In technology and intellectual property litigation, Ralph’s representative work includes the following:

• Won dismissal in 2011, after years of state and federal court litigation, of a defendant client from ten separate, but nearly identical, product liability cases brought against multiple defendants in the same court. The plaintiffs in each case allege they suffered brain cancer as a result of exposure to cell phone emissions.  Murray v. Motorola, Inc., et al., Case No. 8479-01 (DC Superior Court) is representative of all ten cases.
• Won (in 2010) a multimillion dollar award, including attorneys’ fees and costs, on behalf of a software and software services provider in an arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration, in a case involving breach of a software license agreement by a Chinese joint venture company.
• Obtained  a consent judgment for damages and injunctive relief for software copyright infringement, trade dress infringement, and breach of contract on behalf of plaintiff software developer. Niksun, Inc. v. Intelica Networks, Inc. et al., No. 1:07-CV-707 (E.D.Va. 2007)
• Negotiated a favorable settlement of a novel trademark infringement case filed in Florida federal court alleging that the defendant client violated the Lanham Act and other laws by using plaintiffs' trademarks as keywords to trigger the appearance on a search engine's website of a client-sponsored advertisement (a "sponsored link").
• Obtained entry of a consent judgment, after defeating defendant’s motion to dismiss, of an action filed in DC federal court on behalf of an international accounting firm alleging violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, breach of contract, theft of trade secrets, and breach of fiduciary duty by a former employee. Deloitte & Touche v. Pesin, No. 1:03-CV-675 (D.D.C. 2003)
• Obtained a consent judgment in December, 2002, following the Court of Appeals victory in Harrods, Limited v. Sixty Internet Domain Names described immediately below, in an in rem Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act (ACPA) action on behalf of Harrods, Limited, against 192 internet domain names. Harrods, Limited v. One Hundred Ninety Two Internet Domain Names, No. MJG 00-464 (D.Md.)
• Obtained judgment, after trial, in favor of a famous international retailer in a groundbreaking in rem Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act suit against 60 internet domain names registered by a South American entity purporting to have rights in the names registered. Harrods, Limited v. Sixty Internet Domain Names, 157 F. Supp.2d 658, (E.D.Va 2001). Represented that retailer in defendants’ appeal of the trial court judgment to the Court of Appeals, which, in affirming the judgment in favor of the client, decided several legal issues of first impression nationwide. Harrods, Limited v. Sixty Internet Domain Names, 302 F.3d 214 (4th Cir. 2002). A 2002 survey of in-house and outside counsel reported in Intellectual Property Today voted the trial court decision to be among the top eight US trademark litigation matters decided in the past five years.
• Defended an international environmental consulting firm in a multimillion dollar software copyright and trademark infringement suit, brought in federal court in Texas, involving air quality modeling; the case was settled after the client prevailed over the plaintiff in a preliminary injunction trial. Systems Applications International, Inc. v. APBI Environmental Sciences Group, Inc. No. 1:96-CV-275-JRN (W.D. Tex., Austin Div. 1997)
• Defended an international management consulting company in a federal court suit (E.D.Va.) alleging, among other things, trademark infringement and unfair competition with respect to computer-generated graphics.
• Defended a hardware manufacturer in a patent infringement suit (Maryland federal court) seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and damages with respect to electronic digitizers.
• Defended a software company in a trademark infringement/unfair competition suit brought in federal court in California seeking injunctive and monetary relief.
• Represented a professor and his university in two related software copyright infringement/breach of contract suits (in California as defendants and in Virginia as plaintiffs) involving claims for damages, declaratory relief, and an injunction.
• Represented an international bank in a trademark infringement suit for damages and injunctive relief in federal court in Colorado.

Ralph’s representative work in other areas includes the following:

• Defended a national bank against claims asserted by eight former employees seeking payments pursuant to a change of control agreement. The claims were first filed in a multi-plaintiff state court action, but dismissal was obtained in favor of contractually mandated arbitration before the American Arbitration Association (AAA). Following briefing and a decision by the arbitrator that the AAA Commercial Rules, rather than the Employment Rules, governed the proceeding, each claimant’s claims were individually and voluntarily mediated over a course of several weeks in a confidential JAMS mediation. All claimants ultimately settled in 2011.
• Obtained favorable confidential settlement on behalf of a Maryland partnership in a DC Office of Administrative Hearings case of first impression against the District of Columbia involving the tax treatment of a multimillion dollar gain on the sale of the property of a DC unincorporated business that resulted in termination of that unincorporated business but not the termination of the partnership.
• Successfully represented a large national corporation to prevent disclosure to a competitor, in federal court antitrust litigation between the competitor and the subject of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust investigation, of the client’s confidential business information provided to the FTC pursuant to a subpoena and an administrative confidentiality order issued in connection with the FTC’s investigation.
• Obtained a decision in an AAA confidential arbitration proceeding upholding the validity and enforceability, under Virginia law, of an employment agreement provision prohibiting a former employee from soliciting former co-workers to work for another employer.
• Won summary judgment for a federal savings bank in a Uniform Commercial Code presentment warranty declaratory judgment case involving the sufficiency of evidence offered by a depositary bank that alleged that a check presented to it for payment was altered. Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B. v. Wachovia Bank, N.A., et al., No. 1:04-CV-275 (E.D.Va. 2004). Won affirmance of that judgment on defendant’s appeal to the US Court of Appeals. Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B., v. Wachovia Bank, N.A., No. 04-2569 (4th Cir. 2006), rehearing and rehearing en banc denied (2007)
• Represented a debtor in a multiparty bankruptcy court adversary proceeding involving the availability and amount of insurance coverage for multiple toxic tort claims that arose over a number of years with respect to various toxins. Ameripol Synpol Corp. v. The Travelers Insurance Co., et al., Adv. Pro. 05-50864 (DE Bankr. 2007)
• Defended a multimillion dollar livestock company in a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administrative action seeking a substantial monetary penalty for alleged violations of a federal statute. The USDA complaint also raised the possibility of imposition of a ten-year suspension of the company’s registration as livestock dealer, which suspension was imposed under a prior USDA order but held in abeyance. The case settled by payment of a small monetary penalty upon which the ten-year suspension order was terminated.
• Won dismissal of a multimillion dollar commercial suit against the Kingdom of Sweden and Telia, A.B., a Swedish telephone company. BPA International, Inc., et al., v. Kingdom of Sweden et al., 281 F. Supp.2d 73 (DC 2003)
• Obtained judgment in favor of several US military personnel and their spouses in a lawsuit with respect to the hijacking of a TWA flight from Athens, Greece, to Beirut, Lebanon, and the torture and beating of the plaintiff servicemen. Carlson, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, et al., 201 F. Supp.2d 78 (D.D.C. 2002). Represented these same clients in obtaining congressional legislation to make available assets of terrorist countries to satisfy judgments obtained against them.
• Represented a taxpayer in a DC Superior Court case rejecting the government’s attempt, through statutory interpretation, to circumvent the administrative process for real property tax assessment appeals. Omni Shoreham Corp. v. District of Columbia (Tax Dkt. No. 7851-99, DC Superior Court)
• Obtained summary judgment for a taxpayer in a real property tax assessment case of first impression involving the timing of reassessments of real property taxes in the District of Columbia. Omni Shoreham Corp. v. District of Columbia (Tax Dkt. No. 7879-00, DC Superior Court)
• Defended a federal savings bank in numerous employment discrimination and related cases brought in state and federal courts in Maryland and Virginia. Representative cases include Bunns v. Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B., No. 3:06-CV-580 (E.D.Va. 2007) and Gladhill v. Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B., 2001 WL 894267 (Md. App.)
• Represented a taxpayer through trial and two appeals in obtaining reversal of 12-year-old interpretation of a tax statute with respect to net operating loss deductions for partnerships. School Street Associates Limited Partnership v. District of Columbia, 764 A.2d 798 (DC 2001) (en banc)

Ralph is actively involved in pro bono activities on behalf of underprivileged and unrepresented individuals and entities, including indigent tenants in landlord-tenant disputes. He also led an Arent Fox team fighting for health insurance coverage for poor New Jersey children and their families. In October 2008, Arent Fox received the New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Outstanding Law Firm of the Year Award for that work.