Gil Silberman received a computer engineering degree with high honors from Princeton in 1986 and a law degree from Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law in 1996. Between the two he founded and managed companies in the fields of computer software, earth-sensing satellites, hydrogeology and water management.

At law school Gil was Articles Editor of the High Technology Law Journal, Editor-in-Chief of the Boalt Hall Cross-Examiner, and a founder and President of the Tribal Appellate Court project, a nonprofit corporation that trains law students to clerk for appellate judges in courts run by Native American tribes.

Gil met partner Rupak Nag while an intern with Weil, Gotshal and Manges, LLP, where he advised Fortune-500 companies such as Digital Equipment Corporation and AMD on their intellectual property strategies.
He co-founded the Firm in 1997 and remained as a Partner with Thelen Reid and Priest, LLP when the two firms became associated. He left in 2001 to become Director of the New Business Practice of San Francisco firm Titchell Maltzman Mark & Ohleyer P.C., before returning to Genesis in 2002 as Managing Partner.

Gil specializes in general corporate counseling, business transactions, patent and trademark prosecution, and technology law. He takes great pride in sharing his insights and business experience with his clients. He has been extensively quoted by various publications and news broadcasts, and made presentations on small business management, entrepreneurship, and the law of the Internet. He won several significant litigation settlements involving trademark infringement and Internet domain name disputes. He is licensed to practice in California and before the District Court for the Northern District of California and the Patent and Trademark Office.

Gil plays classical piano and enjoys an after-hours career as a restaurant owner and real estate investor. He is a native of Oklahoma.

Rupak Nag began his legal career in 1994 as a litigation associate at the Silicon Valley office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and later at Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe, LLP. With a computer engineering degree from Columbia University and experience developing Paine Webber’s computerized trading systems, he had the technical background to undertake complex cases involving computer software and hardware, data encryption, microprocessor technology, and various other high-technology fields. His litigation experience includes patent and trademark infringement, and misappropriation of technology and business-related trade secrets. Litigation clients have included Advanced Micro Devices, Compaq Computer, Applied Materials, and numerous start-ups.

Rupak spent the last five years at the firms Beyer Weaver & Thomas, LLP and Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro, LLP, counseling clients on intellectual property law related to software, computer networks, Internet applications, entertainment rights, and business models. He has prosecuted over one hundred United States and foreign patent applications, and negotiated complex patent issues with the U.S. Patent Office. Representative patent clients include Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems, where he prepared many of the company’s patents on the Java Virtual Machine, as well as dozens of start-ups such as ExciteAtHome and Webvan. Non-patent experience includes counseling consulting firms such as Organic and financial service companies such as Visa International. He has also performed intellectual property audits and prior art searches, and has prepared legal opinions on patentability and infringement.

In the field of copyright and entertainment law, Rupak specializes in contractual and intellectual property issues relating to creative works, including literary works, paintings, photography, and audio and visual compositions. He has spoken publicly and published articles on topics such as copyright arbitration, parody as a fair use exception to copyright law, and software and business model patents.

Rupak has served as co-counsel to Genesis LLP since 1997. He became a partner in 2002 and now manages the Firm’s Century City office.

Outside of the law Rupak writes feature film screenplays and studies the ins and outs of Hollywood. He is a native of New York.

Mr. Smolar associates with the Firm on matters of litigation and dispute resolution, business transactions, software licenses, commercial litigation, insurance, and technology agreements.

Before joining the Firm in 1999 Mr. Smolar practiced as insurance defense attorney with Kern Noda Devine & Segal. He previously worked at Broadway Video Entertainment, Lorne Michaels’ Production Company, licensing Saturday Night Live, Kids in the Hall, Lassie, and the Lone Ranger for foreign and domestic markets. Mr. Smolar was also a film and video editor at Miramax films editing trailers for theatrical distribution.

Mr. Smolar become an Associate Attorney at Thelen Reid & Priest LLP in 2000, before leaving to join the firm Hancock, Rothert & Bunshoft, LLP. He returned to Genesis in 2002.

Mr. Smolar earned his JD from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1997. He graduated from Syracuse University with honors, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the Newhouse School of Communicatio

NATASHA MURPHY
DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION