William R. Hill Of Counsel (510) 451-3300 rock@donahue.com Download vCard

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William R. Hill is a of counsel in Donahue Fitzgerald with over thirty years of experience focused primarily on litigation, intellectual property, and commercial law. His intellectual property practice encompasses all aspects of IP management and litigation, from copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets to patent litigation. He also represents manufacturers and contractors in various commercial matters, and employers in work-related disputes before federal and state regulatory agencies and in mediations, arbitrations, and trials.

Mr. Hill is one of the firm’s chief commercial and intellectual property litigators. He has prosecuted thousands of individuals and businesses charged with infringing copyrights and trademarks, pirating domain names, and misappropriating trade secrets, negotiating settlements or filing lawsuits as appropriate. To date, his efforts with those of other Donahue Fitzgerald attorneys have resulted in recoveries of over $500 Million for software companies such as Microsoft, Autodesk, Novell, Symantec, Macromedia, Aldus, and Adobe, along with members of the Business Software Alliance and the Software & Information Industry Association.

His intellectual property practice extends to non-technology companies as well. He has successfully represented major supermarket chains and restaurants in trademark litigation over the use of protected marks. He has prosecuted and defended clients in numerous cases involving local, regional, and national infringement of intellectual property rights.

Mr. Hill also maintains an active commercial practice as well. He has defended several multi-million dollar class action cases, including the recent Berger, et al. v. Property I.D., et al. class action in federal court in Los Angeles, where he obtained a dismissal of his client in a case ultimately settled with the other defendants for in excess of $25 Million. William has served as lead trial attorney in over thirty jury and non-jury trials in both state and federal court, in addition to handling numerous mediations and arbitrations.

Mr. Hill became associated with the firm in 1984, becoming a partner in 1991 and serving as the firm’s CEO from 1998 through 2005. During law school, he externed at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Professional & Community Affiliations

  • Member, Alameda County Bar Association
  • Advisory Board of Directors, Oakland Boys and Girls Club
  • Advisory Board of Directors, Island City Opera

Recognition

  • Named, Super Lawyer, San Francisco Magazine
  • Awarded, AV® Preeminent™ (5.0 out of 5) peer-review rated, Martindale-Hubbell™