Amy H. Candido

Amy Candido is Head of the Firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice. One of the nation’s top IP trial lawyers, she has secured victories in numerous high-stakes, high-profile trade secret, patent, and other IP matters over nearly three decades, representing clients in the internet, software and hardware, semiconductor, satellite, gaming and life sciences sectors. She also advises private equity firms and corporations of all sizes on strategies to protect, enforce and maximize the value of their IP portfolios.

Notable experience 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 preliminary injunction in the Northern District of Illinois for a software systems company barring a competitor’s use of fraudulently obtained trade secrets and sale of related products.
• Secured a nationwide, one-year preliminary injunction for Frontdoor barring its former employee from working for a competitor in breach of his non-compete agreement.
• Obtained a rare ruling in the District of Oregon for defendant Convoy, Inc., a digital freight network, imposing a pre-discovery trade secret identification requirement on plaintiff DAT Solutions, LLC, Convoy’s dominant trucking-lane data provider, in a trade secret misappropriation case. After obtaining dismissal of DAT’s claims and defending against dismissal of Convoy’s antitrust counterclaims, resolved the matter through a favorable confidential settlement.*
• Enforced Pinterest, Inc.’s terms of service under Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act in the District of Delaware, obtaining a stay, pending arbitration before the American Arbitration Association, of plaintiff Concept Engineering, LLC’s claims for copyright infringement and improper removal of copyright management information.*
• 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 dismissals for defendant Alphabet, Inc. of three Central District of California actions brought by Havensight Capital, LLC, a private equity fund, along with a vexatious litigant order, and secured 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 that was 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 violations of the Lanham Act and civil RICO and seeking $2 billion in damages, before MAF was required to move against or answer the complaint.*
• Obtained a favorable confidential settlement for defendants The Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Seer, Inc. resolving claims by plaintiffs Sapienza University of Rome and Dr. Giulio Caracciolo for 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 an Eastern District of Texas patent case brought by plaintiff Function Media concerning content-based internet advertising technology, in which plaintiff sought over $600 million in damages, 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 “smartphone 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.*

*Includes experience prior to joining Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

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 a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation and one of World IP Review’s “Influential Women in Intellectual Property.” She was also named one of Daily Journal’s “Top Intellectual Property Lawyers” and “Top Trade Secrets Lawyers,” and World IP Review’s “Highly Recommended” Global and USA Trade Secrets Lawyers. Earlier in her career, she was named a “Rising Star” in Intellectual Property by Law360, and one of the “Top Women Lawyers” by Daily Journal.

Beyond her client work, Amy serves on the Steering Committee of The Sedona Conference’s Working Group on Trade Secrets and led the Working Group’s high-profile effort to advance the practice of law by drafting the first set of standard jury instructions for use in federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) trials, culminating in the publication of The Sedona Conference’s “Defend Trade Secrets Act Model Jury Instructions” in May 2026—a significant milestone in shaping the future of trade secret litigation. Amy was previously a Contributing Editor of The Sedona Conference’s “Commentary on Monetary Remedies,” published in July 2023. An IP thought leader, she frequently speaks at conferences and authors articles for leading industry 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.