Steven Lieberman

Practice Areas

Called “one of the best lawyers in DC in any practice” (IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals, 2020) and “the best strategic thinker” (Chambers & Partners, 2020), Rothwell Figg’s Steven Lieberman is a litigator and counselor who “possesses whetted trial skills and can be counted on for textbook-worthy performances” (IAM Patent 1000, 2021). His private law practice encompasses the spectrum of intellectual property law, from patent litigation, to artificial intelligence (AI), eCommerce, privacy, and post-grant proceedings, for clients such as The New York Times, Dow Jones, FOX, NBCUniversal, Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS), Univision, Cognizant, Fandango, Gannett, Spear Pharmaceuticals, LG Electronics, The National Synagogue, and Chabad.

“[L]auded for his prowess as a trial lawyer,” (Chambers & Partners, 2015), described as “an extremely aggressive advocate but one who never crosses the line” (IAM Patent 1000, 2019), and applauded for his “innovative strategy [and] deep knowledge” (Benchmark Litigation, 2019), Steven has litigated patent and other IP cases in district courts, the Federal Circuit, and before the International Trade Commission since 1991. He has been lead counsel on over 100 patent infringement suits in U.S. district court, including more than 30 Hatch-Waxman litigations. He also represents clients before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in post-grant proceedings and he has an extremely high success rate for inter partes review (IPRs) at the PTAB - 89% representing petitioners (17 of 19) and 91% representing patent owners (10 of 11).

A Certified Information Privacy Professional in the United States (CIPP/US), Steven advises clients on the broad range of cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection issues that businesses face daily, and he has extensive experience successfully representing clients in privacy-related investigations initiated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Steven regularly represents clients with respect to matters involving trade secrets, including representing clients in litigation involving theft of trade secrets.

Steven serves or has served on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations and he regularly represents clients on a pro bono basis in cases involving religious liberties. He currently represents Chabad in its lawsuit against the Russian Federation arising from the Russian Federation’s theft of and unlawful refusal to return Chabad’s sacred books and manuscripts, as well as the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) and the pastor of the Macedonia Baptist Church in Bethesda, Maryland, in a fight to halt the sale of the Moses African Cemetery, the burial ground of hundreds of formerly enslaved Africans to a developer. In a historic ruling, Judge Karla Smith of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County granted the clients’ motion for a preliminary (and then a permanent) injunction preventing the sale of the Moses African Cemetery unless and until the owner of the property complied with a Maryland law that requires the seller of land that is or was used as a burial ground to bring an action for approval of such sale so that the court may decide whether, and under what terms and conditions, such a sale might take place. Steven recently represented Kurt Eichenwald, a highly-regarded journalist, pro bono in a civil case arising from a weaponized Twitter attack on him. Mr. Eichenwald is an epileptic who was sent a flashing strobe light with the phrase “You deserve a seizure for your posts” by John Rivello, a white supremacist. The message caused a seizure. After three years of litigation, Mr. Eichenwald won on all of his civil claims, including assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and was awarded a $100,000 judgment. The groundbreaking case is already being taught in law schools around the country, including the Duke University Law School and William & Mary Law School.

Professional Memberships

Steven serves as a member of the Sedona Conference WG10 Working Group on Biopharma Litigation issues and has served for more than a decade on the Intellectual Property Advisory Board of George Washington University Law School.

He is a past President of the Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court, the D.C. Inn devoted to the practice of intellectual property law. He has served as chairman of the Defamation and New Technologies Subcommittee of the Committee on Media Law of the New York State Bar Association; chairman of the Media Law Resource Center ("MLRC") Cyberspace Committee; chairman of the Patent Enforcement Issues Subcommittee of the ABA Section on Intellectual Property Law Committee 101; and as a member of Editorial Advisory Board for BNA's Pharmaceutical Law & Industry Report.

Publications

Steven has written on the subject of defamation and the Internet; has written on a variety of issues relating to patent litigation and the use of patents in the pharmaceutical industry, defamation, and the Internet; has edited two collections of articles on Internet defamation issues for the New York State Bar Association and the MLRC; and has appeared on television, on the radio, and in print as a commentator on First Amendment and/or intellectual property issues.

Co-Author, 'Law and Practice' section of the USA chapter in the Chambers and Partners Global Practice Guide on Patent Litigation (2019-2023).

Co-author, District of Columbia section of the Media Law Resource Center's annual 50-State Survey of Media Privacy and Related Law (1995-2023).