Intellectual Property Copyrights Expert Witnesses: 31

Bruce Weiner is an Information and Internet Technology executive with over 30 years of in-depth experience managing product and software development for contracting companies and Fortune 100 companies.

Mr. Weiner is a Princeton trained computer scientist and electrical engineer, and a patent holder. Over his career, he has gained extensive experience in Information Systems management, program/project management, software development, software architecture, internet delivery, business applications, technology vendor selection, IT Outsourcing, and customer contact center operations.

Litigation Consulting Services: Mr. Weiner has experience as a consulting and/or testifying expert witness in software development, patent infringement, and commercial litigation matters for both plaintiffs and defendants. He is adept at translating complex software, patent, and technology issues for the lay person audience. He consulted on industry transforming anti-trust cases in the travel industry.

Industry Experience:

• Travel Industry Technology - Former technology leader for American Express Travel and Chief Technology Officer of United.com;
• Loyalty Industry Technology - 30 years experience in the technology that powers loyalty programs, working on Membership Miles, Thank You Rewards, Mileage Plus, #1 Gold, eRewards, MyPoints, Blockbuster Rewards, and AAdvantage
• Financial Services Technology – 30 years experience working with Financial Services Companies on credit card and banking technology.

William (Ned) McLeod, Esq., has been a party to many Licensing Arrangements as an attorney specializing in Intellectual Property in the Entertainment Industry (“IP”), both on the licensor and the licensee side of the table, in different matters from hard media historical archives to blockchain based creations, and, as a non-attorney producer, both as owner / licensor and, alternately, as user / licensee.

As an entertainment attorney for more than 30 years, Mr. McLeod has personally negotiated hundreds of licenses, and reviewed and evaluated hundreds more. He has studied or taught over 400 hours of Continuing Legal education courses, from historical copyright status analysis to blockchain mechanisms, dissecting project content as different as movie scripts and royalty contracts. Mr. McLeod has designed a college course curriculum for international university students entering the resort and theme park entertainment fields. His handling of licenses have covered a broad scope of venues and clientele, including:

The Rockefeller Center (NYC), the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and The Navy Pier (IL), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (TX, with 8 associated museums), Graceland (TN), Niagara Falls (NY), The Smithsonian, the Kennedy Space Center (FL), Port of Los Angeles (CA), National Harbor (DC), Leadership Conference of Women Religious (“Catholic Sisters,” MD), the Tupperware Center (FL), Gatorland (FL), the Orlando Ballet (FL), Bob Ross (painter), Cousteau family ventures, 7 years of the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade (live and televised), and others.

Areas of Expertise:

Litigation Support - In Ned McLeod's 40 year capacity as producer, consultant, or attorney, he has negotiated, constructed, analyzed, attacked, or defended hundreds of business entertainment contracts, licenses, and litigation claims; and served as either consultant or expert witness on such matters.

As counsel (or, on occasion for a personal project, as producer), Mr. McLeod has obtained and operated licenses regarding Content, Properties, Brands, Venues, Likeness, Life Story, etc.) from Universal Music, Walt Disney Company, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, SONY, the Getty Images, Warner Bros. Music, TED Talks, Discovery Channel, ABC News, The Cousteau Society, Ford Motor Company, the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Collection, National Geographic, Jerry Lewis Films, The Beach Boys, Irving Berlin Music, Estate of Marvin Hamlisch, Richard Petty, Random House Books, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, the United States Air Force, NASA, Estate of Yuri Gagarin, Arkham House Books, and others.

Mr. McLeod has been the expert consultant and reviewer for licensing documents litigated against major industry icons SONY Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, National Enquirer, Mad Magazine, and others involving the review of thousands of pages of licenses from domestic and international records. In songs alone, Mr. McLeod has licensed hundreds regarding films, musicals, and film clips.  

View Ned McLeod's Consulting Profile.

Jon Washington is the Founder of The Innovation Garage, a consultancy established in August 2012, specializing in change management for strategy, innovation, and supply chain. The firm aids organizational leaders in designing strategies and implementing solutions, serving clients from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Mr. Washington's experience includes training over 2,000 leaders and working with 100+ global organizations. His consulting expertise spans various sectors such as medical, automotive, aerospace, and consumer goods. With a mechanical engineering degree and an MBA, he focuses on operational efficiency and improvement.

Previously, he was Senior Director of Product Sourcing at Diebold, managing strategic sourcing and a $5 million budget across 1,000 suppliers. He also directed various product design and development projects for high-tech systems.

Litigation Support: As a named inventor on over 100+ global patents, Mr. Washington has been retained by clients for expert patent consultation and testifying expert roles. He provides patent analysis, claim chart development, and expert/rebuttal reports. He is retained for his expertise in patent-related business process matters involving patent infringement / non-infringement analysis and re-examination and for his knowledge and experience with USPTO and global patent business process support. Mr. Washington's expert witness support includes product failure analysis, project and program management methodologies, and commercial contract analysis. 

Areas of Expertise: 

Mehdi Tarrit Mirakhorli, PhD, is a Software Engineering professor in the department of Information and Computer Sciences at University of Hawaii at Manoa. Prior to that, Dr. Mirakhorli served as Kodak Endowed Chair, Associate Professor and Director of Research at ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute and Software Engineering Department at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Litigation Support - Dr. Tarrit Mirakhorli is a Subject Matter Expert in Public and Private Sector Litigation Matters. He has served as an expert on various litigations including SME on federal contract disputes, software trade secret misappropriation, and copyright infringements. With extensive academic experience, he excels at simplifying complex technology concepts for diverse audiences.  

Areas of Expertise:

Dr. Mirakhorli is also the director of Software Assurance Laboratory.  He has been honored with supporting the implementation of President Biden's Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity. 

Dr. Mirakhorli has been an ALTA Distinguished Speaker at Alcatel-Lucent, and has delivered numerous technical briefings to public policymakers, members of Congress, government officials, and the general public. He has carried out various projects of national importance and supported organizations in responding to investigations including OIG.  

CPA, CFE, CPEA, CFF with 35 years of experience as a financial damages, accounting, royalties, licensing, valuation expert.  Calculations in intellectual property (copyright infringement, trademark infringement, patent infringement, DMCA, trade secrets), breach of contract, reasonable royalties, wrongful termination, personal injury, consumer product liability & royalty audits.  2017 California CPA of the Year & 2012 Certified Fraud Examiner of the Year. 

Expert in unjust enrichment & lost profits. Sample Industries: pharmaceuticals, medical devices, music, film, construction, machinery, security, toys, software, hardware, media, entertainment, energy, security, personal injury, partnerships, apparel & consumer products. Real world experience as Chief Audit Officer of Beats, KPMG Partner, and at Occidental Petroleum, Unocal, and Disney. While at Ernst & Young and KPMG, led national fraud and royalty auditing. Vice Chair ('16-'17) Board of Regents of the 80,000+ member Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. More than 3,000 forensic accounting contract investigations. 

Mr. Blum has extensive experience working on economic damages in both simple and multi-billion dollar complex litigations. With over 150 matters as an expert witness, his damage calculations have consistently been accepted in court, even in cases involving settlements up to $1 billion. His reports have been recognized as best examples by judges for their thoroughness and clarity. Mr. Blum has represented a broad range of clients, including leading law firms and major corporations across various industries. Some clients include:

Microsoft, Dolby, Sony, Paramount Pictures, Mattel, Warner Bros., McDonald’s, Shark Tank, WWE, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Amgen, GM, Sears, IGT, IMG, Tessera, Philips, Diageo, Harley-Davidson, DKNY, Chrysler, Ross, UMB Bank, Bank of America, Everlast, Fate Therapeutics, Medtronic.

Areas of Expertise:

View Sidney Blum's Consulting Profile.

Mr. Joshua Weiner, NABCEP, is a Solar Expert Witness with over 20 years of experience in policy, technology, sales contracts, project finance, permits and entitlements, project development and construction, engineering and project management, data acquisition and analysis that commonly apply to renewable energy and energy storage projects in residential, commercial, industrial, utility-scale markets, and energy storage.

Before founding SepiSolar, Mr. Weiner developed grid-connected energy storage and micro-grid projects with NRG's Station A R&D team (2015-2019) and NEXTracker's integrated energy storage program, where he played many roles in the development of solar and energy storage products and services, including design, engineering, business, policy, project, product, hardware, and software development. 

Litigation Support: Mr. Weiner brings his experience teaching courses through the UC Berkeley extension program, SepiAcademy to aid attorneys, plaintiffs, defendants, and judges in understanding the complex nuances of construction, technology, and policy of the solar and energy storage industries.

Areas of Expertise

View Joshua Weiner's Business Consultant Profile.

Attorney, Antonio R. Sarabia II, has 30 years of experience in Consumer Licensing matters (revenue, standards, performance, and breaches), Trademarks, Copyrights, and issues occurring in the Apparel Industry. 

Background Experience - Mr. Sarabia is intimately familiar with the business problems and legal issues fashion companies may face. At the beginning of his apparel industry experience, Mr. Sarabia spent nine years as part of the senior management of Guess?, whose sales grew 400% during a single year. Over the course of his time there, the company transformed from a fad into a mainstay fashion company. Since leaving Guess?, Mr. Sarabia has advised various other apparel companies, from publicly-held companies to fast-growing companies like Earl Jean, to smaller start-up companies. .

Litigation Support - Mr. Sarabia is available to serve as an expert witness, whether through testifying, identifying important or relevant issues, or suggesting discovery in his areas of expertise. His services are available to attorneys for plaintiff and defendant.

Areas of Expertise:

• Licensing: revenue projections, forecasts, standards, performance, breach, selection of licensees, damages
• Intellectual Property: analysis, due diligence, investigations;
• Copyrights:  substantial similarity, originality
• Trademarks: secondary meaning, infringement, dilution, searches, investigations, due diligence, theft, trade dress, counterfeiting, rebuttal on damages
• Apparel Business: contracts, manufacturing (local, abroad), import, export, sales, distribution, apparel copyrights, substantial similarity of apparel lines, theft and protection of designs, rebuttal on damages
• Design Patents: defenses based on lack on originality, identify and analyze obviousness and prior art
• Attorney Malpractice: standards of practice for apparel business lawyers, intellectual property lawyers, and licensing lawyers

Joel Beal is an expert in Truck Technology with a focus on electronic logging devices (ELDs), telematics, regulatory compliance, and accident analysis. He is a nationally recognized expert with over 35 years of experience.

Mr. Beal's clients have included Alphabet, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Chevron Corporation, ExxonMobil Corporation, FedEx Corporation, Matheson, Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Petco, Inc., Sysco Corporation, and many others.

Litigation Support: Mr. Beal provides expert testimony for legal proceedings, grievance hearings, depositions, and trials. He also assists in patent and intellectual property cases. Mr. Beal provides services to attorneys representing trucking companies, private fleets, and commercial drivers, as well as for-hire trucking companies, private fleets, and transportation trade associations.

Mr. Beal delivers clear, data-driven insights to support causation and liability arguments. He has provided expert testimony in both state and federal courts.

Areas of Expertise:

Background Experience: Mr. Beal experience includes leadership in system design, regulatory advisory roles, and extensive involvement with commercial fleet operations. His education includes US, Canadian, State, and Provincial Commercial Motor Vehicles, legislation, regulations, and requirements.

From 2016-2020, Mr. Beal worked with North American Dispatch Systems, LLC, dba LoadTrek Software. LoadTrek, which provided TMS and telematics to specialized fleets in the postal and parcel sectors. In his role as General Manager and VP/Sales he was responsible for sales, training, and support of the LoadTrek TMS, which included dispatch software and ELD.

From 1994-2007, Mr. Beal served as Senior VP for Tripmaster Corporation, which invented Onboard Computers for trucks in 1978. Tripmaster provided systems for most of the US Fortune 500 companies who had private fleets.

Scott Cooper, Principal at Pegasus Squire, is retained by corporate and legal clients to deliver successful experience-based proactive and reactive solutions involving Electronic Discovery and Computer Forensics, Tactics and Strategy, and Expert Witness testimony and related services. He has over 30 years of experience in this space and has been recognized as an Industry Leader by the Southern California Business Journal, and have been featured in the New York Times.

Mr. Cooper's clients have included The White House, The US Department of Justice, General Electric, Exxon, Kirkland & Ellis, O’Melveny & Myers, Skadden Arps, and many other large national and international corporations and law firms dealing with litigation and internal (and external) investigations.

Litigation Support - A nationally recognized Expert in both Federal and State courts, Mr. Cooper has been utilized as a special master and designated as a court-appointed referee. He has also been involved in successfully supporting no-notice ex-parte computer evidence seizure motions and orders. Mr. Cooper's cases involve major corporate, financial, and oil & gas entities. His forensic services help companies and their lawyers through the steps associated with internal inquiries, governmental investigations, and litigation matters.

 Mr. Cooper's most notable engagement includes working with the prevailing party on the nation’s largest corporate Intellectual Property Theft case, which created numerous Federal precedents in the area of Electronic Discovery.

Areas of Expertise: 

View Pegasus Squire Inc.'s Consulting Profile.

The team at Nolte Analytics, LLP includes experts with over 40 years of experience performing Damage Analyses, Valuation, Economic Studies, and Financial Investigations. Their experience prevents false starts and avoidable errors, delivering more cost-effective results.

Clients have included companies in the following industries: aerospace, automobile, banking, beverages, construction, electronics, technology, energy, entertainment, food, government, insurance, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, restaurants, retail, and more.

The experts at Nolte Analytics have been quoted or published in the following, often multiple times: The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Daily Journal, Los Angeles Lawyer, Los Angeles Business Journal, and many others for their opinion on matters relating to their area of specialization.

Litigation Support - Nolte Analytics' client work focuses primarily on valuation of businesses and intangible business assets, economic studies, royalty and fraud auditing, and litigation-related financial analysis. Their experts have served many of this country’s prominent companies and most of the largest law firms, with thousands of hours of testimony and over 200 trial testimonies. They typically present conclusions graphically, using a proprietary presentation system.  As a result, they have an unequalled track record of judges and juries accepting their conclusions.

Areas of Expertise:

• Business and intangible asset appraisal, loss of business value, minority shareholder disputes, buy-sell agreements
• Commercial damages measurements, including, unjust enrichment, lost profits, disgorgement, breach of contract, business interruption, business interference, patent infringement, trademark infringement, patent, copyright and trademark infringement, theft of trade secrets, reasonable royalties
• Employment claims, wrongful termination, wrongful death, personal injury, future lost earnings, loss of earnings capacity, loss of benefits
• Financial accounting Forensic accounting, royalty and compliance audits, fraud investigations

Nevium's experts are trial-tested IP custom & practice damages experts who take a hands-on approach with all their IP litigation assignments. Whether you are in need of an expert to calculate economic damages as lost profits / unjust enrichment, give an opinion on specific business clauses in a license agreement or to leverage Internet and Social Media analytics to prove or disapprove infringement, Nevium has the experience and expertise.

Litigation Support:Nevium works closely with C-Level executives, in-house and outside counsel to implement the best possible business strategy that intertwines with the legal strategy. Nevium is part of the team early on in the litigation process assisting with discovery requests and deposition questions. Nevium’s experience and expertise allows the managing attorney to focus on the legal issues knowing that Nevium is proactively taking care of the business side of the case. As experienced Intellectual Property Consultants, they have real-word, hands on IP management, monetization and valuation experience that plays out well in front of a judge and jury. Nevium professionals provide IP expert witness testimony related to economic damages in a range of lost profits, unjust enrichment, relief from royalty, reasonable royalty, relief from pay per click, corrective advertising and IP valuation. They author reports and provide testimony for federal and state court claims, arbitration, and mediation related to false endorsement, defamation, infringement and unfair competition.

Litigation Expertise

Areas of Analyses Expertise

Past Law Firm Clients

Doug Bania, CLP, Founding Principal
Doug Bania is a founding principal of Nevium Intellectual Property Consultants.  Nevium is an intellectual property consulting firm specializing in developing IP strategies, IP valuation and monetization of IP as well as providing expert testimony related to IP damages and licensing customs and practices. He has been the named expert for over 75 cases, deposed 20 times, and has provided trial testimony 5 times.

Mr. Bania is a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP), a Google Analytics Certified Individual (GAIQ), and is a past committee member (2016 - 2019) for the International Trademark Association (INTA) Internet Committee and the ICANN Compliance and Domain Name Industry Subcommittee, a current member of the INTA Right of Publicity Committee and the American Bar Association (ABA), Copyright & Social Media Committee.

Mr. Bania specializes in analyses for copyright, trade dress, trade secrets and trademark infringement, publicity rights, social media and Internet infringement, defamation, marketing strategy analyses, royalty rate determinations and other intangible assets. Mr. Bania also provides valuation and monetization strategies for trademarks, trade secrets, publicity rights, domain names, Internet and social media assets, brands, copyrights and other intangible assets for financial reporting, bankruptcy and transactional due diligence.

View Nevium's Consulting Profile.

Randal Hill, PhD, Thought leader in chemistry, materials science and intellectual property.  Award winning PhD scientist with 30+ years in applied chemistry.  Visiting Scientist at MIT for 5 years to foster silicone-based nanotechnology projects.  Holder of 69 issued patents.  Author of Silicone Surfactants book and 60 articles.  Served as Patent Science Advisor to grow patent portfolio by 1500%.  Deveoped display for Amazon Kindle.  Readily adapts expertise to new problems.  Served as adunct faculty at Stanford and University of Minnesota.  Organized two international symposia.  Invited speaker at Gordon Conference and four international colloid meetings.  Associate Editor of Journal of Surfactants and Detergents.  Involved member of American Chemical Society, Society of Petroleum Engineers, American Physical Society, and American Oil Chemists Society. Awards  include 3 Dow Corning Technical Achievement Awards, as well as the AOCS Samuel Rosen Award for Surfactant Chemistry.  

Experience includes fire-fighting foams, well fluids, adhesives, silicone defoamers, formulation of household and personal care products, applications of silicone surfactants, silicone-based nanotechnology for soldier protection, development of pigments for electronic displays.

Background Experience - Dr. Hill began his career at a major detergent company followed by developing sugar-based surfactants. He went on to spend 20 years with Dow Corning developing personal care applications for silicones, leading the pigment science group at E Ink developing the next generation of color electrophoretic ink displays, and leading the Formulation Development group at Flotek to expand the product line by 300% and grow the patent portfolio by 1400%.

Dr. Hill is now known for his work on silicone surfactants, especially for his work on super wetting. During his time as MIT Visiting Scientist with Dow, he also initiated work on silicone-based superhydrophobic surfaces, which led to a publication that has since been cited nearly 1,500 times.

Dr. Hill is the author of 60 publications, including an authoritative book entitled, Silicone Surfactants. He is a highly awarded inventor with accolades that include 3 Dow Corning Technical Achievement Awards, as well as the 2017 AOCS Samuel Rosen Award for Surfactant Chemistry.

Rouzbeh R. Taghizadeh, PhD, is a Regenerative Medicine and Biomedical Engineering Expert offering more than 20 years of expertise as a Scientist, Innovator, and Entrepreneur in the development, processing, manufacturing of tissues, including bone marrow, umbilical cord (blood & tissue), amnion, chorion, placenta, adipose (fat), and other organs for clinical and non-clinical use, while considering the complex regulatory, trade secret, patent claims that arises from these areas.

Litigation Support - Dr. Taghizadeh provides subject matter expertise and expert witness testimony for scientific, technical, regulatory, trade secret and patent claims in the areas of:

Dr. Taghizadeh specializes in adult stem cells, primarily human hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells, the regenerative cells involved in successful bone marrow and umbilical cord blood transplantations, uniquely positions him to approach science and business with the same keen powers of insight that have consistently reaped success surmounting scientific and medical barriers in the field. 

He earned his Ph.D. in Stem Cell Bioengineering in 2006 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-founded AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc. as Chief Scientific Officer in 2008 after completing his post-doctoral training from MIT and the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.

View Dr. Rouzbeh R. Taghizadeh's Consulting Profile.

Jason McDonald, PhD, is a expert witness, who specializes in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media Marketing, and Google Ads (AdWords) and has been retained by clients all over the world. His primary focus for his expert witness work is on digital marketing and online advertising, both organic and paid. 

Background Experience - With a BA from Harvard and a PhD from Berkeley, Dr. McDonald began working at a number of San Francisco Bay Area start ups, ranging from Omnibus, Computer Currents, and MW Media. He also wrote freelance for many years with articles appearing in trade journals and press such as EE Times, Dr. Dobb’s, and Software Development Forum. In 1995, he left MW Media and was one of the co-founders of eg3.com. 

Today, Dr. McDonald is Senior Editor for content at eg3.com and is responsible for website coverage (keywords), the monthly newsletter, and the series of Insiders’ Guides on topics from RTOS to FPGAs. He also is the Senior SEO Director at the JM Internet Group. The author of the best-selling SEO  Workbook, Google Ads, and Social Media Marketing Workbooks on Amazon, Dr. McDonald currently teaches at Stanford University Continuing Studies and has taught at the Bay Area Video Academy (BAVC), and AcademyX in San Francisco, California. 

Litigation Support - Dr. McDonald is certified in both California state court and Federal court to testify as an SEO, Social Media Marketing, and Google Ads (AdWords) expert witness. His cases have involved trademark, advertising, and other internet-related issues. With deposition and trial testimony experience, his services are available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defendant.

• SEO Areas of Expertise: Goal Assessment, Keywords, On Page Optimization, Off Page Optimization, Metrics, Rank
• Google Ads (AdWords) Expertise - AdWords Assessment, Keyword Match Types, Search Network vs. Display Network, Conversions and eCommerce, Metrics, Beyond AdWords
• Social Media Expertise - Facebook litigation, Twitter litigation, LinkedIn litigation or any litigation involving social media marketing

View Dr. McDonald's Consulting Profile.

Khurshid Khoja, Esq., is CEO of Greenbridge Corporate Counsel, P.C. founded in 2012 to represent businesses and non-profits in the Legal Cannabis (Marijuana, Hemp, and Synthetic Cannabinoids) and Psychedelics industries on Regulatory and Transactional Matters.

Khurshid serves on the Board of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), previously serving as its Chair, and is Co-chair of Policy for NCIA. He also served on the Board of the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA), as Co-chair of its Policy Committee, and as a Founding Board Member and General Counsel of the California Cannabis Industry Association.

Khurshid has participated extensively in legislative drafting, as well as executive agency rulemaking proceedings in connection with Federal and California cannabis and psychedelics laws. He has also served as an appointed member of the California Treasurer’s Cannabis Banking Working Group, and was primary author of MCBA’s Model Municipal Social Equity Ordinances. Khurshid appeared on The National Law Journal’s first ever Cannabis Law Trailblazers’ list in 2018, and frequently speaks at events organized by NCIA, MJ Biz Daily, the Cannabis Regulators Association (CannRA), and the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML), among others.

Litigation Support - Khurshid serves as an expert witness with significant experience in highly regulated industries (including the cannabis, pharmaceutical, energy, and insurance sectors) representing mission-focused companies and organizations in the marijuana, hemp, synthetic cannabinoid and psychedelics sectors. He recently participated in a trademark litigation involving a branding dispute between a licensed cannabis company and a well-known manufacturer of smoking accessories that involved analysis of both the pre-regulated and post-regulated cannabis industry in California.

Areas of Expertise:

View Greenbridge Corporate Counsel LLC's Consulting Profile.