Sharon R. Smith is a trial lawyer a litigator specializing in intellectual property Sharon has more than two decades of experience representing clients in hundreds of copyright, trade secret, right to publicity and trademark matters.Sharon was recently a key part of Morgan Lewis's trial team in its representation of Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp. in San Mateo County, Superior Court, where the jury this year awarded Morgan Lewis' client Asahi Kasei Pharma Corporation $577 million in damages, including $30 million in punitive damages, against biopharmaceutical firm Actelion Ltd. and associated defendants for interfering with contractual obligations to develop Asahi’s potentially life-saving treatment for cardiovascular ailments. This case has been noted as the fifth largest U.S. jury verdict of 2011.This victory followed an earlier arbitration award of $91 million in Asahi’s favor for breach of the development contract by Asahi’s licensing partner. Sharon has been a key part of other trial teams over her career, including:• Successful defense verdict in 2005 on motion for dismissal during trial for client in case involving a $450 million claim for misappropriation of corporate opportunity, among others;• Successful defense of leading direct marketing company in multi-million dollar case alleging copyright infringement, trade dress infringement, and false advertising claims; and• Successful jury verdict in trade dress infringement claim.Other key litigation representations include:• Successful grant of summary judgment in favor of client against trademark infringement claim.• Successful grant of motion to dismiss in favor of client [Cisco] against Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), fraud, unfair business practices and tortious interference claims.• Successful defense of a defamation claim based on a novel Communications Decency Act defense.Specialties: Civil litigation experience in counseling and disputes related to intellectual property, business torts, unfair business practices, fraud, defamation and breach of contract. Intellectual practice includes prosecution, counseling and litigation involving trademarks, trade dress, domain names, copyrights, advertising, unfair competition and rights of publicity.