Brian L. Ferrall

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Professional Summary — Brian L. Ferrall

Focus areas. Ferrall's patent work centers on electronics and networking hardware, semiconductors, and software. Documented matters include semiconductor fabrication and design (Xilinx v. Altera; TSMC; Intel in STC.UNM v. Intel), cable/broadband and streaming technology (Comcast in the Two-Way Media, Promptu, and OpenTV matters), enterprise networking software (Cisco v. Arista Networks, covering the copyrightability of ethernet switch command-line interfaces), and software licensing/anti-piracy patents (Uniloc's '216 software-registration patent). Firm and press profiles also describe a biotech-adjacent side of his practice (Comcast, Arista, TSMC, and Coherus Biosciences were cited as clients in a 2017 Daily Journal profile). No Wi-Fi standard-essential or pharmaceutical-chemistry patent work appears in the available record.

Side preference. Predominantly a defense-side litigator for operating companies. The tracked data reflects one appearance and it is on the defendant side — Uniloc USA, Inc. et al. v. Sony Corporation of America et al. (Uniloc's '216 patent litigation in E.D. Tex.), where he represented Sony. Although a 2011 firm release described him as representing clients "as both plaintiff and defendant," the concrete, verifiable outcomes in his portfolio are almost uniformly defense wins for technology companies. There is no indication of a plaintiff-side NPE/PAE prosecution practice.

Firm context. Ferrall spent most of his career at Keker & Van Nest / Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco, where firm materials and legal directories from roughly 2000 through 2018 identify him as a partner. Note a discrepancy with the tracked entry, which lists him as "of counsel" in the Uniloc matter; directory and firm sources from the same era describe him as a partner, so the docket designation may be incomplete. Earlier in his career he clerked for U.S. District Judge Veronica D. Wicker (1991–92) and was an associate at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison (1992–95), and he was a Fulbright Fellow in European law (London/Brussels, 1996–97). A December 2020 Delaware withdrawal notice states he was "no longer associated with the firm of Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP"; his subsequent firm affiliation is not verified in the sources reviewed and should not be assumed.

Notable results. His most prominent reported win is Two-Way Media Ltd. v. Comcast Cable Communications LLC (D. Del.), where Judge Richard G. Andrews invalidated the asserted multicasting/streaming patents under Alice (Aug. 2016); Ferrall argued the Federal Circuit appeal, which affirmed in November 2017, and the en banc petition was denied in March 2018 — notable because Two-Way had won a $28 million verdict against AT&T on the same patents. He also won a jury verdict for Arista Networks against Cisco on copyright and patent claims (N.D. Cal.), and litigated Xilinx's 2000 jury verdict of infringement against Altera. He argued for Intel in STC.UNM v. Intel, where the Federal Circuit (6–4, Sept. 2014) declined en banc review of the dismissal of a co-owned patent suit over an unwilling co-owner.

PTAB / IPR. The record does not show a high-volume IPR/PGR practice. Documented PTAB-adjacent work includes the Comcast covered-business-method review against Promptu Systems (CBM2018-00033), filed in parallel with the E.D. Pa. litigation in which he was lead outside counsel.

Bar / education. Admitted California, 1992 (State Bar No. 160847); J.D., Harvard Law School, 1991; B.A., Johns Hopkins University, 1988. He co-authored a Sedona Conference Journal article on induced infringement and the Global-Tech willful-blindness standard.