Lisa S. Yao
direct: (650) 566-9923
lyao@kokkalaw.com
Ms. Yao specializes in intellectual property law, including trademark, copyright, licensing, and national/international technology transactions. She provides counsel to clients on trademark and copyright preparation and prosecution, licensing, portfolio development, and strategic intellectual property matters such as domestic and international enforcement of intellectual property rights. Her practice also focuses on transactional matters between technology companies, organizations, and universities, providing advice ranging from joint ventures, co-development agreements, intellectual property licensing, and intellectual property aspects of complex commercial transactions, including private equity, financial restructuring, and international technology transfer activities. Her clients range across a variety of sectors, including software, information technology, semiconductor, electronics, clean/green technology, energy, mechanical, fashion, and consumer packaged goods industries.
Ms. Yao has practiced at notable law firms in San Francisco and Silicon Valley on matters in the areas of intellectual property, technology transactions, and commercial litigation, including copyright, director transactions, contract, and employment law. With a strong litigation background and focus on transactional intellectual property law matters, she brings a wealth of experience as a former federal judicial extern to the Honorable Patricia V. Trumbull, Chief Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Ms. Yao received a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law, where she was on the Dean's List and honored with the Outstanding Comment Award Recipient for the Santa Clara Law Review. While at Santa Clara University School of Law, she was the Articles Editor for the Santa Clara Law Review and participated in the Santa Clara Honors Moot Court and State Bar Student Environmental Negotiations Competition teams. Ms. Yao also studied law at Brooklyn Law School, where she was honored as a Richardson Merit Scholar.
Ms. Yao is a member of the State Bar of California and is licensed to practice before the state courts of California, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of California, and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit.
Publications:
Easing an Impracticable Standard of Proof: Amending the FTDA to Overcome Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc.'s Actual Dilution Requirement and to Provide a Uniform Test for Dilution, 46 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 677.