Biography
Angela Dunning is a litigation partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. She has over 20 years of experience litigating copyright, trademark, trade secrets, and unfair competition/false advertising cases, as well as complex commercial disputes, for major global companies. She has tried numerous cases to a jury verdict and has substantial experience in the federal appellate courts, including successful arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in high-profile, published cases such as Elliott v. Google (affirming that the famous GOOGLE trademark is not generic), Naruto v. Slater (affirming dismissal of the “Monkey Selfie” copyright case), and Close v. Sotheby’s et al. (affirming dismissal of claims against eBay under the California Resale Royalty Act on copyright pre-emption grounds). Angela is a leader in the bar on litigation issues relating to generative artificial intelligence. She is currently defending Midjourney and Meta Platforms in AI copyright class action lawsuits directed to the training and output of generative AI models, advises other leading companies on AI risk and strategy, and frequently speaks on cutting edge IP issues related to this area. World Trademark Review describes Angela as a “high-caliber trial lawyer,” as well as a “great writer and strategist who leaves no stone unturned in developing her positions.” She has been repeatedly named one of the “Top 100 Women Lawyers in California” by Daily Journal and a leading lawyer for commercial disputes by The Legal 500 U.S. Angela currently teaches trademark law at UC Berkeley School of Law. In 2008, she served as a “loaner” assistant district attorney for the City and County of San Francisco under then-District Attorney Kamala Harris.
