Ali S. Razai is a distinguished litigator with an extensive track record of success in high-stakes situations across all facets of IP law.
Lauded by clients as a practical problem solver and trusted counselor, Mr. Razai excels at understanding the business and legal challenges clients are facing—and putting together the strategies to solve them.
The recipient of numerous industry awards and distinctions, Mr. Razai has cultivated a well-earned reputation for helping clients achieve business-critical successes in a wide array of issues. Clients trust him to handle cases involving utility patents, design patents, trademarks, trade dress, copyrights, trade secrets, false advertising, unfair competition and breach of contract. Mr. Razai has successfully litigated cases through resolution in federal district courts around the country, inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board, arbitration, and federal appeals courts.
Mr. Razai works with clients in a broad range of sectors and industries, from biotechnology and medical devices to pharmaceuticals, mechanical devices, green technology, consumer products and more. Examples of clients he has represented include lululemon, simplehuman, HydraFacial, Jacuzzi Brands, InBrace, Spectrum Solutions, and Ligand Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Razai was also seconded for a time to serve as interim in-house patent counsel at large, international company. This experience provided Mr. Razai insight into the internal dynamics and pressures that clients face, allowing him to better craft strategies and solutions that are tailored to each specific situation.
Mr. Razai currently serves on Knobbe Martens’ executive committee, and has held other leadership roles at the firm.
Prior to joining Knobbe Martens, Mr. Razai was a research associate at the UCLA AIDS Institute studying the effect of the HIV virus on cytokine expression. After achieving a master’s degree in public health from Berkeley in 2001, he went to UCSF, where he focused his research on the development of therapeutic antibodies against the neurotoxin produced by the bio-terror agent C. botulinum. Mr. Razai's work at UCSF resulted in multiple royalty-bearing patents for a cure to botulism.
- Recognized in the WIPR Leaders Guide of the world’s leading IP practitioners (2024)
- Recognized as “Top Intellectual Property Lawyer” by the Daily Journal (2024)
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Recognized by The Legal 500 "United States" for Trademark Litigation and Patents Litigation (2024)
- Recognized as a Trademark Star and Patent Star in Managing IP''s "2024 IP STARS" (2024)
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Recognized in World Trademark Review 1000: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals guide (2024)
- Recognized as a Patent Star and Trademark Star in Managing IP's "IP Stars" Guide for his outstanding intellectual property legal work (2023)
- Named a “Leading Litigator – IP Litigation” in the 2023-2024 edition of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” guide
- Recognized by The Legal 500 "United States" for Patent Litigation (2021 - 2023) and Trademark Litigation (2022 - 2023)
- Named a "Life Science Star" for General Patent Litigation in the Legal Media Group's (LMG) "LMG Life Sciences" Guide (2022 - 2024)
- Recognized in the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000 as a "Leading Trademark Lawyer" (2020 - 2023). In 2023, he was recognized as someone who “is in his element handling high-stakes litigations under fast schedules requiring aggressive tactics.” The 2022 guide celebrated Razai as a "powerfully effective litigator", who is "great at mediation, strategically smart and well-recognized at running large and small cases." In the 2021 guide, he was described as a "seasoned" and "winning" litigator through all phases, as well as a "backbone of the litigation practice." In the 2020 guide, he was described as a client as "proactive in getting to know your business well before the first case arises...he knows his way around the courtroom and understands the personalities of the neutrals well".
- Named a 2015 and 2016 "Southern California Rising Star" by Super Lawyers magazine for his work in intellectual property litigation
- Recognized in the Los Angeles magazine as one of Southern California's "Rising Stars" in a survey of his peers (2015).
Razai A, et. al., Molecular Evolution Of Antibody Affinity For Sensitive Detection Of Botulinum Neurotoxin Type A. J Mol Biol. 2005 Aug 5;351(1):158-69.
Koka PS, Brooks DG, Razai A, Kitchen CM, Zack JA., HIV Type 1 Infection Alters Cytokine mRNA Expression In Thymus. AIDS Res. & Hum. Retroviruses. 2003 Jan 1;19(1):1-12.
PMID: 12581511 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE
Speeches & Seminars
Bayside Chat – IP Issues and Trends in a Pandemic and (Eventually) Post-Pandemic World, ACC DoubleHeader (October 2021)
Panelist, "Defensive Litigation Strategy," Orange County IP Strategy Summit (2016).
Speaker, "Enforcing Your Design Patents," IP Impact - Silicon Valley (2014).
Speaker, "Intellectual Property Enforcement," OCBA - Corporate Counsel Section (2014).
Speaker, "Intellectual Property Law Primer," Iranian American Bar Association (2009).