Qualcomm defeats series of appellate writs by Apple in trade secret litigation

Client(s) Qualcomm Incorporated

Jones Day represented Qualcomm Incorporated and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. at the California Court of Appeal's Fourth District in opposing a series of three petitions for writ of mandate or prohibition brought by Apple Inc. In the first writ, Apple sought extraordinary interlocutory review challenging the San Diego Superior Court's discovery ruling allowing Qualcomm's inspection of Apple's source code in an underlying case where Qualcomm claimed that Apple misused Qualcomm trade secrets. In its second writ, Apple sought to force Qualcomm to comply with California's trade secret disclosure requirement prior to the inclusion of a trade secret misappropriation claim in its complaint. In its third writ, Apple sought extraordinary interlocutory review of the trial court's discovery ruling that Qualcomm fully complied with the requirement in Code of Civil Procedure section 2019.210 that Qualcomm describe its claimed trade secrets with "reasonable particularity." Qualcomm succeeded in securing summary denial of all three writ petitions.

Apple Inc. v. Superior Court of the State of California for the County of San Diego (Qualcomm Incorporated as a real party in interest), Nos. D073839, D074749, D075598 (Cal. Ct. App.)