Duy Thai

DUY THAI is Associated Counsel at Teraoka & Partners LLP on a matter by matter basis. Duy has practiced intellectual property law and litigation for over twenty years, representing clients from Dow Jones Industrial companies to start-ups, small businesses, entrepreneurs, executives, artists, designers, and media and creative companies. He has run his own firm as well as previously working at Bingham McCutchen, a major international law firm, and Rogers Joseph O’Donnell, a respected San Francisco litigation boutique.

Duy has counseled clients on the selection and clearance of trademarks and filed numerous applications in the United States and multiple countries under the Madrid Protocol. Whether it is a large global portfolio for a major semiconductor company or a single mark for an Asian company stepping into the U.S. market, Duy has formulated and executed efficient and cost-effective branding strategies for clients. On the international front, he has the benefit of a reliable network of foreign trademark counsel that he has worked with for many years, especially in Asia and Europe.

In litigation, Duy has held first-chair responsibility in state and federal court up to successful jury trials and appeals. He has handled trademark cases, domain name arbitrations before the World Intellectual Property Organization, and cancellation and opposition proceedings in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

In addition, Duy has counseled clients or litigated matters regarding literary and cinematic copyright issues, attorney professional responsibility, patents, trade secrets, breach of contract, unfair competition, and constitutional law. Many of his cases have involved international clients, cross-border issues, or cross-cultural issues in the Asian-American community. He has experience with international discovery and depositions under the Hague Convention.

In his spare time, Duy enjoys hearty food, transcendent music, and fine conversation – especially in places that are hard to locate on a map and far from any five-star establishments. If it were possible for this literature major to pick his favorite authors, they would probably be the 19^th Century American giants.

Bar Admissions

• State Bar of California
• Northern and Eastern Districts of California
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Supreme Court of the United States.

Education

• J.D., University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, 1991 (Prosser Prize in Criminal Law, United States Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship)  

Recognition

• Trailblazer Award, Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California, 2012.
• Unity Award, Minority Bar Coalition, 2014.

Community Involvement

• National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys, President, 2016-17; officer and board member, 2010-2016; founding committee, 2006.
• Task Force co-chair for Vietnamese American Volunteer Law Corps, a public service group organized to educate and advocate for Vietnamese Americans in the Gulf of Mexico region who were impacted by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
• President of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California, 2004-2005; board member 2002-2008.
• Speaker at programs organized by California Lawyers for the Arts and the Small Business Administration.  

Bar Admissions

• State Bar of California
• Northern and Eastern Districts of California
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Supreme Court of the United States.