Experience
Eric Ferraro is a capital shareholder in the firm's corporate and intellectual property practice groups. Eric concentrates his practice on the representation of private and public emerging and growth companies in the technology and digital media sectors, and the investors and financial services firms that focus on those industries. With over 16 years of practical legal and business experience in private practice, as in-house counsel, and as a technology company founder and investor, Eric brings an integrated counseling approach to his clients, balancing legal protection and best practices with business, technical, investment and strategic considerations.
Eric counsels his clients in connection with entity formation and founder arrangements, corporate governance, seed and venture capital financing, employment and equity compensation matters, intellectual property protection, technology licensing and product distribution, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and SEC reporting and compliance. Eric also has significant experience in executive compensation transactions, often representing CEOs and executive teams in connection with high-value M&A transactions.
As a founder of IRIS Distribution, a digital media services company, Eric has particular expertise in digital media law and is the Chair of the firm's Social Media and Gaming practice. His media and technology clients include enterprise software and mobile developers, social media and gaming companies, Internet businesses, music and entertainment companies, and digital creative agencies. Eric advises his digital media clients on data security, online privacy, SaaS issues, content licensing, publishing and syndication, copyright and royalty administration, and regulatory issues relating to e-commerce, online advertising and Internet law under the DMCA, FTC Act and CAN-SPAM.
Eric also has substantial experience litigating intellectual property, securities and commercial disputes. In his capacity as outside general counsel to his clients, Eric routinely manages bet-the-company litigation matters including trademark and copyright infringement actions, securities fraud cases, SEC enforcement actions, and business tort and contract matters.
Eric has been recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer on multiple occasions by Law & Politics magazine. He is also an advisor to Founders Space. A strong supporter of the arts, Eric is actively involved in the community and with various charitable organizations. He serves as general counsel and sits on the board of directors of Artists for Literacy and is a panel attorney for California Lawyers for the Arts.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
Corporate Finance and Venture Capital
- Represented an enterprise software start-up in a $2.5 million convertible debt seed financing
- Represented a mobile charging technology developer in an $11.7 million Series A venture capital financing
- Handled a $3.5 million Series A and Series B angel funding round for a consumer Web company
- Advised a publicly-traded online advertiser in a $6 million PIPE
Executive Compensation
- Advised executive team of consumer technology company in $90 million acquisition by Cisco Systems
- Represented CEO and executive team of mobile advertising technology company in $750 million acquisition by Google
- Counseled CEO in connection with executive compensation negotiations with venture-backed mobile payments company
Mergers & Acquisitions and International Transactions
- Represented a global chemical company in connection with a $26 million asset purchase
- Handled various company acquisitions valued in excess of $55 million on behalf of a public Internet company
- Effected a $14 million reverse merger for a technology company
- Counseled an industrial product manufacturer in formation of a Free Zone Establishment subsidiary in Dubai, UAE
- Represented paint additives company in acquisition of Spanish manufacturing and distribution facility
Digital Media, Internet and Entertainment
- Represented a leading digital media distributor in content licensing deals with Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Sony, Rhapsody, Verizon, T-Mobile and other global media companies
- Advised a video game developer in publishing and development agreements with MTV Networks, Atari and other top entertainment brands
- Represented digital marketing agency in consumer marketing campaigns for Scion, PG&E and Electrolux
- Represented record label in sync licensing agreement with HBO for Entourage
Litigation
- Recovered $23 million on behalf of selling shareholders of private technology company in claims against Homestore.com, Inc. for securities fraud and breach of contract
- Successfully defended publicly traded technology company against claims of intellectual property infringement brought by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Mehmet Oz
- Represented former V.P. of Finance of publicly held software company under SEC investigation in connection with wrongful termination claims and enforcement defense
- Recovered $4 million for entrepreneurs who sold their technology start-up to a publicly traded company subsequently delisted due to accounting fraud
- Obtained seven figure settlement for company employees in securities fraud claims against publicly traded Internet company arising out of improper devaluation of employee stock options