William Cory Spence
Professional Profile
Cory Spence is a partner in Kirkland & Ellis' intellectual property group. His practice includes all areas of intellectual property, with an emphasis on multi-jurisdiction and complex patent and trade secret counseling, litigation, and licensing.
Since joining the firm in 2002, Mr. Spence has counseled clients on intellectual property issues during all phases of product design, development, and commercialization. He currently represents clients in multi-jurisdiction litigation involving world-wide enforcement of intellectual property rights. He focuses on complex litigation involving patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, and unfair competition claims.
In 1996, prior to joining Kirkland & Ellis, Mr. Spence received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering and a B.S. degree in Physics (in Medicine) from the University of Notre Dame. He later served as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, after which he transitioned to a career in the chemical industry.
In 2005, Mr. Spence participated in the Kirkland & Ellis International Attorney Exchange Program with the Japanese law firm of Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu in Tokyo, Japan. While in Japan, Mr. Spence worked on a wide array of transactional, litigation, and counseling matters involving emerging and complex technologies. In 2007/2008, Mr. Spence was selected to participate in a two-year leadership program managed by the United States - Japan Foundation. He remains an active Fellow of the program.
Mr. Spence was recently named a 2010 "Illinois Rising Star," by Super Lawyers magazine, a publication of Key Professional Media, Inc. He also received this distinction in 2009 and 2008. Since 2008, Mr. Spence has maintained a BV® Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating, the maximum rating that a lawyer can achieve after admission to the bar for five to nine years.
Mr. Spence remains active in civic and charitable organizations. He serves as board member of the Ada S. McKinley Foundation since 2007 and formerly served as a board member of the Lake Michigan Federation (currently, "Alliance for the Great Lakes"). He also provides volunteer legal services to the Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic. Prior to joining Kirkland & Ellis, Mr. Spence completed a fellowship with the Public Interest Law Initiative ("PILI"). He remains a Fellow of the PILI program.
Representative Matters
Current Representations
Eastman Chemical Company v. AlphaPet, Inc., et al. (2009-Present)
Trade secret, breach of contract, and patent litigation concerning U.S. Patent Nos. 6,906,164 (entitled "Polyester Process Using a Pipe Reactor"), 7,358,322 (entitled "High IV Melt Phase Polyester Polymer Catalyzed with Antimony Containing Compounds"), and 7,459, 113 (entitled "Process of Making a Container from Polyester Polymer Particles Having a Small Surface to Center Intrinsic-Viscosity Gradient").
Reshare Commerce, LLC v. MWRC Internet Sales, LLC, et al. (2009-Present)
Patent litigation concerning U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,641 (entitled "Computer Facilitated Product Selling System").
SolarAegis, LLC(2009-Present)
Intellectual property counseling and licensing involving proprietary chemical formulations.
Magna Donnelly Corp. v. Guardian Industries Corp., et al. (2006-Present)
Trade secret, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, civil conspiracy, tortious interference with contractual relationships, and tortious interference with business and economic relationships litigation involving polyurethane chemistry and the manufacture of glass assemblies for the automotive industry.
Donnelly Corporation v. Guardian Industries Corp., et al. (2006-Present)
Complex patent litigation and counseling concerning U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,551,197, 5,704,173, 5,853,895, 5,966,874, 6,068,719, 6,128,860, 6,298,606, 6,319,344, and 6,871,450 and involving polyurethane chemistry and glass assembly manufacturing processes in the automotive industry.
Past Representations
Chevron Philips Chemical Company LP v. INEOS Group Ltd., et al. (2009)
Trade secret, breach of contract, and related unfair competition litigation and counseling related to high density polyethylene manufacture.
Research in Motion, Ltd., Research in Motion Corporation (2009)
Multi-jurisdiction patent litigation and counseling involving mobile communications technology.
Borden et al. v. AMF Bowling Worldwide, Inc. et al. (2007-2008)
Patent litigation and counseling concerning U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,138 (entitled "Method and apparatus for bowling in minimal ambient light").
Nirvana Technology, Inc. (2007)
Intellectual property counseling and licensing negotiations involving online reservation networks.
GolfSwitch, Inc. v. TeeConnect, LLC (2006-2007)
Patent litigation and counseling concerning U.S. Pat. No. 7,016,857 (entitled "Method and device implementing a seamless user/service reservation network").
TeleCheck International, Inc. v. LML Payment Systems, Inc., et al. (2006-2007)
Patent litigation and counseling concerning U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,679,938 (entitled "Methods and systems for interactive check authorizations") and 5,679,940 (entitled "Transaction system with on/off line risk assessment").
Fiskars Brands Japan K.K and Hanaoka K.K. (2005)
Patent litigation and counseling concerning a Japanese design patent for specialty shears.
Hyatt International Holdings Co., et al. (2005)
Hyatt's acquisition of the upscale extended-stay brand and franchise system of 21 Summerfield Suites branded hotels and six owned assets from partnerships between affiliates of The Blackstone Group, the Gencom Group and Lehman Brothers.
Google Japan Inc. (2005)
Counseling involving Google's Japanese service and Japan's Act Concerning Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade.
PR Asia S.A.S. and Pernod Ricard S.A. (2005)
Counseling and negotiation of a nationwide distribution agreement between Pernod and Kirin for distribution of Pernod's products in Japan.
Kyocera v. Iscar Japan (2005)
Patent litigation and counseling concerning a Japanese patent for a specialty cutting tool.
Centerpulse Japan K.K. (2005)
Counseling and advice to board of directors concerning dispute under the Japanese Commercial Code.
Bausch & Lomb Inc. v. Alcon Laboratories, Inc. (2004-2005)
Patent litigation and counseling involving U.S. Pat. No. 6,660,297 (entitled "Nutritional supplement to treat macular degeneration").
Shiseido Company, Ltd. (2004)
IP counseling involving U.S. Patent No. 5,587,148 (entitled "Visibly transparent UV sunblock agents and methods of making same").
Kraft Foods, Inc. (various) (2003-2006)
Patent litigation and counseling involving patented nutritional compositions and trademarks.
Gary and Cathy Henry, et al. v. The Dow Chemical Company (2003-2006)
Civil litigation and counseling involving allegations of chemical contamination.
Broadcast Music Inc. v. Randall Hull Enterprises, Inc. (2003)
Copyright infringement litigation and counseling to enforce intellectual property rights.
Biax Corp. v. Apple Computer Inc., IBM, Corp., and Motorola, Inc. (2003)
Patent litigation and counseling involving U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,517,628 (entitled "Computer with instructions that use an address field to select among") and 6,253,313 (entitled "Parallel processor system for processing natural concurrencies and method").
Chase Products Co. v. CCL Industries, Inc. and Zotos International, Inc. (2003)
Patent litigation and counseling involving U.S. Pat. No. 6,510,967 (entitled "Ergonomic aerosol dispensing system").
International Game Technology (2003)
IP counseling involving U.S. Patent No. No. 5,283,422 (entitled "Information transfer and use, particularly with respect to counterfeit detection").
Third Wave Technologies, Inc. v. Eragen Biosciences, Inc. (2003)
Patent, breach of contract, and related unfair competition litigation and counseling involving United States Patent Nos. 6,438,314 (entitled "Invasive cleavage of nucleic acids") and 6,090,543 (entitled "Cleavage of nucleic acids").
International Game Technology and IGT v. Aristocrat Leisure Limited, et al. (2002-2003)
Patent, trademark, trade secret, breach of contract, and unfair competition litigation and counseling related to cashless gaming, data authentication, progressive gaming, coin ejectors, and game play.
Eveready Battery Company, Inc. v. Rayovac Corporation (2002)
Patent litigation and counseling involving U.S. Patent No. 5,464,709 (entitled "Alkaline cells that are substantially free of mercury").
Anchor Gaming et al. v. Acres Gaming Inc. (2001)
Patent litigation and counseling involving U.S. Patents Nos. 5,823,874 (entitled "Method of playing game and gaming device with an additional payout indicator") and 5,848,932 (entitled "Method of playing game and gaming games with an additional payout indicator").
Memberships & Affiliations
Board Member, ADA S. McKinley, Community Services, Inc.
Member/LSS Workshop Planning Committee, Licensing Executives Society
United States-Japan Leadership Program Delegate/Fellow
American Bar Association, Intellectual Property Division
Federal Circuit Bar Association
Publications
William Cory Spence and Gitte Lykke Pedersen, Scraping electronic data from websites, Copyright World, Sept. 2009, at 18.
Seminars
"Key Legal Issues in Licensing," LES Technology Transfer Seminar, Boston, MA, October 12, 2006.
Moderator, "Antitrust Issues in Patent & Technology Licensing," Attorney Panel at the LES Annual Meeting, Seoul, Korea, April 10, 2006.Prior Experience
Nalco Company
United States Air Force
General Chemical Corporation
Ulrich Chemical, Inc. (later acquired by Brenntag)Courts
2009, United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
2009, County Court No. 2, County of Galveston, State of Texas.
2007, United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
2006, Circuit Court for the County of Ottawa, State of Michigan.
2006, United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
2006, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
2005, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
2004, Circuit Court for the County of Saginaw, State of Michigan.
2004, United States District Court for the Western District of New York.
2002, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
2002, Illinois Supreme Court
2002, United States Patent and Trademark Office
