Jeffrey Michael Rosenfeld

With more than a decade of hands-on experience, Jeff devotes his practice to intellectual property and Internet-related litigation. He has litigated numerous matters, including copyright, trademark, trade secret, domain name, CAN-SPAM, data breach, Internet defamation and other Internet-related disputes in federal court, state court and arbitration proceedings. Jeff’s clients are primarily online retailers of everyday products and services, including dietary supplements, office supplies, financial products, home electronics, car rental services, business formation services, religious organizations, and schools and universities. 

A large portion of Jeff’s practice involves intellectual property litigation in the online space, and he regularly represents both defendants and plaintiffs in copyright and trademark infringement lawsuits involving website content.  Jeff also devotes a significant portion of his practice to defending spam litigation and has been involved in several precedent-setting cases. Jeff also regularly litigates matters regarding complex e-commerce systems, including issues relating to merchant processing, online payment systems, affiliate networks and negative options. 

In addition to his litigation practice, Jeff counsels clients on strategic Internet-related issues, including compliance with FTC regulations in online marketplaces, advising on the design and operation of e-commerce websites and the disclosures made on those websites.

Prior to joining Kronenberger Rosenfeld, Jeff was with Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin in San Francisco, and before that, with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. Jeff received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and was an editor on the Georgetown Law Journal.  He received his A.B. from Stanford University.

Jeff was the winner of the First Annual Stanford Technology Law Review paper competition for his paper, “Spiders and Crawlers and Bots”, Oh My, 2002 Stanford Technology Law Rev. 3. He was awarded a speaking position at the Telecommunication Policy Research Conference, and has been recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Star for five consecutive years.

Representative Matters

Spam Litigation Defense

• Represented a major Internet advertising network in an $11 million federal spam lawsuit by a professional spam plaintiff. Prevailed on behalf of client at summary judgment on all claims in the lawsuit; obtained order awarding over $806,000 in fees and sanctions against the professional spam plaintiff. 

• Prevailed on motion to dismiss on behalf of multiple defendants named in a $400 million spam lawsuit brought by a major Washington, D.C. law firm.    

• Represented the owners of a popular online dating website against a professional spam plaintiff in a $19 million California spam lawsuit. Obtained a full dismissal with prejudice for one of the firm’s clients at summary judgment and resolved the remainder of the case shortly thereafter. 

Trademark and Copyright Infringement

• Represented an online retailer of printer supplies in a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by a billion dollar printer manufacturer. 

• Successfully defended a web development company in a federal trademark lawsuit.  After a five-day jury trial, the client defeated all of the plaintiff’s claims, with the jury finding that the plaintiff had not established any valid trademark rights. 

• Represented an online merchant in numerous copyright infringement cases where competitors had copied and displayed the client’s product images on the infringers’ own websites.  In each case, the firm reached a favorable settlement on behalf of the client.    

E-Commerce Systems

• Represented a large online merchant in a lawsuit against a payment processor and payment gateway, which alleged that the defendants had skimmed small amounts from each of the client’s online transactions resulting in a total theft of more than $1.6 million.  After extensive discovery and motion practice, the parties settled in favor of our client. 

• Represented the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against a large online merchant based on the merchant’s creation and settling of financial instruments without proper authorization.  The suit was one of the first to address the federal Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA), and helped define the contours of this important law. The firm ultimately reached a settlement with the defendants in favor of the client. 

“We use a practical approach to all of our litigation. We take into consideration our client’s goals, all of the possible outcomes, and the realistic cost of the litigation in order to develop a vigorous strategy to achieve our client’s goals.”