Doran J. Satanove

Doran Satanove is a litigation associate in the New York office of Gibson Dunn. He is a member of the firm’s Trade Secrets, Intellectual Property, Media, Entertainment and Technology, and Labor and Employment Practice Groups.

His practice is focused on trade secrets and copyright matters for media, entertainment, and technology companies, in addition to general breach of contract and restrictive covenant matters. He has litigated numerous high-stakes cases in these areas in federal and state courts from coast to coast, and at all phases of litigation. Doran has significant experience drafting and arguing dispositive and discovery motions, first- and second-chairing depositions, and leading offensive and defensive written and document discovery efforts. He also has led forensic investigations into trade secret-related matters. Doran also regularly counsels clients on trade secrets, false advertising, and trademark issues in the digital advertising, technology, and life sciences spaces.

Doran has been recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for Entertainment and Sports Law (2024-2025).

Representative Trials and Arbitrations:

• Member of team that obtained a complete victory for AMC Networks following a two-week bench trial in 2020 and a sweeping summary judgment win in 2022, defeating multi-hundred-million-dollar claims. Represented AMC in related profit participation and breach of contract litigations in New York.
• Member of team securing a victory in a multi-million-dollar confidential profit participation accounting arbitration following a one-week hearing, in which he took a witness.
• Member of team securing a victory in a multi-million-dollar confidential arbitration concerning a fraud and profit participation dispute, following a two-week hearing, in which he took a witness.

Representative Intellectual Property and Entertainment Matters:

• Securing summary judgment on willfulness damages in three copyright infringement lawsuits, on behalf of Apple, Inc., concerning alleged infringement on the iTunes store, resulting in plaintiffs voluntarily dismissing all three cases with prejudice.
• Securing favorable settlement for MGM-subsidiary Big Fish Entertainment in a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit concerning the television series Live PD;
• Securing favorable settlement on the eve of trial for Yahoo affiliate in a copyright infringement action concerning the public display right.
• Securing motion to dismiss and ultimately a favorable settlement for Guardant Health, a precision oncology company in a high-stakes patent inventorship, trade secret, and contract dispute.
• Securing dismissal with prejudice of a trade secrets dispute brought against Oath Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of the Verizon Media Group.
• Securing a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on behalf of a technology start-up asserting breach of restrictive covenants and trade secret claims against a former employee.
• Securing favorable settlement for Blackstone Group affiliate in a trade secrets misappropriation and breach of contract and fiduciary duty litigation against its former general counsel.
• Securing favorable settlement for Archer Aviation in a closely watched, high-stakes trade secrets case, in which Gibson Dunn previously secured the denial of a preliminary injunction against Archer.
• Securing dismissal of trade secret and hacking-related claims against an international strategic consultancy firm.
• Securing a motion to compel arbitration in a trade secrets suit filed against a clinical stage gene therapy company.
• Representing HSBC and employees in a trade secrets and breach of contract action brought by First Citizens Bank, relating to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Achieved a favorable ruling on a motion to dismiss significantly cutting down the claims and defendants at issue in the case.
• Representing Fortune 500 company in a confidential arbitration concerning alleged trade secret theft.
• Representing entertainment company in confidential profit participation dispute.

Representative General Commercial Matters:

• Achieving a favorable settlement for Modern Health in the leadup to trial in a founders’ dispute litigation, involving claims of wrongful termination, retaliation, breach of contract, defamation, and tortious interference.
• Securing a favorable settlement on behalf of a digital advertising and technology company, asserting breach of loyalty and contractual interference claims against a former employee and its competing business.
• Securing a closure without conditions of a non-public FTC investigation related to a top social networking company’s use of consumer information.
• Securing favorable class action settlement for a telecommunications company in a lawsuit asserting claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Doran also maintains an active pro bono practice. He argued and secured a reversal from the Appellate Division of New York (First Department), in Stevens v. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. He has also drafted amicus curiae briefs on immigration law matters before the United States Supreme Court, and helped secure a favorable settlement on behalf of a non-profit dedicated to protecting the rights of the migrant farmworker community, in a First Amendment lawsuit against the federal government.

From 2018 to 2019, Doran served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ronnie Abrams of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

He received his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from New York University School of Law 2017, and was elected to the Order of the Coif. During his final year of law school, he served as an extern to the Honorable Dennis Jacobs of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Doran earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacology, with First Class Honours, from McGill University.

Publications:

Co-Author, COVID-19 News Defamation Claims Are Unlikely To Succeed, Law360 (May 4, 2020)

Author, The Challenging Economics of the Companion Diagnostics Industry: A Compelling Case for Invigorated Patent Protection, 6 N.Y.U. J. Intell. Prop. & Ent. L. 142 (2016)

Capabilities

• Litigation
• Intellectual Property
• Labor and Employment
• Life Sciences
• Media, Entertainment, and Technology
• Technology Litigation
• Trade Secrets
• Trials

Credentials

Education:

• New York University - 2017 Juris Doctor
• McGill University - 2014 Bachelor of Science

Admissions:

• New York Bar

Clerkships:

• USDC, Southern District of New York, Hon. Ronnie Abrams, 2018 - 2019