Francesca Miki Shima Germinario
Of Counsel
+1 (415) 426-4735
[email protected]
Francesca Miki Shima Germinario is an intellectual property litigator focused on patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark disputes. Her practice is trial-oriented by design, and she approaches each matter with the conviction that every stage of litigation from early case assessment and discovery through pretrial motions and the courtroom itself, should reflect the path to trial.
Her experience cuts across technology sectors and she has expertise in technically demanding subject matter including computer vision, wireless and networking protocols, mobile device UI, aerospace systems, navigation systems, network hardware, household appliances, algorithm-driven medical monitoring devices, camera technology, and software applications across industries.
Francesca holds a B.A. (Hons) in Jurisprudence from Oxford University (Somerville College) where she served as Chairman and President of the Somerville College Law Society, and a Master’s in International Business Law from Universiteit Tilburg in the Netherlands, where she worked as a research assistant in healthcare and sciences competition law regarding intellectual property protection for nonbiological complex drugs.
She is admitted to practice in California and New York, before the United States District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of California, Western District of Texas, and Southern District of New York, and before the Federal Circuit.
In her copious spare time, she enjoys logging into Westlaw from new and exciting locales, debating the impact of the 10-year treasury yield, comparing champagnes over a plate of fries, and assembling obstacle courses for her two cats.
Education
- Oxford University, B.A. (Honors)
- Universiteit Tilburg, LL.M (Business Law)
Bar Admissions
- California
- New York
Court Admissions
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
The Wave Studio, LLC v. General Hotel Management Ltd. et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Representing independent marketing and media studio Wave in asserting copyright infringement claims against numerous cross sections of the travel industry.
MavorCo Operating LLC v. SharkNinja Operating LLC (D. Del.): Representing consumer blender maker MavorCo in asserting patent infringement claims against SharkNinja regarding novel consumer device technology.
Activision Publishing, Inc. v. Warzone.com, LLC (C.D. Cal): Represented indie video game developer Warzone in trademark infringement declaratory judgment action brought by Activision regarding its Call of Duty Warzone franchise after motion to dismiss was reversed and remanded, directing discovery, deposing corporate and expert witnesses on both sides, and briefing dispositive motions. Prevailed at the dispositive motion stage and secured a mutually favorable resolution on the eve of trial.
In Re: Omni Bridgeway LLC (D. Del.): Represented Omni Bridgeway regarding third party discovery in patent infringement litigation. Successfully transferred case from Delaware back to California before the same Court in the underlying case.
Display Technologies, LLC v. Discord Inc. (N.D. Cal.): Defended Discord against patent infringement claims by Display Technologies. The asserted patents claimed improvements to digital media and social media technologies. Secured dismissal at motion to dismiss stage.
WSOU Investments v. Google LLC (W.D. Tex.): Defended Google against patent infringement claims directed to mobile barcode reading technology, directing discovery across a dozen product teams, prepar-ing and defending corporate witnesses at deposition, developing invalidity, non-infringement, and damages theories with experts, and briefing dispositive and pretrial motions.
Purdue Research Foundation v. Google LLC (W.D. Tex.): Defended Google against patent infringement claims directed to detection of power bugs in mobile device software, securing early transfer to the Northern District of California and subsequent resolution on invalidity grounds.
Implicit, LLC v. NETSCOUT Systems, Inc. (E.D. Tex.): Represented Implicit in asserting patent infringe-ment claims directed to networking and data demultiplexing technology, deposing experts on prior art, briefing dispositive motions, and preparing direct and cross-examinations for trial.
Space Data Corp. v. Google LLC et al. (N.D. Cal.): Represented startup Space Data in trade secrets and patent litigation against Google related to lighter-than-air (LTA) aircraft mesh networking technology, managing discovery, developing infringement and trade secret theories with experts, and briefing claim construction and pretrial motions through trial preparation. Secured a favorable resolution after prevailing on dispositive motions at the pretrial conference.
Pre-litigation counseling: Advised client companies on technical and claims analysis in anticipation of patent, trade secret, employment, and contract litigation.