Marc Fenster

Marc Fenster is a highly experienced first-chair trial lawyer specializing in high-technology patent litigation, serving as co-chair of the Litigation Department and chair of the Patent Litigation department at Russ August & Kabat (RAK). He founded RAK's patent litigation group in 2003, following his tenure at Irell & Manella LLP from 1995 to 2003, where he focused on intellectual property and litigation. His practice primarily involves complex patent disputes across a range of technological areas, including wireless communication, cellular standards-essential patents, cloud software, data encryption and compression, mobile camera and image processing, smart thermostats, targeted advertising, and containerization technology.

Fenster predominantly represents plaintiffs, with nine out of his ten tracked appearances on the plaintiff side. This includes extensive work for entities such as Headwater Research LLC, often described as a patent assertion entity, in actions against major telecommunications and technology companies like Verizon, AT&T, Apple, Samsung, Comcast, and Google. His record reflects a strong track record of securing substantial jury verdicts and favorable settlements for his clients.

Notable outcomes include a $279 million jury verdict (totaling $340 million with prejudgment interest) for Headwater Research LLC against Samsung in 2023 for wireless push messaging technology. He also secured a $175 million jury verdict for Headwater Research LLC against Verizon Communications in 2025. Other significant results include a $315 million jury verdict for SPEX Technologies against Western Digital for encrypted hard disk drives, a $262 million jury verdict for MR Technologie against Western Digital related to magnetic recording media, and a $122 million jury verdict for Almondnet against Amazon for targeted offsite advertising. He led the team that obtained a $20 million jury verdict against Google for smart thermostat technology, which was affirmed by the Federal Circuit in 2024. Fenster also achieved a favorable settlement for Corephotonics in a six-year campaign against Apple concerning mobile camera and image processing patents. His experience extends to Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings, as evidenced by a favorable settlement with Microsoft following PTAB confirmation of claim validity and subsequent Federal Circuit affirmance in Proxyconn v. Microsoft.

Mr. Fenster earned his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law in 1995 and holds both an M.S. (1992) and B.S. (1991) in Bio-Engineering from the University of California - San Diego. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1995.