Christopher J. Wiener - Coblentz Law

Details

P 415.293.6472

F 415.989.1663

cwiener@coblentzlaw.com

Education

J.D., summa cum laude,

University of California College of Law, San Francisco (2011)
B.A., magna cum laude,

Boston University (2008)

Practices

Litigation

Intellectual Property

Christopher Wiener is a trial lawyer focusing on commercial litigation and complex technology disputes. He has extensive experience counseling companies on pre-litigation risks, due diligence, intellectual property valuation, and damages modeling, and has successfully represented clients at every stage of litigation through trial.

Focused on the intersection of technology and commercial litigation, Christopher has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in matters spanning a range of technologies, including smartphones, computer virtualization, headphones, surgical devices, semiconductors, water filtration, and computer-aided design. He has litigated and tried complex commercial litigation matters for clients in a variety of disputes including technology licensing, consumer product development, and real estate. He also has deep experience with all forms of intellectual property, including patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress litigation.

Christopher maintains an active pro bono practice. He represented California school children in a landmark education case brought under the California Constitution that seeks to vindicate the rights of all students to access literacy, no matter their zip code. In February 2014, he secured a favorable mid-trial settlement for a California inmate who sustained injuries due to the use of excessive force while incarcerated.

Prior to joining Coblentz, Christopher was an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco.

Christopher is a member of the State Bar of California and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and he was named by Best Lawyers as “One to Watch” for Intellectual Property Litigation (2021 – 2024). Christopher is a member of the 2023-2024 Leadership San Francisco (LSF) signature program, a ten-month leadership program connected with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. The LSF program focuses on educating and developing community trustees who want to make a significant contribution to strengthen and transform the community. Christopher is admitted to practice before the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California, the Eastern District of Texas, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Christopher earned his J.D. from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco (Hastings), where he graduated summa cum laude. While at Hastings, he was a senior articles editor for the Hastings Law Journal and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Boston University.

Bold LLC v. Rocket Resume, Inc. and Stephen Zimmerman
(N.D. Cal.). Representing Defendants in a copyright infringement suit relating to online resume creation services.

Cyrus Hodes v. Stability AI Inc., Stability AI Ltd., and Mohammad Mostaque
(N.D. Cal.). Represented Defendants in a breach of contract and fiduciary duty dispute involving ownership in Stability AI. Resisted significant early discovery efforts by Plaintiff and obtained a voluntary dismissal after a successful motion to dismiss.

Curcio v. Universal Music Group Holdings, Inc.
(Santa Clara Sup. Ct.). Defending UMGHI in connection with a trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract suit. Obtained a judgment following successful demurrers to repeated amended complaints.

Precision Build Corp. v. Precision Builders Group LLC & Dustin Baxter
(N.D. Cal.). Represented defendants in trademark litigation and business separation dispute, resulting in early negotiated resolution.

SoundExchange, Inc. v. LiveOne, Inc.
(C.D. Cal.). Represented SoundExchange, a non-profit collective rights management organization, in a breach of contract and copyright infringement suit relating to LiveOne’s non-payment of statutory royalties. The case settled favorably.

Glass Egg Digital Media Limited vs. Gameloft, Inc.
(N.D. Cal.). Represented plaintiff Glass Egg in copyright infringement case relating to use of digital assets in mobile video games. The case settled favorably.

Smartphone Litigation
(N.D. Cal.). Member of team that successfully tried multiple high-profile smartphone cases leading to a record-setting jury verdict of over $1 billion.

Confidential Arbitration Matter
Represented a multinational corporation in a contractual dispute regarding the procurement of precision manufacturing. The matter resolved favorably in a foreign court.

Good Technology Corp. v. AirWatch LLC
(N.D. Cal.). Represented AirWatch LLC in a multi-patent infringement suit brought by a competitor alleging infringement by AirWatch’s mobile device management software. The case settled after expert discovery.

Lamar v. Beats, Dr. Dre, and Jimmy Iovine
(LA Sup. Ct.). Represented Defendants in a breach of written royalty agreement involving the design of Beats headphones.

Autodesk, Inc. v. Joseph Alter
(N.D. Cal.). Represented Autodesk in seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement of Defendant’s patent, and declaration of a license, release and covenant not to sue, in connection with techniques to generate photorealistic animated fur and hair. Obtained summary judgment on all claims.

Realtime Data v. NetApp
(E.D. Tex.). Defended NetApp against patent infringement claims relating to data compression and deduplication functionality.

Novadaq Technologies v. Karl Storz GmbH & Co. K.G.
(N.D. Cal.). Represented Novadaq in a trademark infringement and unfair competition suit involving minimally invasive surgical imaging products.

Rearden LLC v. Rearden Commerce, Inc.
(N.D. Cal.). Represented Rearden LLC in a trademark infringement, cybersquatting, and unfair competition suit.

Christopher was named by Best Lawyers “One to Watch” for Intellectual Property Litigation (2021 – 2024).

“Supreme Court’s Bad Spaniels Decision Limits Parody Defense to Trademark Infringement” (June 16, 2023)

“Trademark Parody vs. Copyright Parody,” PLI Intellectual Property Law Institute 2021 (October 19, 2021)

“U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Willfulness Requirement for Trademark Infringement Profits,” (April 28, 2020)