Paul Gaffney handles a wide variety of complex litigation, principally but not entirely in intellectual property matters. In recent representations he has:

• Served as lead counsel for film industry plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits directed against the proprietors of unauthorized film downloading websites;
• Served as lead counsel for the whistle-blower in a federal False Claims Act lawsuit against Mario Gabelli and others, securing a nine-figure-settlement that is one of the top 25 largest in a qui tam action;
• Served as lead counsel for the major television networks in ABC et al. v. Flying J, a suit successfully challenging the use of an advertisement substitution device in commercial establishments;
• Served as counsel to MedImmune, Inc. in MedImmune v. Genentech, the 2007 Supreme Court decision granting patent licensees right to sue patent holders;
• Served as lead counsel for film industry plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits directed against distributors of DVD-copying software;
• Served as lead plaintiff's counsel, and won $4 million compensatory and punitive jury verdict, in Lanham Act lawsuit between competing Internet greeting card firms.

Mr. Gaffney also devotes significant time to Williams & Connolly LLP's media and professional liability practices. He is currently representing MediaNews Group, Inc. in its longstanding litigation in Utah over ownership of The Salt Lake Tribune. He represented CNN and Time in litigation arising from their 1998 report that the U.S. military used nerve gas in Vietnam, among other things arguing the appeal in Van Buskirk v. CNN, 284 F.3d 977 (9th Cir. 2002). He also has represented the Washington Post, Fox, ABC and other publications in libel, privacy, and other media-related disputes. For a number of years he supervised the pre-publication review team for National Enquirer, and also defended the tabloid in a number of libel, privacy, and copyright cases.

Mr. Gaffney has served on the Boards of Catholic Charities of Washington and the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts.