Kieran Kieckhefer is a partner in the Litigation Group. Her practice focuses on patent, software copyright, and technical trade secret litigation in federal district courts. Kieran has experience across a broad spectrum of technologies and has handled cases in fields such as semiconductors, software, consumer electronics, networking, and cybersecurity.

An experienced trial attorney, Kieran has participated in a dozen trials and first-chaired half of them.  Kieran has tried patent, trade secret, breach of employment contract, and Lanham Act claims. She also has a breadth of experience before federal appellate courts, including the Ninth Circuit, Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kieran plays an active role in the support, mentorship, and retention of women in law. In 2012, she had the privilege of serving the City and County of San Francisco as an assistant district attorney.

• Lead counsel for Western Digital in three patent offensive competitor case currently pending in the Northern District of California.
• Lead counsel for Western Digital in two patent defensive competitor case involving error correction technology currently pending in the Western District of Texas.
• Lead counsel for Western Digital in a seven-patent case in the Western District of Texas involving semiconductor fabrication technology; successfully settled for Western Digital.
• Lead counsel for Western Digital in a two-patent case currently pending in the Western District of Texas involving USB technology.
• Lead counsel for client EagleView on eight patent offensive case involving roofing technology currently pending in the District of Utah.
• Lead counsel for client EagleView on nine patent offensive case involving roofing technology currently pending in the District of Utah.
• Lead counsel for client EagleView on three patent offensive case involving roofing technology currently pending in the District of Delaware.
• Lead counsel for Cadence Design Systems in breach of contract and copyright infringement action currently pending before the HKIAC; successfully resolved similar case on behalf of Cadence also in the HKIAC.
• Lead counsel for cloud contact center software company in a competitor case involving breach of contract and related claims.
• Lead counsel in a five-patent infringement action involving call center technology in the Northern District of California; successfully achieved dismissal of the case for client following the Court’s indication that it would grant motion to dismiss on all five patents on Section 101 grounds.
• Lead counsel for workplace wellness company in trade secret, breach of contract, and violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claims against a former employee who left the company to join a competitor currently pending in the Central District of California; successfully settled.
• Trial counsel for a cybersecurity services provider in a patent infringement action on computer networking technologies in the Northern District of California; successfully secured jury verdict of $6.4 million in damages and a finding that opposing party’s infringement was willful; also obtained a permanent injunction against opposing party.
• Trial counsel for memory channel storage company in a three-week jury trial in the Northern District of California concerning storage and memory modules; successfully obtained a verdict in favor of client on breach of contract, technical trade secrets and inventorship claims.
•  Represented technology company in a patent infringement action in the Northern District of California; the case involved computer networking technologies and resulted in a successful settlement.
• Successfully represented data and storage company in a patent, copyright and trade secret infringement action in the Northern District of California; after a three-week trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict awarding client $112 million in damages.
• Successfully represented a manufacturing company in a four-month jury trial in the Central District of California and obtained a $88 million verdict for represented client based on a finding of willful and malicious misappropriation of trade secrets; the case involved numerous claims including copyright, trade secret, Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO), trademark and trade dress, and unfair competition.
• Represented a semiconductor company in a two-month jury trial in the Northern District of California regarding Sherman Act Section 2 violations alleged against opposing party; also represented a technology company in a patent infringement case in the Northern District of California regarding a competitor’s assertion of memory technology patents against features incorporated in Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC)-standard dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
  
   

Awards & Accolades

• Recognized by IAM Patent 1000 for patent litigation (2022, 2021)
• Litigator of the Week, “Shearman Trio Stands Up for Open-Source Software,” The AmLaw Litigation Daily (2020)
• Recognized in “40 & Under Hot List” by Benchmark Litigation (2020)

Professional Affiliations

• Co-Founder, Retention of Women in Intellectual Property Taskforce

Speaking Engagements

• Benchmark Litigation, Women in Litigation Forum, Panelists for Trends to Monitor in IP Litigation