Jeff Joyner
Jeff coordinates and manages international legal teams as outside general counsel for companies across an expansive set of industries, including health and wellness products, clean technologies, advanced transportation, alternative energy, consumer products, entertainment and media, clothing and apparel, and food and beverage, among others. He helps clients achieve such goals as incentives, grants and funding to public offerings, joint venture partners, acquisitions, and the protection and aggregation of intellectual property.
In addition to serving as outside counsel, Mr. Joyner's passion for sustainability and emerging technologies has made him a leader within organizations at the forefront of these industries. He has advised and been an active limited partner of one of the first clean technology venture funds that has included a portfolio of Internet of Things (IoT) protocols, efficient lighting, energy efficiency rebates, solar, carbon credit management, water purification, and bio pesticide companies. He has also co-founded and co-chaired alliances and foundations to help develop client industries resulting in jobs and economic growth through organizations like the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.
Jeff's standing as a trusted adviser is built on a foundation in intellectual property law and a wealth of experience developing and protecting his clients' most valuable assets. He is regularly sought after to serve as lead trial counsel in litigation involving substantial damage claims in the U.S. and abroad. In addition, Mr. Joyner has significant experience in the execution of worldwide intellectual property development, acquisition, protection, enforcement, branding, and licensing programs for patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrighted works. In particular, he has been very active in litigating lawsuits throughout the United States involving patent, trademark, trade dress, and copyright infringement, anti-counterfeiting, reverse confusion, dilution, unfair competition, contractual disputes, licensing disputes, domain name disputes, and rights of publicity. Drawing on his wide-ranging experience in intellectual property litigation and trials, Jeff has enforced such judgments against both U.S. and foreign defendants, including, but not limited to, judgments reaching nine figures by way of settlement, jury verdict, default judgment, and summary judgment.
Jeff also utilizes his expansive knowledge to advise clients in the entertainment and media industry on matters ranging from the launch of clothing, product, and technology companies for celebrities to copyright audits and sophisticated analysis of musical icons' estates for the exploitation of copyrighted works with combined value in the millions of dollars.
Jeff has not only been instrumental as lead counsel on significant transactions and bet-the-company litigation, but also in supporting clients by founding coalitions advocating for policy and legislative frameworks for industry clusters, such as natural care products; advanced transportation, including electric, autonomous, and connected vehicles; AI; blockchain; and the convergence of entertainment and media with technology.
Related Practices
- Brand and Content Protection
- Corporate
- Environmental and Natural Resources
- Environmental Policy and Rulemaking
- Finance
- Infrastructure
- Intellectual Property
- Intellectual Property Litigation
- International Trade
- Legislative and Government Affairs
- Litigation
- Public-Private Partnerships
- Regulatory
- Technology Transactions and Outsourcing
- Trademark and Brand Protection
Related Industries
- Climate Change
- Consumer Products and Services
- Emerging Companies: Venable Venture Services
- Energy Efficiency and Grid Resilience
- Energy Industry
- Entertainment and Media
- Entertainment Industry Professionals
- Growth Companies
- Mobility and Transportation Technology
- Renewable and Alternative Energy
- Transportation and Transportation Infrastructure
Experience
Representative Matters
- Obtained $9.5 million award in arbitration and 10 lawsuits related to the installation by solar company client of 10 solar farms
- Obtained summary judgment of invalidity of patent related to interactive website technology for consumer marketing
- Obtained summary judgment of invalidity and non-infringement related to design patent for game canister
- Secured dismissal for major medical device company in patent action regarding needleless valve technology
- Secured invalidity at trial of patent and settlement for Fortune 100 companies in a patent action brought against 21 defendants regarding a method for allegedly allowing website users to interact with media including photos, video, and sound
- Obtained dismissal for national company in a patent action brought against 36 defendants regarding a method for allegedly filtering SPAM
- Obtained dismissal of Fortune 50 company in a patent action regarding alleged collapsibility of plastic bottles
- Obtained summary judgment of non-infringement for Fortune 100 company in a patent action brought against 42 defendants regarding alleged Ethernet technology
- Defended Fortune 100 company in a patent action brought against nine defendants regarding alleged credit card and gift card reader technology
- Secured settlement and indemnity for Fortune 50 company in a patent action brought regarding alleged flame-retardant pallet technology
Successfully defended motion to stay upon re-exam, immediately enforced by way of executing on bank accounts and recovered for client the $5,000,000 monetary judgment within weeks of Federal Circuit’s precedential decision applying Intel "reasonably capable of infringing" line of cases to affirm monetary judgment - Obtained attorneys’ fees and trademark damages at trial of more than $120 million based on the defendants’ sales in the amount of only $36 million by proving willful infringement. The court not only trebled the damages but also awarded punitive damages in the amount of $5 million based on separate deceptive trade practices and unfair competition claims
- Secured $93 million final judgment. The Court entered judgment against defendants and awarded more than $93 million for compensatory damages and prejudgment interest and enjoined the defendants from infringing the patents
- Argued case in which the court ordered defendants to post an $80 million prejudgment bond to secure the payment of a potential judgment award for infringing the patents.
- Argued case in which court found the defendants to have willfully infringed the patents and entered a permanent injunction and awarded damages based on the jury verdict in the amount of $12.8 million, trebled damages, attorneys’ fees, pre- and post-judgment interest, and an accounting
- Obtained $1.2 million final judgment. The court struck the defendants’ answer, enjoined the defendants from infringing the patents, and awarded damages in the amount of $1.2 million, which resulted in a settlement
- Obtained three different seizure orders from federal courts, and the United States Marshals Service and local law enforcement officers seized thousands of pieces of infringing product and nearly one million pages of electronic and physical documents at the Consumer Electronics Show and warehouses
- Obtained $4 million contempt sanctions and fees. The court awarded what amounts to over $4 million and ordered the defendants to post a $2 million bond and submit to audits in China and the United States. The order allowed the unannounced inspections of the defendants' facilities and factories
- Reached an early settlement for a payment of the outstanding royalty in the amount of approximately $2 million and execution of an Authorized Reseller Agreement
- Obtained over $4 million award against four defaulting defendants. Although discovered sales by the defendants were nominal, the court awarded $1 million in trademark damages from each group of defendants based on their obstructionist discovery tactics
- Successfully argued for incarceration of defendant until he pays several million dollars in contempt sanctions or proves that he is unable to tender payment
- Recovered millions by assignment of defendants’ accounts receivable. Resulting in the recovery of millions of dollars in sanctions, the court ordered unique relief by requiring the defendants' account debtors such as large retailers pay the plaintiff, instead of the defendants, to satisfy the sanctions
- Obtained repatriation of all funds transferred by defendants overseas during a patent lawsuit. To assist in recovering damages for patent infringement, the court ordered the defendant to repatriate millions of dollars she had transferred out of the United States and to deposit those funds into a bank in California to pay for the lost royalty and treble damages award in an amount of over $45 million
- Successfully argued to freeze defendants’ assets in patent action. In two separate actions, the court granted requests to freeze all of the defendants' assets, including all real property, stocks, and bank accounts in patent infringement actions to pay for lost royalty and treble damages awards in amounts of over $45 million and $93 million, respectively
- Successfully advocated for impoundment of defendants’ inventory. Local law enforcement was permitted to search for records and impound the defendants' entire inventory, which was valued at over $10,000,000
- Successfully argued for the court to grant a request to certify and register for execution the order for civil contempt sanctions for enforcement in all U.S. jurisdictions
- Avoided a costly patent infringement trial by obtaining, the day before trial, an order striking the defendants’ answer and entering their default. “Swinging a heavy hammer, a federal judge has stricken answers filed by numerous companies accused of patent infringement and entered default judgments against the defendants based on ‘a pattern of utter disregard for the rules of procedure and discovery.’" (Central District Almanac, Vol. XVII, No. 09, August 6, 2007)
- Successfully argued for magistrate judge to recommend the imposition of severe evidentiary sanctions against the defendants, precluding them from introducing any evidence at trial related to their defenses of non-infringement or any evidence to contradict the damages expert
- Avoided a costly patent infringement trial by obtaining default judgments which caused optical disc replicators to discontinue their business of infringing the patents
- Negotiated settlements for millions of dollars early in numerous patent infringement actions, avoiding costly discovery and trials
Insights
Credentials
Education
- J.D. cum laude Southwestern University School of Law 1995
- Contributor, Law Review
- American Jurisprudence Awards
- Corpus Juris Secundum Awards
- Judicial Externship, Judge Arthur L. Alarcon, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Judicial Externship, Justice Margaret Grignon, California Court of Appeal
- B.A. George Washington University 1989
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Professional Memberships and Activities
- Board member, U.S.-China CleanTech Center
- Member, Advisory Board, e4 Advanced Transportation Centers
- Co-chair and co-founder, e4 Mobility Alliance, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC)
- Chair, e4 Autonomous Vehicle Branding Task Force, LAEDC
- Member, Green Economy Committee, LAEDC
- Member, Leadership Council, Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator
- Board member, CleanTech Los Angeles
- Active limited partner, Clean Pacific Ventures
- Board member, Seven Arrows School
- Board member, Westside Music Foundation
- Member, International Trademark Association (INTA)
- Committee member, INTA Harmonization of Trademark Law and Practice
- Committee member, INTA International Classification
- Member, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Intellectual Property and Entertainment Sections
- Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Century City Bar Association
- Member, International Bar Association
- Member, Association of Business Trial Lawyers Los Angeles
- Member, International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition
Recognition
- World Trademark Review
- WTR 1000, Enforcement and Litigation, California, 2019 - 2020
- WTR 1000, Prosecution and Strategy, California, 2015 - 2017
- IAM Patent 1000, The World’s Leading Patent Professionals, Litigation, 2015 - 2018
- Super Lawyers
- Southern California, 2012 - 2013, 2017 - 2019
- Rising Star, 2004 - 2007
- Daily Journal, 75 Top IP Litigators in California, 2010
- Forbes, America’s Premiere Lawyers, 2006
Community
Personal Activities
- Eagle Scout
- Head coach, Shetland Pirates, Pony League Baseball, Santa Monica
- Coach, Pacific Palisades Basketball League
- Coach, AYSO Pacific Palisades Soccer League