Skip to main content
David Hayes Headshot

David L. Hayes

Partner
Intellectual Property

David advises clients on intellectual property matters, including litigation and intellectual property audits, and technology licensing, distribution and transfer. He is a registered patent attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Some of the world’s most innovative technology companies, including Amazon, Databricks, NetApp, Tencent, and Yuga Labs, turn to David for guidance on protecting their intellectual property through a comprehensive integrated strategy using copyrights, patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and other statutory rights, and contractual rights. He also advises clients on avoiding infringing the rights of others.

David served as co-lead defense counsel in BMG Rights Management v. Cox Enterprises, defending Cox against secondary copyright liability for infringing file sharing activity by users of its Internet services, and as co-lead defense counsel in Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies v. General Motors, in which the AARA unsuccessfully sought to extend the Audio Home Recording Act to apply to computers. David has also served as counsel in a number of precedent-setting software copyright infringement cases, including Apple v. Microsoft, Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland International, and A&M Records v. Napster.

  • Airbnb
  • Alteryx
  • Amazon.com
  • AVEVA Software
  • Chegg
  • Databricks
  • GBS Global Biopharma
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Hayden AI
  • Hebbia.ai
  • Instacart
  • Intuit
  • NetApp
  • Nexon
  • Niantic
  • Nutanix
  • Orca Computing
  • Quest Diagnostics
  • ServiceNow
  • SiMa.ai
  • Tencent Holdings
  • Ursa Major
  • WalkMe
  • Yuga Labs
  • Member of the California Bar Association section on intellectual property
  • Member of the American Bar Association section on intellectual property
  • Member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Member of the ITechLaw Association
  • Member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers

David has been recognized more than 200 times as one of the top practitioners in various fields of intellectual property law and strategy by leading publications and ranking organizations, including:

  • Northern California Super Lawyers since 2004
  • Named by Best Lawyers as Lawyer of the Year in San Francisco for copyright law in 2020 and as Lawyer of the Year in San Francisco for patent law in 2019
  • Ranked among the top 30 lawyers in the U.S. for information technology by Euromoney Expert Guides in 2021
  • Managing Intellectual Property’s list of IP Stars every year since 2013
  • Named in the Wall Street Journal's Best Lawyers in Northern California in 2021