Amy H. Candido

Amy Candido is Head of the Firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice. An accomplished trial lawyer, she has secured victories in numerous high-stakes, complex trade secret, patent, and other IP matters across a variety of industries, including the internet, mobile, computer hardware and software, semiconductor, networking, storage, aerospace, gaming and life sciences sectors.

Notable experience prior to joining Simpson Thacher includes:

• Secured a complete jury victory for Inhibrx Biosciences and co-founder Dr. Brendan Eckelman in a high-stakes trade secrets case involving bispecific immuno-oncologic antibody treatments for cancer, after taking on the case just six weeks before trial. The jury returned a full defense verdict, finding that the plaintiff had not proved any of its information was a protected trade secret or that Inhibrx or Dr. Eckelman misappropriated any of it, and awarding zero of the over $450 million in damages sought.
• Obtained a rare ruling in the District of Oregon for defendant Convoy, Inc., a digital freight network, against plaintiff DAT Solutions, LLC, the company’s dominant trucking-lane data provider, in a trade secret misappropriation case, imposing a pre-discovery trade secret identification requirement. After obtaining dismissal of DAT’s claims and defending against dismissal of Convoy’s antitrust counterclaims, settled the matter favorably in a confidential settlement.
• Enforced Pinterest, Inc.’s terms of service under §3 of the Federal Arbitration Act in the District of Delaware and obtained a stay of plaintiff Concept Engineering, LLC’s alleged copyright infringement and improper removal of copyright management information claims pending arbitration before the American Arbitration Association.
• Obtained a complete defense jury verdict of invalidity and non-infringement in a patent infringement lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas involving artificial intelligence software for use in internet advertising, defeating plaintiff’s claim for $128 million in damages.
• Obtained efficient dismissals for defendant Alphabet, Inc. in three Central District of California actions brought by Havensight Capital, LLC, a private equity fund, a vexatious litigant order, and obtained affirmance on appeal to the Ninth Circuit. After Havensight filed new actions in the District of Columbia and the Southern District of New York, obtained a rare nationwide vexatious litigant order upheld on appeal to the Second Circuit.
• Secured dismissal of plaintiff KetoNatural Pet Foods, Inc.’s claims against defendant Morris Animal Foundation (“MAF”) in a putative class action alleging violation of the Lanham Act and civil RICO and seeking $2 billion in damages, before moving or answering the complaint.
• Obtained an efficient, confidential settlement for defendants The Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Seer, Inc. of plaintiffs Sapienza University of Rome and Dr. Guilio Caracciolo’s claims of non-joinder of inventors, failure to pay royalties to an alleged joint inventor, unjust enrichment, breach of the implied covenant, fraud and civil RICO.
• Secured a jury verdict of $283 million for plaintiff Viasat against defendants Space Systems/Loral and Loral Space & Communications in a complex patent and breach of contract lawsuit in the Southern District of California involving high-speed broadband satellite technology.
• Obtained a complete jury verdict of invalidity and non-infringement for defendant Google in a patent case in the Eastern District of Texas concerning content-based internet advertising technology and seeking over $600 million in damages brought by plaintiff Function Media, after taking over the case just five months before trial and one month before claim construction.
• Secured a defense jury verdict of non-infringement for a major software technology company in an Eastern District of Texas trial involving software for processing the online payment for, and distribution of content from, online stores, such as apps, videos and music, in which plaintiff sought $300 million in damages.
• Represented plaintiff Waymo LLC in a high-profile trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement action in the Northern District of California related to Waymo’s LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and self-driving technology against Uber Technologies, Inc. and Ottomotto LLC.
• Successfully represented respondent HTC as trial counsel in two ITC investigations involving over 15 patents covering object-oriented operating systems, real-time processing, user interface, networking, multi-finger gestures and touch-panel sensor design technologies, resulting in the first major settlement of the “smart phone wars,” including a 10-year cross-license with HTC reporting no material financial impact on its business.
• Represented Google and YouTube in a putative class action alleging copyright infringement and improper removal of copyright management information, in which plaintiffs dismissed their claims after class certification was denied. 
• Represented Carrum Health as plaintiff in a declaratory judgment action against MDsave Shared Services for non-infringement of five patents related to online health services, resulting in a confidential agreement and dismissal of its action, after a multi-year campaign accusing Carrum of infringement and demanding significant royalties.
• Obtained summary judgment for defendant Bally Technologies, designer of slot machines and player tracking units, against plaintiff IGT in the District of Nevada, dismissing all five asserted patents based on a combination of non-infringement and invalidity, where IGT had sought damages over $350 million, and obtained affirmance on appeal to the Federal Circuit.

Amy’s trial victories have been recognized by Benchmark Litigation, The National Law Journal, The Recorder, Daily Journal and Managing IP, among others. She was recently named among Daily Journal’s “Top Trade Secrets Lawyers,” and recognized as a “Recommended” Practitioner in World IP Review’s Global and USA Trade Secrets Rankings. She has also been recognized as a “Rising Star” in Intellectual Property by Law360 and among the “Top 100 Women Litigators in California” by the Daily Journal.

In addition to her client work, Amy serves on the Steering Committee of the Sedona Conference’s Working Group on Trade Secrets, an effort by judges, academics and practitioners to develop recommendations on various aspects of trade secret law. She is also leading the Working Group’s high-profile effort to advance the practice of law by drafting standard jury instructions for use in federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) trials. Amy previously served on the drafting team for Sedona Conference’s “Commentary on Monetary Remedies,” published in July 2023. A recognized thought leader in the IP space, Amy frequently participates in industry-related speaking engagements and has authored a number of articles for the Practising Law Institute and Bloomberg Law, among other publications.

Amy received her J.D., with Honors, from the University of Chicago Law School, and her A.B. in English and Government from Dartmouth College, where she graduated cum laude and with Highest Honors in Government.