Heidi L. Keefe

An astrophysicist turned lawyer, Keefe long sought to be a lobbyist for the space industry but quickly learned that she didn’t have a knack for politics.

She did, however, have a knack for complex patent litigation and after more than 20 years in the field, she’s finally going to get a shot at the stars: one of her newest clients is Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

“They’re literally my dream client,” said Keefe, who’s already invalidated a patent claim against the commercial space company and continues to advise them on other patent matters.

The advent of the privatized space company is just one example of the many changes over the years.

“The best part about my job, it literally changes every year,” Keefe said. “If you think you’re comfortable in patent law, you’re not paying attention.”

Another one of her major clients is Facebook Inc. and in May she secured a win for the social media giant in a nearly decade-long case. Tele-Publishing Inc. v. Facebook Inc., 09-CV11686 (C.D. Mass., filed Oct. 7, 2009).

She invalidated claims with a Section 101 of the Patent Act, which denies patents to abstract ideas designed on a computer.

“When I was a young pup, 101 would never come out of a litigator’s mouth,” Keefe said. “Now it’s a very strong tool in the toolbox.”

In October, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila of San Jose awarded $820,000 in attorney fees to Cooley attorneys led by Keefe and Morrison & Foerster LLP partner Stefani E. Shanberg after they defeated a patent infringement lawsuit against Google LLC by plaintiff Max Sound Corp. The judge ruled that the plaintiff didn’t actually own the patents it was trying to assert. Shanberg was working at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC at the time of Davila’s decision to dismiss the suit.

She continues to advise Facebook, which in recent weeks has come under scrutiny for the Cambridge Analytica data breach, which leaked the data of more than 87 million users.

“I will do whatever Facebook asks me to do,” she said.

— Arin Mikailian