Professional Experience
Desa Burton is an Associate of Fish & Richardson P.C. in the Southern California office. Her practice emphasizes complex business litigation including patent, unfair competition, and trade secret litigation. Ms. Burton represents clients in litigation matters before federal district courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission. In 2007, Ms. Burton was named one of the Top 30 Young Attorneys by the San Diego Daily Transcript.

Ms. Burton's previous legal experience includes: Summer Associate with Fish & Richardson P.C. (2003); summer associate and legal services coordinator with Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (2002); and student intern with the Philadelphia Law Department's Division of Health and Human Services (2002).

Her other professional experience includes various worldwide assignments in the United States Navy: Naval Reserve Officer (2001-2003); Staff Operations Officer, U.S. Southern Command, Miami, FL (1999-2001); Officer in Charge, Assault Craft Unit TWO, Norfolk, VA (1997-1999); and Repair Division Officer, USS Briscoe, Norfolk, VA (1994-1997).

Litigation examples

Patent Litigation
ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. v. IBM - Patent litigation suit concerning storage area network and servers; representing ASUSTeK Computer Inc. against IBM in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District Court of California (2008).

ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. and ASUS Computer International v. IBM - Patent litigation suit concerning products implementing power supplies, variable speed fans, and Network Address Port Translation; representing ASUSTeK Computer Inc. against IBM in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California (2008).

Monolithic Power Systems v. Chip Advanced Technologies, Inc. - Patent litigation suit concerning DC-DC converters having bootstrap power supplies; representing MPS against CAT in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California (2008).

Multimedia Patent Trust v. Microsoft No. 06-CV-0684 H - Patent litigation suit concerning MPEG-2 and VC-1 decoders and other technologies; representing Microsoft against MPT in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California (2008).

Power Integrations, Inc. v. Fairchild Semiconductor - Patent infringement suit involving integrated circuits and high voltage transistor structures used in power conversion applications; representing Power Integrations, Inc. against Fairchild in the U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (2006).

Sandel Avionics, Inc., et al adv. Honeywell International, Inc. - Patent infringement suit involving avionics software; defended Sandel Avionics in a second suit brought by Honeywell relating to devices for terrain awareness and warning systems in the U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (2004).

Section 337 Proceedings before the U.S. International Trade Commission
Seagate Technology LLC v. Cornice, Inc. - Patent infringement suit involving drive apparatus and magnetic recording media; represented Seagate Technology against Cornice before the International Trade Commission (2005).

Trademark Litigation
Beme International, LLC v. Kaminstein Imports, Inc. - Trademark infringement case involving the CASABELLA trademark for home décor items; representing Beme International against Kaminstein in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (2005).

Selected presentations
Desa Burton and Nancy Stagg, "Don't Let the Fox Guard the Henhouse: Best Practices for Protecting Trade Secrets," LEAD Conference (San Diego, April 27, 2007).

Bar admissions
Admitted to the bar of the State of California. Admitted to all district courts in the State of California.

Additional information
Awarded the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association President's Award (2008).
Member, Fish & Richardson P.C. San Diego Community Involvement Committee.
Board Member, California Ballet Association.
Member, Earl B. Gilliam Association; Member, Lawyers Club; Member, WITI (Women in Technology International – San Diego).