Kalpana Srinivasan

Practice Areas

Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Entertainment, Media & Gaming, Class Actions

Career

Kalpana Srinivasan tries cutting-edge cases at the intersection of technology and competition. She serves as Susman Godfrey’s managing partner and a member of its executive committee, leading the 150-lawyer litigation firm in its handling of high-profile matters across the nation.

A fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, Ms. Srinivasan has been repeatedly recognized as one of the leading 500 lawyers in America by Lawdragon and as an Intellectual Property MVP by Law360. The National Law Journal has recognized her as both a Winning Litigator and an Intellectual Property Trailblazer. Ms. Srinivasan also been named a Power Lawyer by The Hollywood Reporter and was featured in Lawdragon’s Plaintiff Issue.

Ms. Srinivasan and her co-counsel received a California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year award for their work in Flo & Eddie v. SiriusXM, a copyright class action involving pre-1972 sound recordings. Ms. Srinivasan argued the appeal of the underlying issue to the 9th Circuit in 2021.

In California, Ms. Srinivasan has been recognized as one of the state’s Top 100 Lawyers and repeatedly as one of its Top IP Lawyers and Top Women Lawyers by the Daily Journal. The Recorder has included her among the Women Leaders in Tech Law and named her a California Trailblazer.

The National Law Journal has named Ms. Srinivasan an Elite Woman of the Plaintiff’s Bar and one of the nation’s 75 Outstanding Lawyers.

Ms. Srinivasan has worked tirelessly toward advancement of diverse and female lawyers in the profession. She is the recipient of the Cornerstone Award from the South Asian Bar Association of North America and the Gender Diversity Lawyer of the Year from Chambers for her efforts.

Ms. Srinivasan currently serves on Senator Alex Padilla’s Judicial Evaluation Commission for the Central District of California and previously served on the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission of the California State Bar. Ms. Srinivasan previously acted as VP for the Western Justice Center and held leadership roles on the EC of the South Asian Bar Association. She has also taught a course on Class Actions at UCLA Law.

Ms. Srinivasan previously reported for The Associated Press in Washington D.C., covering national media and telecommunications policy.

Professional Memberships

Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, invitation only legal association that limits Fellowship to 500 active trial lawyers from the United States. Trial lawyers become Fellows only after an extremely rigorous vetting process, which includes both peer and judicial review.

Member, Senator Alex Padilla’s Judicial Evaluation Commission for the Central District of California

Former Commissioner, Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission of the California State Bar, which vets the governor’s potential judicial candidates

Former Vice-President, Western Justice Center, an organization of judges, lawyers and civic leaders that promote conflict resolution skills among youth, educators, schools, and community partners

Former Board Member, California ChangeLawyers, which aims to promote access to justice for underrepresented communities in California

Executive Board Member, South Asian Bar Association of North America and of Southern California

Fellow, American Bar Foundation

Member, Litigation Counsel of America

Work Highlights

Intellectual Property

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (E.D. Tex.) Lead counsel for Caltech in pursuing its seminal Wifi patents for infringement against Samsung’s mobile and other devices. Caltech previously successfully asserted the patents against Apple and the liability finding was affirmed on appeal.

Meta Platforms Inc. v. Octopus and Social Data Trading Ltd. (N.D. Cal.) Lead counsel for Meta in its lawsuits against companies illicitly scraping data from its platforms for sale.

Atlas Global Technologies v. Samsung (E.D. Tex.; W.D. Tex.) Prosecuted claims of patent infringement against Samsung on behalf of Atlas Global Technologies on standard essential patents used for new generation Wi-Fi devices. A confidential settlement for Atlas was secured in late 2021 shortly after the complaint was filed.

Pascal Metrics v. Health Catalyst (Delaware Superior Ct.) Representing healthcare analytics company, Pascal Metrics, in its case against Health Catalyst for theft of its algorithmic triggers to identify adverse health events for hospital patients. The case is set for trial in summer of 2023.

WSOU/Brazos v. Cisco (W.D. Tex.) Asserting WSOU/Brazos networking patents against Cisco. The case is set for trial in 2023.

Paltalk v. Cisco (W.D. Tex.) Representing video chat service Paltalk in its infringement case against Cisco’s Webex offerings. The case is set for trial in 2023.

Arendi SARL v. Apple, Google (Fed. Circ.) Representing Arendi in multiple cases alleging its patented information handling and linking technology is being infringed. A pending case against Apple was resolved during the parties’ summary judgment hearing with Apple taking a license to the patents for a confidential sum. A case against Google is set for trial in 2023.

Sol IP v. AT&T, Sprint, & Verizon (E.D. Tex.) Served as co-lead counsel to Sol IP in actions asserting key LTE and Wifi patents against the major telecommunications carriers, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon. The case resolved against all defendants the month before trial.

Finjan v. Bitdefender (N.D. Cal.) Defended cyber-security provider Bitdefender against claims of patent infringement by Finjan. The case resolved shortly before trial.

Jawbone v. Fitbit (International Trade Commission, N.D. Cal.) Served as co-lead counsel for Jawbone in various patent infringement and trade secret cases in the ITC and district courts involving wearable devices against competitor Fitbit. The cases resolved in a global confidential settlement.

GPNE v. Apple (N.D. Cal.) Represented telecommunications company, GPNE, in its patent infringement case against Apple’s iPhones and iPads. A jury found GPNE’s patents valid but not infringed. Ms. Srinivasan delivered opening arguments.

MicroUnity v. Apple (E.D. Tex.) Represented MicroUnity Systems Engineering, Inc., one of the leading innovators in the microprocessor industry, in its patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, Samsung and major players in the smartphone and tablet industry. The claims arose from infringement of patents covering “mediaprocessor” technology. The case settled with the last of the defendants taking licenses just shortly before trial.

Entertainment, Media, & Gaming

WSOU Investments, LLC d/b/a Brazos Licensing and Development v. Microsoft (W.D. Tex.) Represented WSOU/Brazos in asserting patents formerly owned by Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft, including as to Microsoft’s Xbox, Hololens and Skype offerings. Microsoft settled shortly before three trials were set to commence.

Universal Cable Productions LLC et al. v. Atlantic Specialty Insurance Co. (C.D. Cal.) Served as lead trial counsel for NBC Universal subsidiary, UCP, in its dispute with insurance carrier, Atlantic, over the cost to relocate filming the TV miniseries “Dig” out of Jerusalem due to bombing by Hamas. UCP received a full win on liability before the court. The case settled the day before Ms. Srinivasan was set to give opening arguments on a trial for bad faith and damages.

Intellectual Pixels Limited v. Sony Interactive Entertainment (C.D. Cal.) Serving as lead counsel representing Intellectual Pixels Limited (IPL) in a patent infringement action against Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) related to IPL’s video game streaming patents.

ZiiLabs v. Samsung (E.D. Tex.) Represented ZiiLabs, a subsidiary of the Singapore-based media company Creative Technologies Ltd. Ziilabs brought claims for patent infringement of its patents related to graphics processing technology developed originally by 3DLabs. The case settled on the eve of trial after Apple had taken a license.

PalTalk v. Sony and Activision (E.D. Tex.) Represented PalTalk Holdings, Inc., the nation’s premiere Internet video chat community, in its patent infringement lawsuit against Sony’s World of Warcraft, Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty and other video game offerings. The case settled before trial after PalTalk received a favorable Markman ruling.

PalTalk v. Microsoft (E.D. Tex.) Prosecuted PalTalk’s patent claims against Microsoft Corporation for its Xbox video game offerings, culminating in a 2009 jury trial in the Eastern District of Texas. The parties settled on the fourth day of trial, following Ms. Srinivasan’s cross-examination of Microsoft’s first witness.

Class Actions

Flo & Eddie v. Sirius XM/Pandora (C.D. Cal.) Serve as co-lead counsel representing Flo & Eddie (the founding members of 60’s music group, The Turtles) along with a class of owners of pre-1972 sound recordings for copyright violations by music provider Sirius XM. Flo & Eddie settled with Sirius XM.

Melissa Ferrick et al v. Spotify USA Inc. et al (S.D.N.Y.) Secured a deal worth over $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with music streaming service, Spotify, brought on behalf of music copyright owners.

Johnston v. Rawlings (Kentucky State Ct.) Won a defense-side jury verdict on behalf of The Rawlings Company in a certified class action challenging the company’s classification of its employees. During the three-week jury trial, Ms. Srinivasan conducted the examination of company executives and expert witnesses and cross-examined a class representative. The jury verdict was featured in the American Lawyer.

In re Telescopes (N.D. Cal.) Serving as interim co-lead counsel representing a putative class of indirect purchasers of amateur telescopes impacted by a conspiracy to fix prices and allocate markets for telescopes sold to consumers in the United States.

Experience

Judicial Law Clerk, Judge Raymond C. Fisher, Ninth Circuit.

Education

Awards