“Finding creative solutions to complex commercial disputes – I place clients in winning positions to allow them to settle effectively.
Louise Stoupe is co-head of the Tokyo Litigation department. Her practice focuses on high-tech disputes in international arbitration and litigation. She is an experienced trial lawyer, known for representing some of the largest technology companies in the world, in their multijurisdictional and complex commercial litigation cases.
Louise has been recognized for her cutting-edge work for Japanese clients and was recognized as the Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year and the Woman Lawyer of the Year by Asian Legal Business in 2018. Louise is ranked in the current editions of Chambers Global (2023) and Chambers Asia Pacific (2023) for Dispute Resolution. She is also ranked as a Leading Individual in Dispute Resolution by the 2023 edition of The Legal 500 Asia Pacific. Louise has been recognized by the Japan edition of Best Lawyers for Intellectual Property since 2010; Litigation since 2014; International Arbitration since 2020; Criminal Defense since 2023. She was also recognized by the 2017 Client Choice Awards in the litigation category. Louise has long been identified as a leader in her field, exhibited by the fact that in 2008 she was the second youngest person on the “Top 50 Under 45” list published by IP Law & Business.
Experience
(Multijurisdictional litigation). Represented Toshiba Corporation in its litigation and arbitration against SanDisk regarding a dispute over the Japanese firm’s sale of its $18 billion chip unit. The dispute involved three California state court proceedings, two Tokyo District Court cases and three ICC arbitrations. The matter was settled favorably after Toshiba successfully obtained favorable rulings before the California state court and the arbitral tribunal.
(Multijurisdictional litigation). Represented Toshiba Corporation in its trade secret claim against SK Hynix. The suit sought damages for the wrongful acquisition and use of proprietary Toshiba information on NAND flash memory, which Toshiba pioneered in 1987. Pursuant to settlement, Toshiba received $278 million.
(International Trade Commission, 337-TA-855). Represented Hitachi Metals, Ltd. in its investigation before the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) regarding infringement of certain Hitachi Metals U.S. patents by the sale into the United States of certain sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets. The case was originally brought against 29 respondents, including magnet manufacturers based in China.
(District of Hawaii). Represented Japan Airlines in complex litigation involving three court cases in Hawaiian federal and state courts related to failed property development on the Big Island in Hawaii. The dispute related to interpretation of bonds, development agreements, and partnership law issues. This complex litigation involved seven parties in a multimillion-dollar property development being concurrently litigated in three cases.
(Northern District of Texas). Successfully obtained the stay of a distributorship dispute in Texas federal court in favor of a JCAA arbitration on behalf of SANYO. SANYO later obtained a very favorable award from the JCAA tribunal.
(District of Maryland). Obtained motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in a patent infringement action filed by Technology Patents LLC in the District of Maryland accusing 131 defendants of infringing two patents relating to international paging systems. The complaint accused virtually every wireless service provider in the world of infringement by virtue of having entered into roaming agreements with U.S. wireless service providers that permit or facilitate sending or receiving text messages internationally. Our clients were two of the three largest wireless service providers in Japan.