Nicholas J. Boyle

Nick’s recent experience includes representing:

Digital Assets, Copyright, Unfair Competition, and Antitrust Litigation

• CoStar Group, an international commercial real estate data firm:
  • Secured the largest judgment in history for the infringement of copyrighted images, in which CoStar obtained a US$500 million judgment in copyright, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and unfair competition litigation against Xceligent, a competing marketplace, for copying and cropping CoStar’s copyrighted photographs using offshore teams located in India and elsewhere.  The judgment valued the CoStar images at US$50,000 each.
  • Served as lead counsel in the US and coordinated related lawsuits against the competitor’s agents in India and the Philippines. Case developments were covered by The Wall Street Journal, The American Lawyer, The Telegraph (London), The Washington Business Journal, Bisnow, and Law360.*
  • Obtained a judgment and permanent injunction in a case brought in federal court in Pennsylvania against Xceligent’s offshore agent, RE Backoffice Inc, requiring the defendant to pay US$20,000 per CoStar-copyrighted photograph per day of future infringement.*
  • Coordinated a team that obtained multiple judgments and injunctions against offshore agents for facilitating copyright infringement on behalf of Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Inc. (CREXi), a major CoStar competitor valued in 2022 at half a billion dollars and backed by multiple venture capital funds. 
  • Obtained a permanent injunction in D.C. federal court against CREXi’s founding investor for hacking into CoStar’s database.  
  • Currently serving as lead counsel in a federal copyright infringement case against CREXi in Los Angeles involving almost 50,000 images, one of the largest such cases in history.  Successfully defeated two motions to dismiss filed by CREXi, and obtained the dismissal with prejudice of CREXi’s state and federal antitrust counterclaims.
  • Secured a permanent injunction against a second Los Angeles-based competitor in a copyright and unfair competition case, mandating the defendant’s use of a copyright filter and requiring the payment of US$10,000 per CoStar photograph, per day, if further copyright infringement occurs.*
  • Currently serving as lead trial counsel in a copyright infringement case filed against Zillow in New York federal court, claiming nearly 47,000 of CoStar’s photographs are being used to advertise rentals on Zillow. The case has been covered by multiple publications including The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, The American Lawyer, The Real Deal, and Law360.
  • Negotiated a judgment and permanent injunction against a real estate firm in a copyright and breach of contract case in New Jersey, requiring the payment of US$50,000 per day for any future infringement of CoStar’s copyrighted images.*
  • Secured a judgment and permanent injunction in copyright litigation in Texas, imposing a copyright filter on the defendant’s website, and awarding damages of almost US$10,000 per infringed image.*
  • Ongoing counseling regarding CoStar’s antipiracy/anti-hacking legal strategy and efforts to protect against intellectual property theft.
• MGM, Universal, Paramount, and other major motion picture studios in the landmark MGM v. Grokster copyright case against file-sharing service providers.*

Securities and M&A Litigation

• CoStar Group in litigation in Delaware over compensation owed as a result of a busted deal.
• HSBC in a US$508 million mortgage-backed securities suit in New York, in which a New York intermediate appellate court dismissed all of the claims against HSBC — which Law360 reported “marks the first time a case of its kind has been dismissed on this basis” — and the New York Court of Appeals affirmed, dismissing the half-billion dollar action.*
• UBS in a dispute involving Goldman Sachs and PIMCO regarding a half-billion dollar sale of mortgage-backed securities.*
• An international energy company in a complex civil litigation in Delaware involving allegations of fraud and breaches of the securities laws in connection with the sale of a power plant.*

Trade Secrets and Employment Litigation

• CoStar in forcing News Corp subsidiary Move Inc. to dismiss its claims with prejudice nine months into a federal trade secrets case, utilizing Rule 11 and an aggressive press strategy, a victory which was covered by The American Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week Column, as well as Law360, The Recorder, Reuters, and The Daily Journal, among other outlets.
• The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm, in:
  • Securing a favorable settlement in trade secrets litigation in New York over the hiring of a senior executive.*
  • A trade secrets case in Texas involving acquiring the largest marina in the US.*
• Multiple inter-dealer brokers as witnesses in a 16-week jury trial in New Jersey involving RICO, trade secrets, and unfair competition claims.*

Complex Commercial Litigation

• A natural gas marketing company in a variety of civil and regulatory actions in Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma stemming from the 2021 big freeze, including favorably resolving multi-hundred-million-dollar disputes before various public service commissions.
• The Carlyle Group, as plaintiff, in a US$100 million contract case in Delaware Chancery Court.*
• A global bank in antitrust and Commodity Exchange Act lawsuits relating to US Treasury auctions.*
• A mortgage-servicing company before the Delaware Supreme Court and Delaware Chancery Court, in which Nick argued the appeal that led to the landmark Central Mortgage decision clarifying Delaware’s pleading standard.*
• Sprint-Nextel in a breach-of-contract action in Los Angeles brought by former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating and a group of investors seeking US$200 million in connection with a mobile phone joint venture, in which — after Sprint obtained sanctions twice against the plaintiffs — the plaintiffs dismissed their case with prejudice and made a payment to Sprint.*
• UBS in a New York breach-of-contract action involving a US$100 million mortgage portfolio.*
• The non-settling plaintiff states in the 10-week remedies trial in the landmark Microsoft antitrust case in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.*
• A generic pharmaceutical manufacturer’s owner in a criminal case involving FDA felony charges.*
• A pioneering Internet telephony company in a patent infringement case in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey against eBay and Skype.*

Arbitration

• An inter-dealer brokerage desk in a FINRA arbitration involving claims of illegal hiring and theft of confidential information, in which the panel denied the claimant’s multi-million dollar claims and granted 100% of the desk’s counterclaims. The favorable verdict was reported in The Financial Times, Forbes, and Bloomberg.*
• NBA Hall of Fame Coach Larry Brown in his US$50 million ad hoc arbitration against the New York Knicks, which was resolved after the merits hearing, for which The New York Post described Nick as a “legal pit bull.”*
• Cantor Fitzgerald affiliates in a AAA/ICDR arbitration against a London-based inter-dealer brokerage that misappropriated US Treasuries price data.*
• Two bankers in a FINRA arbitration in Dallas involving allegations of trade secret misappropriation and violation of restrictive covenants.*

Nick’s thought leadership includes:

• “Nick Boyle – Accomplished International Litigator,” How I Lawyer Podcast (January 10, 2021)
• “Leveraging Liberal American Discovery Rules in Non-U.S. Cases,” International Quarterly, Reuters (July 30, 2018)
• “The Uses of Prior Conduct in Copyright Cases,” ALM: Law Journal Newsletters (September 2017)
• “The government’s carrot-and-stick approach to corporate confidentiality,” Compliance Week (October 2016)
• “Considerations When Invoking The Recently Enacted DTSA,” Law360 (August 26, 2016)
• “Securing the Benefits of Arbitration: Thoughtful Drafting of Arbitration Clauses Parts 1-4,” Bloomberg BNA (July 2016)
• “Restrictive Covenants: The Law In Flux,” Law360 (February 4, 2016)
• “The Long Arm of the Law: The Availability of US Discovery in Non-US Cases,” Civil Justice Quarterly, Issue 1 (2010)