Heidi Keefe

I'll research Heidi Keefe's professional background before drafting.

Let me verify the tracked case and prior firm history.

Heidi Keefe — Partner, Cooley LLP (Palo Alto)

Specialty / focus areas. Keefe is a first-chair patent trial lawyer whose practice centers on complex technology litigation for large operating companies. Cooley's practice description and Chambers profile characterize her technical range as running "from software to medical devices," and her client roster spans consumer electronics, social media, augmented reality, cloud/security software, and life sciences. The tracked case data is consistent with that profile: the single indexed appearance, One-E-Way, Inc. v. Apple Inc., involved Bluetooth wireless audio coding and pairing technology. Reported matters also include data-center cooling (CoolIT Systems), augmented-reality patents (Niantic), and pharmaceutical/life-sciences disputes (Liquidia Technologies, Astellas Pharma, Quanterix).

Side preference. She is, by tracked count, a defense-side litigator — 0 plaintiff-side appearances versus 1 defendant-side appearance, as lead counsel, in the authoritative case list. That single-appearance sample is far narrower than her actual footprint: Cooley describes her as representing technology companies primarily as defendants, and she has handled 50+ Federal Circuit patent appeals in recent years, "the majority as appellee." She is not an NPE/PAE-side prosecutor.

Firm context. Keefe joined Cooley in 2009 from White & Case, part of a three-partner IP litigation group (with Mark Weinstein and Mark Lambert) that moved to Cooley's Palo Alto office. Before White & Case she was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. She remains a Cooley partner in Palo Alto and is perennially ranked in Chambers USA for patent litigation (California and nationwide) and The Legal 500 US.

Notable cases and outcomes. Her most cited result is Rembrandt Social Media LP v. Facebook Inc. (E.D. Va. 2014), where she was trial counsel and the jury returned a complete defense verdict, finding Facebook did not infringe and invalidating the asserted patents. She also led Facebook's defense in Cross Atlantic Capital Partners v. Facebook (E.D. Pa.), where patent invalidation was affirmed on appeal in 2014, and the firm states she had a lead role in both of Facebook's patent jury trials to date. In the tracked matter, One-E-Way v. Apple, she argued the Federal Circuit appeal for Apple; the court affirmed the Central District of California's summary judgment of non-infringement on August 14, 2023 (No. 22-2020, nonprecedential). She also represented Apple in the related IPR (IPR2021-00287) against the One-E-Way patents. Other reported wins include a Delaware trial victory for RSB Spine in a patent interference against DePuy Synthes and multiple victories for Liquidia Technologies.

PTAB / IPR experience. Yes — this is a significant part of her practice. She regularly handles PTAB briefings and oral hearings, is ranked among the top PTAB practitioners by Docket Navigator, and has been recognized on Law360's "Top Women in PTAB Appearances" and the PTAB Bar Association's "Top 50 Women in PTAB Trials." She also appears before the International Trade Commission.

Bar / education. Admitted in California (1995) and registered to practice before the USPTO (Reg. No. 40,673); J.D., Santa Clara University School of Law (1995); B.A., Wellesley College (1992). Court admissions include the N.D. Cal., C.D. Cal., E.D. Tex., Ninth Circuit, and Federal Circuit.

Note on sourcing: The practice metrics above (260+ patent cases, 50+ Federal Circuit appeals, client lists) are drawn from Cooley's and Chambers' own published profiles and should be treated as firm-supplied descriptions rather than independently verified figures. The tracked case list for this engagement contains only the One-E-Way matter; any broader case history is from public reporting and firm materials.