Over the course of his 25 years of serving as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of California, Judge Brazil acquired considerable experience with intellectual property litigation, especially in patent, trade secret, and trademark matters. Because of the high volume of IP cases in the Northern District and that court’s aggressive use of magistrate judges, Judge Brazil has assumed responsibility for case management, discovery (conventional and ESI), settlement, or trial in a wide range of IP cases.
Judge Brazil’s experience has been especially concentrated in IP disputes involving software and hardware in advanced electronics applications, e.g., patent infringement claims related to:
- Systems for organizing and searching large data bases using variable sequences of criteria
- Systems for managing communication between large data pools and customized end user applications
- Systems enabling consumers to search large and diverse product inventories by sequentially narrowing criteria
- Systems for testing whether customer-tailored versions of generic software function properly in specialized environments
- Systems for website navigation
- Systems to protect the privacy and security of electronic data storage and communication, as well as to conduct minimally invasive forensic searches of electronically stored data
- Means for assuring integrity of forensic duplication and analysis of electronically stored data
- Means for effective and secure communication between remote servers and on-site data processors
- Live streaming of digitalized audio/video transmissions
- Protocols for effective wireless communication by multiple users in closed environment as well as between audio sources and receivers
- Video games
- Robotics
Judge Brazil has also mediated intellectual property cases in a wide range of other arenas:
- High-tech trade secrets
- Business process and customer list trade secrets
- Trade dress of consumer products
- Trademarks in a wide range of products and service providers (commercial, home, jewelry and other accessories, etc.) including mediation of worldwide trademark dispute between European accounting firm and Asian bank
- Cutting edge medical devices, including implantable defibrillators, balloon/catheter technology for addressing heart disease or for other surgical applications, laser surgery technology, and competing types of stents
- Photo-copying and laser technology
- Ionic air purifiers
- Recreational equipment, e.g., trampolines and boomerangs
- Devices used to store and manage use of cable or high-tension wire in construction projects
- Copyright issues regarding unauthorized distribution of core IP source code
Discovery Referee/Trial Master
Judge Brazil is especially well qualified to serve as a discovery referee or trial master in intellectual property cases. He has developed a nationally recognized expertise in sensitive, cutting edge issues arising out of invocations or alleged waivers of attorney-client privilege or work product protection. His experience as a special master for pretrial purposes or a discovery referee (conventional or ESI) includes cases involving:
- Patent
- Trademark
- Unfair competition
Representative Published Opinions
- Sharper Image Corp. v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc., 222 F.R.D. 621 (2004)
- Jumpsport, Inc. v. Jumpking, Inc., 213 F.R.D. 329 (2003)
- Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. v. General Scanning, Inc., 175 F.R.D. 539 (1997)
- Laser Industries, Ltd. v. Reliant Technologies, Inc., 167 F.R.D. 417 (1996)
- Advanced Cardio Vascular Systems, Inc. v. C.R. Bard, Inc., 144 F.R.D. 372 (1992)
- Hewlett Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb, Inc., 116 F.R.D. 533 (1987)
