MONTHLY ROUND-UP Dating app Grindr has tapped global law firm Cooley as its legal counsel as it goes public via a $2.1 billion acquisition by a blank-cheque company based in Singapore. On 13 May, a federal jury in Texas awarded financial services company United Services Automobile Association (USAA) around $218 million from PNC Bank NA, ruling that PNC’s mobile-banking technology violated USAA’s patent rights. PNC ORDERED TO PAY USAA $218 MILLION IN PATENT INFRINGEMENT CASE USAA filed a lawsuit against PNC in 2020, in which it said it developed its “Deposite@ Home” technology to enable overseas military persons to remotely deposit cheques. The jury was convinced that PNC’s mobile deposit feature operates the same as USAA’s patented technology. The Texas jury said that PNC’s technology infringed at least one of USAA’s four mobilebanking patents. It also said that PNC’s infringement was intentional, thus enabling the judge to potentially multiply the damages owed to USAA. A spokesperson for PNC said that the bank was disappointed with the verdict though the company remained confident it would “prevail as to all of the patents USAA has asserted” eventually. LM COOLEY TAPPED TO REPRESENT GRINDR IN $2.1 BILLION SPAC DEAL SPACS raise funds through initial public offerings (IPOs) to take private companies public. According to a statement by Cooley, the team representing Grindr is led by San Franciscobased M&A partners Jamie Leigh and Garth Osterman, and corporate partners Dave Peinsipp and Kristin VanderPas. Hong Kong-based corporate partner Will Cai will also assist with the deal. The global law firm has represented Grindr in the past. In a 2015 case that was dismissed the following year, the firm defended Grindr against claims it violated California state law by failing to make users aware of membership cancellation policies. LM 7 JUN 2022 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM
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