Kenneth M. Fitzgerald

Overview

Kenneth M. Fitzgerald is an experienced trial lawyer, practicing business litigation with an emphasis on complex commercial cases and intellectual property disputes. Before joining the firm, Mr. Fitzgerald was a partner at Latham & Watkins, where he successfully tried numerous cases to verdict in state and federal courts throughout the country. Mr. Fitzgerald has handled a wide variety of commercial litigation matters involving contracts, business torts, trademarks, trade dress, copyrights, false advertising, unfair competition, insurance coverage, construction, defamation, fraudulent conveyance, antitrust, securities, white collar crime, employment, probate and ERISA issues.

In the intellectual property area, Mr. Fitzgerald has successfully prosecuted and defended copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret and false advertising/unfair competition actions for Akamai Technologies, Bare Escentuals, Charlotte Russe, the Famous San Diego Chicken, Gen-Probe, HBO, Minnesota Manufacturing & Mining (3M), Nissan, Rice University, ScubaPro, TaylorMade Golf, and other intellectual property owners. In other business litigation, he has represented the National Football League, AOL, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Barratt Developments, CIBC, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, DirecTV, Fluor, Hughes Network Systems, Gateway, Hilton, Hyatt, Hydranautics, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, Montrose Chemical, Neiman-Marcus, Nintendo, Oracle, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Reebok, Reed Elsevier, Relational Investors, Safeway, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, Societe Generale, Sony Electronics, Teledyne, Themis Bar Review, United Technologies, Viasat and others. He has also served as a Special Assistant District Attorney, prosecuting multiple criminal jury trials.

Mr. Fitzgerald has been ranked several times as one of the Top 10 attorneys in San Diego by San Diego Super Lawyers, and was featured in a 2015 Super Lawyers Magazine cover story. Best Lawyers in America named Mr. Fitzgerald the sole Intellectual Property "Lawyer of the Year" for San Diego Litigation in its 2015 publication. He has been repeatedly recognized by Best Lawyers in America as one of the top attorneys in the Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property specialties. Super Lawyers has repeatedly ranked him in the "Top 10" and "Top 50" attorneys in San Diego, and he has been recognized on numerous occasions by the San Diego Daily Transcript as one of the "Top Attorneys" in San Diego for corporate and intellectual property litigation. The San Diego Business Journal also named him to its 2015 and 2014 "Best of the Bar" recognition. Mr. Fitzgerald has served on the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers San Diego Chapter, and on the San Diego Bar Association's Committee for Civility, Integrity & Professionalism.

Before joining Fitzgerald Knaier LLP, Mr. Fitzgerald practiced at the global law firm of Latham & Watkins for nearly 20 years, becoming one of the firm's most experienced trial lawyers. Prior to joining Latham & Watkins, Mr. Fitzgerald served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Howard B. Turrentine, United States District Judge for the Southern District of California. He has appeared on NBC's Today Show, Public Radio International's Marketplace program, and he has published articles or presented seminars on advanced intellectual property litigation, copyright and trade secret law, electronic discovery, false advertising and unfair competition law and other litigation topics. In January 2010, he ventured out to practice in a trial-oriented litigation boutique setting, with the rate flexibility and entrepreneurial freedom that Fitzgerald Knaier LLP provides.

Mr. Fitzgerald has served two terms on the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, San Diego Chapter. He sits on the Advisory Board of the Shepherd Society, which supports the Shepherd School of Music at his alma mater Rice University, where he endowed a full tuition scholarship for trumpet performance majors. A former full-time professional musician, Mr. Fitzgerald has performed with the San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and the Festival Guadalquivir Orchestra in Tarija, Bolivia. He is currently the principal trumpet of the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra.

HONORS

  • Best Lawyers in America, San Diego "Intellectual Property Litigation Lawyer of the Year" (2015)
  • San Diego Super Lawyers, Top 10 San Diego Attorneys (2014, 2013, 2011)
  • San Diego Super Lawyers, Top 50 San Diego Attorneys (2020-2024, 2015-2018, 2012, 2009, 2007)
  • San Diego Super Lawyers, Top Attorney in San Diego (2007-2021)
  • Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation (2010-2023)
  • Best Lawyers in America, Intellectual Property Litigation (2012-2023)
  • Best of the Bar, San Diego Business Journal (2017, 2015, 2014)
  • Top Attorney, Intellectual Property, San Diego Daily Transcript (2013, 2009, 2008)
  • Top Attorney, Corporate Litigation, San Diego Daily Transcript (2013, 2010, 2008, 2006)
  • PUBLISHED DECISIONS

  • Valley Engineers v. Electric Engineering Co., 158 F.3d 1051 (9th Cir. 1998)
  • Lyons Partnership v. Giannoulas, 179 F.3d 384 (5th Cir. 1999)
  • Lyons Partnership v. Giannoulas, 14 F. Supp. 2d 947 (N.D. Tex. 1998)
  • Orion Communications, Inc. v. Superior Court, 226 Cal. App. 4th 152 (2014)
  • Toranto v. Jaffurs et al., 297 F. Supp. 3d 1073 (S.D. Cal. 2018)
  • Chaset v. Fleer/Skybox Int'l., 300 F.3d 1083 (9th Cir. 2002)
  • Pisciotta v. Teledyne Industries, 91 F.3d 1326 (9th Cir. 1996)
  • Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Legal & Professional Publications v. Multistate Legal Studies, 26 F.3d 948 (9th Cir. 1994)
  • PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

  • Lawyers Beware: Deciding Your Adversary's Privilege Issue is Risky, ABTL San Diego Report (Summer 2017)
  • Association of Business Trial Lawyers Annual Seminar "The Technology Enigma - A 21st Century Trial" (Oct. 8, 2016).
  • You Must Always Keep a Secret, The Attorney's Continuing Obligation of Confidentiality, ABTL San Diego Report (Winter 2016)
  • Association of Business Trial Lawyers Annual Seminar, "Watch the Masters: See How Closing Arguments and Witness Examinations Come Alive With the Use of Technology" (Oct. 23, 2010).
  • Association of Business Trial Lawyers of San Diego and the San Diego County Bar Association, "Masters of the Art: A Trial Skills Seminar" (Oct. 25, 2008).
  • San Diego County Bar Association, Joseph J. Wheeler Seminar on Civility, Integrity & Professionalism (Nov. 20, 2008).
  • CEB California, Fundamental of Business Practices Litigation (Sep. 22, 2000).
  • San Diego County Bar Association, "The 4.0 Million Dollar E-Mail - How to Effectively Utilize Discovery of Electronic Media in the Prosecution or Defense of Your Case" (Jun. 2, 1999).
  • CEB California, Advanced Course of Study, Intellectual Property Litigation (Oct. 9, 1999).
  • Stevenson v. CB Richard Ellis: The California Court of Appeal Expands the Tort of Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage, ABTL San Diego Report (Summer 2006).
  • The Rebirth of the Originality Requirement in Copyright Law, ABTL San Diego Report (Apr. 2004).
  • Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine Rejected in California, ABTL San Diego Report (Apr. 2003).
  • Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine Adopted in California, ABTL San Diego Report (Feb. 2000).
  • E-mail and Smoking Guns in Cyberspace, ABTL San Diego Report (Nov. 1998).
  • Humor and the Law of Libel: Serious Protections for Attacks Made in Jest, 40 Fed. Comm. Law Journal 377 (1988).
  • Ken Fitzgerald
    kfitzgerald@fitzgeraldknaier.com

    Tel: 619.241.4809
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    402 W Broadway, Suite 1400
    San Diego, CA 92101

    Education
    • Rice University, B.A. (1984)
    • University of California, Los Angeles, J.D. (Order of the Coif, UCLA Law Review)(1989)
    Professional Affiliations
    • American Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section
    • California Bar, Litigation and Intellectual Property Law Sections
    • San Diego County Bar Association
    Bar Admissions
    • California (1989)