On January 30, 2025, firm client and microtransit leader Via won a complete victory against its competitor, RideCo, following a seven-day jury trial and years of litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.  After less than 3 hours of deliberation, the jury found that RideCo infringed three of Via’s patents on its virtual bus stop technology (U.S. Patent Nos. 9,562,785, 9,816,824, and 10,197,411) and ordered RideCo to pay damages, with total pretrial and ongoing damages to be determined. Via also prevailed against RideCo’s counterclaims, with the jury finding that Via did not infringe either of RideCo’s two asserted patents.

Via filed the case on May 3, 2021, to stop RideCo’s infringement of its patents, alleging that RideCo had copied Via’s patented technology as part of a business strategy to replicate Via in the marketplace. In July 2021, RideCo filed counterclaims, alleging that Via had infringed two RideCo patents.

In September 2023, mere months before the case was set for trial, and after significant pretrial motions had been decided, a Wilson Sonsini team took over the case from another firm and secured a continuance of the trial in light of world events.   Upon rescheduling by the Court, the parties tried the case in Waco, Texas in January 2025.  Prior to securing the jury verdict in favor of Via, the Wilson Sonsini team won motions for judgment as a matter of law on key issues, including judgment as a matter of law that Via’s patents were deemed valid before the jury.

The Wilson Sonsini team representing Via in this case included Jordan R. Jaffe, Luis Li, Ariel C. Green Anaba, Catherine Lacey, Christopher D. Mays, Christopher Hurley, and Alex Miller.