Practice Experience

Duy Q. Thai is an experienced intellectual property lawyer, focused on trademark prosecution, disputes, and counseling. He also represents clients in complex commercial disputes both internationally and in the US. Mr. Thai’s clients have included companies of all sizes, ranging from Dow Jones Industrial companies to start-ups and small businesses, as well as entrepreneurs, executives, artists, designers, and media and creative companies. He previously was Counsel with Bingham McCutchen, an 800-attorney international law firm. Mr. Thai’s experience includes:

Trademark

• Counseling clients on selection and clearance of trademarks and filing United States and international applications
• Cancellation and opposition proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board..
• Domain name disputes and arbitration, including proceedings before the World Intellectual Property Organization.
• Enforcement of trademark rights from cease-and-desist letters to litigation in state and federal courts.
• Trademark litigation involving international and cross-cultural issues, especially in the Asian-American community.
• Drafting and reviewing trademark-related agreements.

Commercial Litigation

• First-chair responsibility for state and federal litigation through trial and appeal, as well as mediations and arbitrations in a variety of forums. Subject matters include intellectual property, trade secrets, unfair competition, breach of contract, constitutional law, and commercial disputes.
• Represented distributor of telecommunication equipment in China in breach of contract action involving substantial international discovery.
• Won a dismissal on demurrer of fraud claim against major international law firm.
• Tried and won defamation lawsuit on behalf of plaintiff.
• Won a dismissal on demurrer of California Unfair Practices Act lawsuit against 200 small businesses for alleged copyright violation.

Bar/Court Admissions

• California State Bar, admitted 1992
• Supreme Court of the United States
• U.S. District Court, Northern and Eastern Districts of California
• U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Education

• J.D., University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, 1991 (Prosser Prize in Criminal Law, United States Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship)
• B.A., Trinity University, San Antonio (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa)

Languages

• English, Vietnamese, French, and Spanish.

Community Involvement

• President of the Vietnamese-American Bar Association of Northern California, 2004-2005; board member 2002-2008.
• One of the founding organizers of the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys.
• Speaker at programs organized by California Lawyers for the Arts and the Small Business Administration.