Peter Magic is a patent trial lawyer and he leads Desmarais LLP’s California office. He represents plaintiffs and defendants in patent litigation in a variety of industries including computer hardware, software, telecommunications (including matters related to standard essential patents), cellphone technology, and medical devices.
In representing defendants, he has helped clients secure judgments of noninfringement, invalidity, and low damages. In representing plaintiffs, he has helped clients achieve substantial settlements as well as an exclusion order at the International Trade Commission. He has extensive experience in all stages of litigation, including trials in federal district court, the International Trade Commission, and Europe, as well as appeals. Mr. Magic relocated to San Francisco to open Desmarais LLP’s California office, the firm’s first new office since its founding in New York City in 2010.
Mr. Magic’s recent work for defendants includes helping Cisco Systems, Inc. defeat allegations by Egenera, Inc. that certain Cisco datacenter products infringed three patents. In January 2019, the case proceeded to a bench trial on inventorship, which Mr. Magic and other partners tried and won. The firm’s performance at the trial later featured in Law360 awarding the firm 2019 Trials Practice Group of the Year. In August 2022, the case culminated in a two-week jury trial in the District of Massachusetts on one patent. The plaintiff sought $371 million in damages. Mr. Magic and other partners of the firm obtained a verdict of non-infringement of all asserted claims. The firm’s performance at the jury trial featured in Law360 awarding the firm 2022 Intellectual Property Practice Group of the Year.
Mr. Magic is a member of the Bars of California, New York, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and numerous district courts. He is admitted to practice in the USPTO.
Education/Alumni:
- University of Michigan Law School, 2008, cum laude, Michigan Law Review, Associate Editor
- University of Texas at Austin, M.S., Computer Science, 2004
- The Johns Hopkins University, B.S., Computer Science, 2002
Network Memberships: New York Intellectual Property Law Association, American Intellectual Property Law Association, American Bar Association
