Ronald Katz, who heads the litigation group in the Palo Alto office, specializes in complex commercial dispute resolution, with an emphasis on intellectual property, antitrust and technology matters. Mr. Katz has been involved in high-profile and novel cases for major clients, both internationally and in Northern California. In 2012, he helped the San Francisco SPCA achieve a significant settlement in a will contest. In 2011 and again in 2012, he argued a trademark appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of football great Jim Brown [Click here to read article]. And in 2010 he defeated a motion for a temporary restraining order in an intra-corporate dispute between two top-level executives [Click here to read article]. Other recent courtroom successes include winning a jury verdict of almost a million dollars from Caltrans [Click here to read article], winning a jury verdict in a patent infringement action involving remote email technology, obtaining a preliminary injunction against infringement of a patent relating to the protection of electronically stored data, and winning a jury verdict of $28.1 million on behalf of a class of retired National Football League players against their union [Click here to read article].

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Katz served as Deputy Director of the Law of the Sea Negotiations at the U.S. State Department and previous to that was an attorney in the Foreign Commerce Section of the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, where he had the honor of receiving the Attorney General’s Outstanding Performance Award. In addition, he was an Overseas Fellow with the International Legal Center in Bandung, Indonesia, where he assisted the Minister of Justice on law reform projects. Mr. Katz currently teaches a course in trial advocacy at Stanford University Law School and a course in sports law at Santa Clara University Law School. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Sports Law and Ethics at Santa Clara University. Mr. Katz established the Torch Fellowships for graduate students at New York University, where he was previously a member of the Board of Overseers.

Representative Recent Litigation

In 2012, Mr. Katz helped the San Francisco SPCA achieve a significant settlement on the eve of trial in a will contest.

In 2011 and again in 2012, Mr. Katz argued an appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for football great Jim Brown regarding Electronic Arts’ use of his image in its Madden football videogames.  That matter is under submission.

In 2010, Mr. Katz defeated an application for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented his owner-CEO client from terminating a co-owner as CFO.

In 2009, Mr. Katz won a jury verdict of almost $1 million for a multi-billion dollar operator of truck stops against Caltrans in a case stemming from an aborted land deal.

In 2008, Mr. Katz won a $28.1 million jury verdict for a class of 2,062 retired NFL players who sued their union.

In 2007, Mr. Katz won an anti-SLAPP motion for a venture capital client, nipping his adversary’s case in the bud, and then prevailed on his motion for statutory attorneys’ fees and costs.

In 2006, Mr. Katz won a jury verdict in a patent infringement case in Marshall, Texas, involving remote email technology, as reported in The Wall Street Journal on May 4, 2006, on page B4.

In 2006, Mr. Katz obtained an injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against a company seeking to circumvent a patent for a device protecting electronically stored data.

In 2006, Mr. Katz won a jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in a breach of contract and copyright infringement case between two electronic search companies.

In 2004, Mr. Katz obtained an injunction in the Southern District of New York preventing the company formerly known as 321 Studios from selling DVD X Copy software.