Michael A. Jacobs

Partner

San Francisco, (415) 268-7455

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Education

Stanford University (B.A., 1977)
;
Yale Law School (J.D., 1983)

Practices

Intellectual Property Litigation

Patent Litigation

Trade Secrets

Bar Admissions

California

Michael Jacobs is the co-founder and current co-chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group. Mr. Jacobs concentrates his practice on litigation of high-technology and intellectual property matters. He has represented information technology and life sciences companies in over 25 patent lawsuits, often prevailing at early stages of the dispute. He has also handled numerous high-profile arbitrations, several of which involved the interplay between arbitration and court proceedings.

Mr. Jacobs' work in several landmark cases has helped to shape the laws governing emerging technologies. Early in his career, he led the technical team that represented Fujitsu in its landmark operating system software arbitration with IBM. In recent years, he has been representing Novell in the widely-reported SCO v. Novell litigation, which implicates the Linux open source movement.

Prior to the start of his legal career, Mr. Jacobs held assignments with the United States Foreign Service in Kingston, Jamaica and Washington, D.C.

While earning his J.D., Mr. Jacobs was the Senior Editor of The Yale Law Journal and co-founded the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Project. He currently teaches Trade Secrets at UC Berkeley Law School.

Matters.

SCO v. Novell, Inc.

(District of Utah). Currently representing Novell in litigation brought by the SCO Group (SCO v. Novell, D. Ut.) that is embroiling the Linux industry. SCO has sued Novell for "slander of title" based on Novell's contention that ownership of the UNIX copyrights that are at issue in broader litigation initiated by SCO did not transfer to SCO.

Notal Vision v. Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc.

Won arbitration award, including attorneys' fees, of $10-million in representation of Israeli early-stage opthalmological diagnostic equipment company, Notal, in distributorship dispute with Carl Zeiss Meditec. Notal Vision is developing the first comprehensive diagnostic solutions for the early detection and monitoring of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the world today.

Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc.

(Western District of Washington). Representing Autodesk in Ninth Circuit appeal of a ruling regarding software licensing and the first-sale doctrine under copyright law. Brought in to defend Autodesk after motion to dismiss was denied.

Tap v. QLT

(Northern District of Illinois). Settled case in damages phase after liability was established under previous counsel, in resorbable polymer patent infringement action brought by TAP Pharmaceuticals against QLT, a biopharmaceutical company.

Autodesk, Inc. v. Open Design Alliance

(Western District of Washington). Represented Autodesk in its trademark infringement lawsuit against the Open Design Alliance arising out of the ODA's simulation of Autodesk's "TrustedDWG" technology. After the court granted Autodesk's requested TRO, the parties stipulated to a consent judgment that makes the TRO permanent.

Autodesk Canada Co. v. Assimilate, Inc.

(U.S. District Court, District of Delaware). Currently representing Autodesk in copyright infringement suit concerning visual effects editing software. Autodesk had purchased the intellectual property to the software from an English company in bankruptcy. Autodesk later discovered that one of the principal programmers of the software had improperly retained a copy of the source code, started his own company, and begun selling a visual effects editing program with a suspiciously similar user interface.

Minebea Co., Ltd. v. Think Outside, Inc.

(U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit). Won affirmance in the Federal Circuit of summary judgment victory on behalf of portable keyboard designer Think Outside in a patent infringement action brought by Minebea, a major Japanese manufacturer of machine goods and electronics components, involving Think Outside's stowaway portable keyboard, the first full-sized, collapsible keyboard designed for PDAs, smart phones, and other handheld devices.

Discovery Communications, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc.

(USDC District of Delaware) We represent Discovery Communications in a patent infringement suit filed in March 2009 against Amazon.com, Inc., in the District of Delaware, alleging infringement of a patent issued to Discovery Communications for electronic book technology. Discovery alleges that Amazon's sale of the Kindle and Kindle 2 products and its electronic book delivery infringe one of Discovery's patents.