Carrie LeRoy is Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Technology Transactions Practice Group. She advises clients on a wide range of intellectual property, technology and sourcing transactions, including development and license agreements, patent and other technology license agreements, outsourcing, joint ventures and strategic collaborations.

Clients benefit from Carrie’s experience working within a range of sectors, with a particular focus on technology and cross-border transactions.  Her extensive work for technology companies, including leading semiconductor, social media and information technology companies, involves advising on the intellectual property aspects of a range of complex transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, asset purchase, joint development and intellectual property divestitures.  She also advises companies in the electronics, software, electronic storage, telecommunications, e-commerce and financial services sectors.  She regularly handles a variety of commercial transactions, including original equipment manufacturer, reseller, distributor, sales representative, services, manufacturing and supply agreements.  Another aspect of Carrie’s practice includes intellectual property counseling, including with respect to the allocation of intellectual property ownership, protection and monetization of intellectual property rights, open source and data privacy.

Widely recognized as a leader in intellectual property transactions and an innovator in the industry, Carrie has been honored by a number of California’s leading legal publications in recent years.  In 2017, Carrie earned top ratings for her patent work from Intellectual Asset Management, the world’s leading intellectual property business media platform.  The Daily Journal recognized Carrie as one of its 2016 “California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year” for her cutting-edge work with regard to a highly complex technology transaction valued at $37 billion.  That same year, she was also named to The Recorder’s list of “Women Leaders in Tech Law.”  In 2015, she was selected by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of its “2015 Women of Influence,” and in 2014, The Recorder presented her with an “Innovator Award” for a pro bono program she developed to educate teens on the laws relating to social media and technology usage.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Carrie was a partner at an international law firm.  She has also worked in-house with Marvell Semiconductor as a senior intellectual property licensing attorney, where she negotiated and drafted a variety of inbound and outbound technology development, license and supply agreements, and advised on intellectual property matters.

Select Representative Experience*

• Facebook Inc. in various content, data and intellectual property licensing, payments and commercial arrangements;
• NetEase in its sale of Kaola to Alibaba valued at $2 million;
• Ctrip.com International, Ltd. in various commercial and content acquisition arrangements;
• MGM Resorts International in its joint venture focused on sports betting and online gaming with GVC Holdings PLC;
• NXP Semiconductors N.V. in its attempted sale to Qualcomm Incorporated for stock and cash valued at $47 billion;
• Samsung Electronics in its acquisition of Joyent, Inc. for an undisclosed amount;
• Intel Corporation in the sale of a majority interest in McAfee to private equity firm TPG for $3.1 billion and related licensing arrangements;
• Nokia Corporation on the intellectual property aspects of the $7 billion sale of its devices and services business to Microsoft Corporation and acquisition of Avvenu for an undisclosed amount;
• RPX Corporation in its acquisition of patent assets from Rockstar Consortium US LP;
• Zynga Inc. in its acquisition of Rising Tide Games, Inc.;
• Broadcom Corporation in its $37 billion sale to AvadoTechnologies Limited; its $147 million sale of Ethernet controller-related assets and non-exclusive IP licenses to QLogic Corporation; its $195 million acquisition of BroadLight, Inc.; its $335 million acquisition of Provigent Inc.; its $316 million acquisition of Beceem Communications Inc.; its $123 million acquisition of Teknovus Inc.; its $3.7 billion acquisition of Net Logic Microsystems, Inc.; and its $164 million acquisition of LTE-related assets from affiliates of Renesas Electronics Corporation;
• Dell Inc. in its $2.4 billion acquisition of Quest Software, Inc.;
• MIPS Technologies, Inc. in the sale of its operating company to Imagination Technologies for $100 million and the sale of its patent portfolio to Bridge Crossing, LLC for $350 million and related patent licensing transactions;
• RDA Microelectronics, Inc. in its $46 million acquisition of the baseband intellectual property assets of Cools and Holding Co., Ltd., a privately held baseband company with operations in China, and its subsidiaries;
• Advantest Corporation in its $1.1 billion acquisition of Verigy Ltd.;
• SanDisk Corporation in its $19 billion acquisition by Western Digital Corporation and its $327 million acquisition of Pliant Technology, Inc.;
• Hewlett Packard in its acquisition of Voltage Security for an undisclosed amount;
• Hitachi Global Storage Technologies in its $4.3 billion acquisition by Western Digital Corporation;
• Freescale Semiconductor in its sale to NXP for $12 billion;
• LSI Corporation in its sale to Avago Technologies for $6.6 billion;
• Hoya Corporation in its $235 million sale of Hoya Magnetics Singapore Pte. Ltd. to Western Digital Corporation;
• INSIDE Secure in its $58 million acquisition of Atmel Corporation’s Secure Microcontroller Solutions business and in patent license negotiations with Cryptography Research, Inc.;
• PMC-Sierra, Inc. in its $240 million acquisition of Wintegra, Inc., and in its acquisition for an undisclosed amount of a semiconductor technology and product line from Maxim Integrated Products Inc.;
• Visa Inc. in its $2 billion acquisition of CyberSource Corporation and in multiple intellectual property licensing arrangements;
• Netgear, Inc. in its $7.2 million acquisition from Firetide, Inc. of intellectual property assets relating to networking infrastructure;
• Apple, Inc. in its $278 million acquisition of PA Semi;
• Yahoo! Inc. in connection with its affiliate Yahoo!7’s acquisitions of Spreets Pty Ltd for $40 million and Maven Networks for $160 million and in strategic IP licensing matters;
• Nokia Siemens Networks Oy in connection with the sale of its fixed-wireless broadband business to CN Tetragen;
• Zilog Inc. in its sale of business units to Maxim Integrated Products and Universal Electronics Inc. for $31 million and related intellectual property licensing arrangements;
• White Energy Coal North America, Inc., in various intellectual property development and licensing arrangements relating to the production and manufacturing of coal;
• Protalix Biotherapeutics, Inc. in its agreement with Pfizer Inc. to develop and commercialize a treatment of Gaucher’s disease;
• Nike, Inc. in the sale of its Cole Haan business unit to the private equity firm Apax Partners for $570 million;
• Beijing Perfect World Software, Co., Ltd. in various intellectual property licensing arrangements;
• The special committee of the board of directors of Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. in the $512 million acquisition of Steinway by private investors;
• Calera Capital in its investment in Rock-It Cargo LLC and Competitor Group, Inc.;
• Cadence Design Systems, Inc. in its $170 million acquisition of Jasper Design Automation, Inc.;
• Rhapsody International in licensing and distribution agreements with Telefónica Digital;
• PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk. (Emtek) in its acquisition of Blackberry’s messenger applications and services for Android, iOS and Windows phones for $207 million;
• Didi Chuxing in its acquisition of Uber China and related licensing arrangements for a 20% stake in Didi Chuxing and a billion dollar investment by Uber;
• Spansion in its licensing, development and manufacturing agreements with XMC and patent divestitures;
• FIT AG in the sale of its Netfabb business to Autodesk and related licensing arrangements for an undisclosed amount;
• DocuSign in its acquisition of the Trusted Documents and Transactions division of OpenTrust for an undisclosed amount;
• Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. in various intellectual property licensing matters;
• TiVo, Inc. in its sale to Rovi Corporation for $1.1 billion; and
• BitAuto in its joint venture in China with Kelley Blue Book and related licensing arrangements.

*Includes matters prior to joining Gibson Dunn.

Publications

“Patent License Drafting Considerations in Contemplation of M&A,” Advanced Patent Licensing 2018, Practising Law Institute, September 2018

 “SB 838: Juveniles Tried as Adults for Sexual Assaults,” Daily Journal, January 6, 2015

“Sex, Social Media and the Law,” KQED, October 29, 2014

“Audrie’s Law a Reminder of the Online Dangers for Teens,” Daily Journal, October 21, 2014

“How to Help Teens Understand Online Rights and Prevent Cyberbullying,” BayAreaParent, May 1, 2014

“Website User Agreements: Electronic Contracting Issues and Tips for Drafting, Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB),” California Business Law Practitioner, Winter 2013

“Trends to Watch in Technology M&A,” Intellectual Property Counselor, May 2009

Speaking Engagements

“Deal Dynamics & Terms:  Analysis of a Patent License Agreement,” September 14, 2018, Practising Law Institute, San Francisco, CA

“Artificial Intelligence – Implications for Corporate Governance,” September 13, 2018, Society for Corporate Governance, Las Vegas, NV

“Artificial Intelligence and Data-Driven Transactions 2018: Unique Legal Considerations,” March 15, 2018, Practising Law Institute, Menlo Park, CA (Program Chair)

“Managing Cross-Border Acquisitions of Technology Companies,” March 2017, The Association of Corporate Counsel, Palo Alto, CA

“Rights of Photographers and Videographers – An Overview,” August 24, 2016, ViewFind webinar on copyright

Segment on legal trends on social media misuse, “Privacy Piracy” with Mari Frank, KUCI 88.9 FM, December 8, 2014

“Law Department as Profit Center: Successful Patent Licensing Programs,” May 21, 2014, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Palo Alto, CA

“Software Licensing Basics: An Overview of Licensing Negotiation Points In the Technology Sector,” April 15, 2014, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and the Berkeley Technology Law Journal‘s Law & Tech Speaker Series, Berkeley, CA

Carrie also serves as a regular speaker at Silicon Valley area high schools regarding the legal rights and obligations of youth and their parents and guardians in relation to social media and technology use.