodie Cheng

Jodie is an intellectual property litigator focusing on complex disputes relating to patents, technical trade secrets, and copyrights.  Jodie has served as trial counsel in over a dozen trials within the past eight years; conducted direct and cross examinations of witnesses, including technical and damages experts, and expert voir dire; argued a variety of motions, including Section 101, pre-trial and trial evidentiary motions, and discovery motions; taken and defended numerous depositions; and, when trial was not the right outcome, negotiated favorable settlements for her clients.

As a trial attorney, Jodie has served as trial counsel across a variety of technologies, including encryption and secure communications, cybersecurity, semiconductor fabrication, multilayer network and Ethernet systems, cellular baseband, GPUs, implantable medical devices, biologics, surgical systems, and mechanical ventilation systems.  

Jodie also has significant experience with patent disputes in Section 337 investigations before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)—from Institution to Initial Determination, Commission Review through Enforcement Proceeding, and affirming victories at ITC before the Federal Circuit.

Recently, Jodie successfully defended Verkada, Inc. against allegations that its enterprise security systems and computer vision software infringe patents asserted by Motorola Solutions, Inc. at the ITC.  Jodie led the defense relating to encrypted communications and cryptographic methods; and challenged Motorola’s allegations of infringement, validity, and technical domestic industry.  Motorola had accused foundational technology in 13+ separate product features across 3 different product designs.  At trial, Jodie was praised for her cross examinations of Motorola’s expert, an experienced witness who had authored over 300 publications in advanced cryptography.  Jodie also conducted the direct examinations of Verkada’s non-infringement expert, as well as the examinations of Verkada’s co-founder.  The ALJ determined that none of Verkada’s products infringe Motorola’s encryption patent—a decision that the Commission declined to review.

Jodie also recently served as counsel for medical technology company, Becton Dickinson, in a case against competitor AngioDynamics relating to implantable ports for oncological applications.  Becton Dickinson had been represented by another law firm when the court granted Judgment as a Matter of Law (JMOL) against Becton Dickinson mid-trial, determining that no reasonable jury could find in favor Becton Dickinson.  The court’s decision was reversed by the Federal Circuit, which sent the case back to the district court for a new trial.  Becton Dickinson turned to Quinn Emanuel to represent it in the new trial and Jodie served as part of the core trial team.  Jodie delivered arguments on challenging evidentiary issues throughout the new trial, as well as conducting witness examination.  This time, with the Quinn Emanuel trial team, the jury took only a few hours to return a complete victory for Becton Dickinson, finding that AngioDynamics willfully and maliciously infringed each and every one of Becton Dickinson’s asserted patents.

Jodie tried one of the first trade secret disputes brought solely under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), on behalf of leading cybersecurity company, Proofpoint, Inc. and its subsidiary, Cloudmark LLC.  The dispute involved misappropriation of trade secrets and infringement of copyrights by Vade Secure and its Chief Technical Officer, Olivier Lemarie, who had taken trade secrets and confidential source code with him after he left Cloudmark.  Jodie conducted direct and cross examinations of several fact and expert witnesses, including in-trial voir dire of Vade Secure’s expert witness.  Following a four-week trial, the jury returned a verdict in Proofpoint and Cloudmark’s favor, finding that Vade Secure had willfully and maliciously misappropriated 15 different trade secrets and infringed the asserted copyrights.  The jury awarded approximately $14M in compensatory damages.  These results earned the trial team accolades from legal industry organizations, including The American Lawyer.

Jodie also served as trial counsel for Qualcomm against Apple in two separate ITC investigations that resulted in findings that Apple had infringed Qualcomm’s patents.  In a separate California case, Jodie drove technical analysis and uncovered facts leading to the court granting Qualcomm’s motion to add claims that Apple had misappropriated over 30 of Qualcomm’s technical trade secrets and an expected $5 billion in damages.  These results helped drive the successful settlement of the parties’ global dispute, resulting in billions of dollars of chip sales and licensing revenues for Qualcomm.

Before joining Quinn Emanuel in September 2021, Jodie served as trial counsel on several cases on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants; and represented dozens of clients, from multiple Fortune 25 companies to individual inventors and small businesses.  She tried her first jury trial, including conducting cross examinations of seasoned expert witnesses, as a second-year associate and has continued to deliver victories for her clients today.

Jodie also has experience examining patent applications relating to business cryptography, e-commerce, and business methods, at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO).