Patent Infringement and Trade Secret Misappropriation Claims in Venture Capital

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After deposition, the parties agreed to settle the claims without any exchange of monetary consideration.

Retained by Crowell & Moring, by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, and by Keker, Van Nest & Peters

Defense counsel for Carta Inc. and several venture capital investors retained Cornerstone Research to support Ilya Strebulaev of Stanford University. Professor Strebulaev analyzed the issues related to the plaintiff’s allegations of patent infringement and theft of trade secrets.

The plaintiff, AllRounds Inc., claimed that Carta and several venture capital entities conspired to use its trade secrets in the development of Carta’s software. The plaintiff also claimed that Carta infringed its patent rights.

Professor Strebulaev analyzed whether there were any new concepts in AllRounds’ patents and claimed trade secrets.

Professor Strebulaev analyzed hundreds of documents related to the plaintiff’s patents and claimed trade secrets. He opined that they did not include any new concepts related to venture capital or financial economics at the time of the claims. His analysis was supported by an extensive search of academic and industry publications.

Professor Strebulaev also opined on the structure of the VC market and on the relationship between VC financing and the likelihood of company success.

After Professor Strebulaev’s expert reports and deposition, the parties agreed to settle AllRounds’ claims without any exchange of monetary consideration.


For more information, contact Eric Bickford or Sasha Aganin. Other team members involved in this matter include Manuel Vasconcelos and Jerry Lin.


Case Expert

Ilya A. Strebulaev

The David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity and Professor of Finance,
Stanford Graduate School of Business