Kenneth R. O'Rourke
Partner
Ken O'Rourke heads up O'Melveny's Los Angeles litigation practice. He represents established and emerging companies in large, complex civil litigation including antitrust cases (class actions, monopolization, international cartels, unfair competition), intellectual property lawsuits (patents, trade secrets, abuse of standard setting), and other business controversies. He is a member of both the Antitrust & Competition Practice and the Intellectual Property & Technology Practice within the Litigation Department. Ken's litigation practice with O'Melveny spans 25 years.
Illustrative Professional Experience
Antitrust / Class Actions
Price fixing
- Lead counsel defending against numerous direct and indirect purchaser class actions alleging illegal price fixing and/or coordinated supply restraints under federal and state antitrust and unfair competition laws
- Lead counsel defending against lawsuits filed by dozens of State Attorneys General on behalf of state and local governments and state citizens (parens patriae) asserting federal and state law claims as direct and indirect purchasers of allegedly price fixed products
- Lead counsel defending against large individual antitrust lawsuits brought by settlement class "opt outs" who directly and/or indirectly purchased billions of dollars of allegedly price fixed or supply restrained products
- Briefed, argued for defense group and twice won dismissal of indirect purchasers’ California Cartwright Act and 13 other state law antitrust claims on the basis of lack of antitrust standing. In re Dynamic Random Access Memory Antitrust Litigation, 516 F. Supp. 2d 1072 (N.D. Cal. 2007) (DRAM I); 536 F. Supp. 2d 1129 (N.D. Cal. 2008) (DRAM II)
Monopolization / Unfair Competition
- Trial counsel for California electronics firm in federal court jury trials asserting Walker Process / patent misuse and attempted monopolization claims against a dominant international electronics component manufacturer
- Counsel for semiconductor manufacturer pursuing monopolization and unfair competition claims in federal court against a semiconductor technology licensing firm charged with abusing a computer industry standard setting process, with related proceedings in the International Trade Commission, Federal Trade Commission, and the European Commission
- Counsel for a technology company accused in a series of class actions of violating California state unfair competition laws in connection with the company’s traffic light photo enforcement services provided to multiple cities; trial court judgment in favor of our client affirmed by court of appeal (further review pending)
- Counsel for an international Big 6 accounting firm charged with RICO and unfair competition in class actions brought by putative classes of all depositors worldwide of a failed international financial institution; federal court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims upheld on appeal
Intellectual Property
- Lead trial counsel in federal court jury trial in which our client, the inventor of a computer-controlled artificial respirator, obtained a multimillion-dollar trial court award against a medical device manufacturer for patent infringement and willful patent infringement
- Lead counsel representing a leading consumer electronics firm in disputes over DVD copyright protection technology, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Internet law. Also represented the company as lead counsel in multiple business disputes in state and federal courts and in connection with foreign adversarial proceedings
- Lead counsel for an aircraft cargo systems manufacturer in successfully pursuing patent infringement claims against an aircraft parts supplier
- Trial counsel in trade secret and contract case for a developer of interactive television programming guides and computer software in which our client obtained a multimillion-dollar arbitration award
- Counsel for a leading computer manufacturer defending against business and technology claims brought by a start-up microprocessor developer for alleged breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and misrepresentation
- Counsel in various cases for a large computer/technology OEM defending against patent infringement claims relating to encryption technology for personal computers and to disk drive technologies
- Trial counsel for a leading manufacturer of MOSFETs and other semiconductors in a federal court bench trial in connection with a complex patent licensing action
Other
- Lead trial counsel representing an insurance company prevailing in a series of state and federal court proceedings and five-week arbitration involving the ownership and lease of a Los Angeles high-rise office building
- Lead trial counsel in multiple jury and bench trials serving as Deputy City Prosecutor prosecuting criminal defendants
- Trial Advocacy Instructor, National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA)
- Argued appeals before the U.S. Ninth Circuit and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, and various California state appellate courts
Professional Activities
Admitted to Practice, U.S. District Court, Central, Northern, Southern, and Eastern Districts of California; U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth and Federal Circuits; U.S. Supreme Court
Vice Chair - Programs (incoming), and
Member, Executive Committee of the California State Bar Antitrust Section
Chair, Cambridge Antitrust Litigation Forum Steering Committee
Co-Chair (former), Trade Secrets Subcommittee of the American Bar Association (ABA) Litigation Section’s Intellectual Property Committee
Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA); ABA Antitrust & Intellectual Property Law Sections; Los Angeles County Bar Association; Irish American Bar Association
Co-Author (selected publications, 2009-2010), "The FTAIA In State Court - A Defense Perspective,"
Competition Law 360 (February 24, 2010); "
Ashcroft v. Iqbal: The Sleeper 2009 Supreme Court Decision For Patent Litigators?,"
Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, Vol. 21, No. 12 (December 2009); "Indirect Purchaser Standing in Federal Courts: Take 2,"
Competition Law 360 (October 12, 2009); "California Intellectual Property Law Developments,"
California Litigation Review (October 2009)
Guest Lecturer, "International Cartel Enforcement: Recent Trends & Practical Effects," Loyola Law School, International Antitrust Course (March 2010)
Speaker (selected engagements, 2009-2010), “The Potential Impact of
Dukes v. Walmart on Class Certification in Antitrust and UCL Cases in the Ninth Circuit,” California State Bar Antitrust & Unfair Competition Section Brown Bag Seminar (July 22, 2010); “Antitrust Laws & Lessons from Standard Setting Organizations,” International Seminar on Anti-Monopoly Issues in the Industry of New and High Technology, China’s Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT) (Beijing, PRC); “When Parallel Paths Collide: The Intersection of Criminal Antitrust Enforcement and Civil Litigation -Trends, Tactics and Tensions,” Los Angeles County Bar Association, Antitrust Section (Los Angeles); "Cross-Border Certification of Antitrust Class Actions in the U.S. and Canada," Canada - U.S. Cross-Border Litigation Forum, Cambridge International Forums (Toronto, Canada); "Dealing with the Rising Tide of Criminal Enforcement," Antitrust 2010: New Administrations, New Cases & New Economic Realities in Global Markets, Cornerstone Research Conference (Los Angeles); "International Antitrust Litigation: Civil & Criminal Developments," 19th Annual Golden State Antitrust & Unfair Competition Law Institute, California State Bar, Antitrust & Unfair Competition Law Section (San Francisco)