Mark J. Itri

Itri performs transactional work and patent prosecution for clients including Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.-owned Google, Broadcom Ltd., Haas Automation Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Western Digital Corp. subsidiary HGST Inc. “Since last year we added Halliburton, a substantial billing in the order of millions,” he said, referring to the multinational oil field service company.

Most of his work is confidential. For Google, one of McDermott’s largest clients for patent portfolio management, Itri serves as lead counsel and over the past six years has overseen the prosecution of several thousand patent filings.

He said his work includes advising Google on how best to enhance its patent prosecution in view of the company product lines and business objectives. His efforts have centered on online advertising technologies, search, productivity tools, enterprise products, social media, cloud computing and software.

“Most of my work is in the transactional space,” Itri said. “For clients, I have patented commercialized products such as the Apple watch and displays, Lockheed’s satellite and aeronautical technologies, and Broadcom’s telecom chips.”

For Western Digital, a computer data storage technology company headquartered in San Jose, Itri serves as patent prosecution counsel. The company also has sites in China, India, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Then there’s surfing. Itri lives near the waves in Newport Beach and is out most mornings to walk his dogs and ride his board. “When the waves are good, I put the dogs back in the house and go for a surf,” he said.

He combined that avocation with his professional life when McDermott Will & Emery agreed to aid the Surfrider Foundation before the California Coastal Commission in a six-year legal battle over public access to Strand Beach in Dana Point.

In December, gates blocking the surf from the public opened at an exclusive oceanfront development. “Access through the headlands is now unimpeded,” Itri said. City of Dana Point officials and those in charge at the development had placed gates with wire mesh and spikes at the top to block the public during early morning hours and at other times.

“Most people surf in the morning before the winds pick up and after work,” Itri said. A December settlement ensured there will be public access from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. through the walkways at the heart of the controversy.

McDermott got about $600,000 in legal fees following the case, Itri said. “We donated some of that back to Surfrider. This was something I have a real passion for.”

— John Roemer