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Oct. 16, 2014

Feinberg Day Alberti & Thompson LLP

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Menlo Park | Patent litigation

Feinberg Day Alberti & Thompson LLP


Ian Feinberg at Feinberg Day Alberti & Thompson, a Menlo Park-based firm specializing in patent law, enjoys having seven partners, all with equal say and compensation. He does acknowledge, though, the initial struggle of determining the firm's name and Web address from seven co-equal partners. "At some point, you just have too many names," Feinberg said.


The result was Feinberg Day Alberti & Thompson - or Feinberg Day for short, with a proposed web URL of Fdat.com. The partners got a kick out of the possible address, but early clients were less amused - thus the decision to go with feinday.com


"We went with 'feinday' because it seemed much less offensive," said partner David Alberti.


The seven who founded Feinberg Day in 2011 are also the firm's seven partners today. Feinberg Day also has six other lawyers as counsel, and that comprises the entire roster of attorneys.


Despite its small size and brief history, Feinberg Day is well established in the patent law field. Six partners are former DLA Piper patent attorneys, the lone exception being Feinberg, previously a patent lawyer at Mayer Brown LLP. At these larger firms, Feinberg Day lawyers represented clients such as Sony Corp.


Feinberg and Alberti offered few specifics about how many of these firms moved over to Feinberg Day. Feinberg did say, "We all brought some work with us."


Feinberg Day has represented, among other companies, Apple Inc. of Cupertino and Intellectual Ventures Investment LLC of Bellevue, Wash., a controversial firm that has sued a number of tech companies for patent infringement.


Feinberg Day lawyers filed litigation on behalf of Intellectual Ventures Investment against Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility LLC in a still unsolved case.


The firm also represented co-defendant Adobe Systems Inc. of San Jose in Tristrata Inc. v. Microsoft Corp, in a suit regarding alleged patent infringement of computer encryption technology. Microsoft and Adbobe prevailed, though TriStrata has appealed.


Besides already having clients from prior firms, Feinberg Day attorneys "need a relatively few number of clients and a relatively few number of cases" to earn a living, Feinberg said, as patent cases tend to be more complex and wider in scope than, for example, employment or personal injury law.


Feinberg Day litigators are "happy lawyers in a happy firm," Feinberg said, with no plans to expand or diversify beyond patent litigation.

- Matthew Blake

#241950

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