Biography
Erica Brand Portnoy practices in the Brand Integrity & Innovation Group, specializing in brand protection matters and representing corporate victims of fraud and intellectual property theft.
Ms. Portnoy counsels clients on strategies to protect their brands, often conducting internal and external investigations on behalf of her corporate clients. Ms. Portnoy works with law enforcement agents and prosecutors in seeking criminal investigations and prosecutions of entities and individuals committing the crimes, and then seeks restitution recoveries on behalf of her corporate clients. Ms. Portnoy also represents clients by seeking civil resolutions to intellectual property theft and corporate fraud.
Ms. Portnoy’s work focuses on crimes involving the sale of counterfeit goods, major frauds and employee frauds. Her experience with global brands spans a range of industries that includes apparel, footwear, consumer products, enterprise technology products, personal computing products, pharmaceuticals, and social networking platforms. Ms. Portnoy represents clients at all stages of their brand protection enforcement programs, and is particularly experienced in strategic intellectual property management advice, developing and implementing programs to combat online counterfeiting and infringement, innovative targeting strategies, and execution of solutions to address these complex business threats.
Prior to joining Sideman & Bancroft, Ms. Portnoy was a litigation associate at Bingham McCutchen in San Francisco, where she concentrated on complex commercial litigation including antitrust and intellectual property matters. Ms. Portnoy graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. While in law school, Ms. Portnoy served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Bernard Zimmerman, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Experience
Anti-Counterfeit Enforcement
- Representing a major semiconductor company in counterfeit investigations and engagement with Customs and law enforcement
- Representing a major software company in counterfeit investigations and engagement with Customs and law enforcement
- Representing a leading manufacturer of computer hardware in counterfeit investigations and engagement with law enforcement in various states
Sales and Discount Fraud
- Representing a leading manufacturer of computer hardware in promoting criminal discount fraud matters with law enforcement involving significant fraud schemes targeting sales discount programs;
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discount fraud cases to law enforcement in various jurisdictions and obtained cooperation and federal investigations - Representing Cisco Systems, Inc., in promoting discount fraud cases with law enforcement in significant fraud schemes that targeted sales discount programs
Warranty Fraud
- Representing Cisco Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of network hardware, in promoting Brand Protection and warranty fraud cases with law enforcement, which has entailed working with the FBI, ICE, and other law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors in more than twenty states, U.K., and Canada
Civil Litigation Representations
- Representation of leading manufacturers of consumer electronic products against distributors in multimillion-dollar dollar fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets claims involving employee bribery and unauthorized product bundling and labeling
Professional Involvement
Ms. Portnoy is a member of the American Bar Association, Litigation Section, and a member of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Ms. Portnoy was previously on the Executive Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco Antitrust & Trade Regulation Section.
She is a co-author of Chapter 21: Class Actions in Competition and Consumer Protection Cases in California State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law (LexisNexisMatthewBender, 2009).
Education
- University of Pennsylvania B.A. 2000
- University of California, Berkeley, School of Law J.D. 2006
Admissions
- California
Biography
Erica Brand Portnoy practices in the Brand Integrity & Innovation Group, specializing in brand protection matters and representing corporate victims of fraud and intellectual property theft.
Ms. Portnoy counsels clients on strategies to protect their brands, often conducting internal and external investigations on behalf of her corporate clients. Ms. Portnoy works with law enforcement agents and prosecutors in seeking criminal investigations and prosecutions of entities and individuals committing the crimes, and then seeks restitution recoveries on behalf of her corporate clients. Ms. Portnoy also represents clients by seeking civil resolutions to intellectual property theft and corporate fraud.
Ms. Portnoy’s work focuses on crimes involving the sale of counterfeit goods, major frauds and employee frauds. Her experience with global brands spans a range of industries that includes apparel, footwear, consumer products, enterprise technology products, personal computing products, pharmaceuticals, and social networking platforms. Ms. Portnoy represents clients at all stages of their brand protection enforcement programs, and is particularly experienced in strategic intellectual property management advice, developing and implementing programs to combat online counterfeiting and infringement, innovative targeting strategies, and execution of solutions to address these complex business threats.
Prior to joining Sideman & Bancroft, Ms. Portnoy was a litigation associate at Bingham McCutchen in San Francisco, where she concentrated on complex commercial litigation including antitrust and intellectual property matters. Ms. Portnoy graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. While in law school, Ms. Portnoy served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Bernard Zimmerman, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.