Our team combines its expertise in IP law with its operational knowledge of business and technology.

We all have operational experience, that is, we have worked as members of technical staff or business managers in our past careers. With in-depth operational experience, our team is well accustomed to real-life challenges facing emerging as well as mature companies.

Soody Tronson

With over 25 years of operational experience in law, technology, and management in start-up and fortune 100 companies, Soody’s strategic insight coupled with her practical approach is a key asset, whether acting as counsel and adviser or leading her own ventures. Soody lectures on IP, licensing, technology transfer, and entrepreneurship…

Damon Kali

Damon Kali, Of Counsel, specializes in patent prosecution and associated client counseling. His practice emphasizes the preparation and prosecution of patent applications in a wide range of technologies including semiconductor device fabrication, bioinformatics, gene chip technology, computer software, and digital imaging equipment.

Prior to attending law school Damon worked for Gruntec America where he gained valuable experience in biohazardous waste remediation, which included thermal analysis of incineration devices used in the destruction of heterogeneous waste streams, process control modeling and software implementation for automated incineration devices, and emission control systems to meet EPA and NAFTA requirements for incineration devices both in the United States and Mexico. Damon also developed a hybrid full stream video system to deliver educational content for SERA Learning Technologies in cooperation with Stanford University, Sun Systems, Chico State University, and California Polytechnic University.

While attending Santa Clara University he was the President of the Intellectual Property Association, a member of Phi Delta Phi Legal Honors Fraternity and a La Raza Mentor. He also completed the High Tech Certificate Program while attending Santa Clara.

Damon is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and is a member of the California Bar Association.

Jim McDaniel

Jim, Of Counsel, brings over 27 years of national and international intellectual property experiences. Jim has personally prepared and prosecuted over 200 issued US patents. His patent preparation and prosecution practice emphasizes the preparation and prosecution of patent applications in a wide range of technologies…

including computer software, business methods, printer hardware and software, print heads, semiconductor devices, nanotechnology, healthcare, pulp and paper manufacturing, packaging, lasers, aircraft engines, superconductivity technologies, CT scanners, diagnostic equipment, consumer products, SOX/NOX reduction, transformers, optics, automotive suspension systems, glass manufacturing and composition, and locomotives.

Jim also has extensive national and international experience in intellectual property agreements, due diligence analyses, product clearances, intellectual property licensing, intellectual property purchases and sales, intellectual property assertions, and intellectual property litigation.??Prior to attending law school, Jim worked for the United States Patent and Trademark Office as an examiner. After graduating from George Mason University School of Law, Jim worked at the law Firm of Schlesinger and Myers, General Electric Company, Westvaco Corporation, and Hewlett Packard Company.

In 2009, a license agreement that Jim prepared was awarded the Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada)-2009 Deals of Distinction Award Winner. Jim holds a J.D. and B.S, and is licensed to practice before the State of Virginia, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Patrick Reilly

Patrick, of counsel, structures and implements full spectrum intellectual property strategies for ventures that provide competitive barriers and increase the leverage of our clients in both seeking funding and building strategic partnerships.  More particularly, he interweaves a unified and solid foundation of  …

patent protection, trademark selection and registration, copyright registration and trade secret policies.  Having had 15 years Tech sales and marketing experience prior to attending law school, he applies this experience to guide his clients in protecting the most commercially relevant aspects of their intellectual property.

Patrick has earned a Certificate in Russian Language Studies from the Defense Language Institute (Monterey), a B.S. in Sociology from the Excelsior University (New York), a B.S.E.E from the University of Toledo, and a Juris Doctor from Purdue Global Law School.  He has worked in German, Russian, French and Japanese Language environments. He is a member of the California State Bar and the Federal Patent Bar.

Jeff Limon

Over his 25+ years of experience, Jeff Limon, the firm’s senior patent agent, has worked as a member of technical staff at several companies including Hughes Helicopters (which later became McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems), McDonnell Aircraft, and Motorola …

Years later, Jeff transitioned to patent practice, helping companies transform research into a legal instrument (e.g., a patent). In this capacity he has worked at Hewlett-Packard and several law firms.

Jeff holds a BSEE (electrical engineering) and a MSEE (microwave engineering), as is registered as an patent agent with the USPTO.

Alma Kali

Alma is the firm’s certified IP paralegal. Alma has over ten years of patent prosecution experience and has worked in both corporate and law-firm environments. Alma holds a B.S. in political theory from San Jose State University and is the founder and president  …

of a nonprofit organization that seeks to alleviate poverty in Bosnia and Herzegovina, her country of birth.  In the future, Alma hopes to pursue a graduate degree in Global Technology and Development while remaining current in the field of intellectual property.

Pegah Abdollah

Pegah is the firm’s legal intern. Pegah is currently a student at John F. Kennedy School of Law and will receive her J.D./M.B.A. in 2015.  Pegah’s professional interests are in intellectual property, immigration, and family law and she is a Court Appointed Special Special Advocate (CASA) for Santa Clara County ….

She received a B.A. in Art History from San Jose State University and has lived in Asia, Europe, and North America. When not studying or working at an internship, she likes to hike and spend time with family, friends, and her dog, Copper.

Sousan Karimi

Sousan, as the firm’s technical expert and scientific adviser, brings over 20 years of professional experience computer science and advanced programming, with specialization in distributed databases. Her career spans academia as well as the industry. She has served as lead and principal research engineer …

and programmer on many key projects.  Some of her exemplary positions include principal research engineer at MCNC Research and Development Institute’s Center for Networked Information Discovery and Retrieval (CNIDR) and senior software analyst at Intergraph Corporation.

As the Senior Software Analyst, while at Intergraph Corporation, she was responsible for the analysis, design, and implementation of software applications in graphics and non-graphic environments, most prominently, GIS applications on a UNIX platform and using a C based Object Oriented language. She has also held lead positions in the design and development of middleware components for the patent searching system commissioned by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Sousan’s technical expertise includes distributed databases, interactive web based information retrieval applications, web-based query system to search agricultural survey data. Sousan was an active member of the Grid Information Retrieval Working Group in the Global Grid Forum, and has served as a panelist in the NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) review panel. As a researcher at the University of Central Florida, she worked on a NASA-funded Q&A research project that used thematic roles and statistical analysis for performing data searches of NASA manuals. She is the recipient of several awards including 1992 MasPar Challenge Contest for developing applications for massively parallel computers. Sousan also played a key role in the development of an interactive multi-media educational program for pediatric cardiology while at the University of Iowa. She has taught various computer science courses while at the University of Central Florida and the University of Iowa. Sousan is also the founder and president of Silver Krescent, a technology company.

Sousan holds an M.S. in Computer Science, University of Central Florida,; with all course work completed toward towards Ph.D. degree in Computer Science at the University of Iowa, with research emphasis on distributed systems.