Eric M. Fraser

Overview

Appeals

Eric regularly handles high-profile appeals and issue litigation. He has argued major cases before the Ninth Circuit, Arizona Supreme Court, and Arizona Court of Appeals. Law360 featured Eric as one of five rising stars nationwide in 2020. Eric is also listed in Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under Hot List, Best Lawyers, and Southwest Super Lawyers for appeals.

Before joining private practice, Eric clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He currently serves as a Ninth Circuit Appellate Lawyer Representative and as Chair for the Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar. He also regularly writes about appeals, including contributing to SCOTUSblog, co-editing the azapp.com blog, and coauthoring a monthly column in Arizona Attorney magazine covering civil appeals.

Eric has been featured in national news coverage on CNN, Fox News, NBC Nightly News, and CBS Evening News, and every major local television station in Arizona. The New York Times, Arizona Republic, People Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Law360 and many other publications have also featured Eric’s cases or legal analysis.

Intellectual Property & Antitrust

Eric’s practice also involves intellectual property and antitrust litigation. He has represented many of the most well-known technology companies in patent, copyright, and trademark litigation. He is a registered patent attorney, has a degree in Physics, is Chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar, and is a past chair of the Antitrust Section.

Additional Information

Eric’s academic research has been published widely, including in the University of Chicago Law Review, Stanford Technology Law Review, Cornell Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the Journal of Technology Law & Policy.

He studied directly under two recipients of the Nobel Prize: Shuji Nakamura (Physics, 2014) and Gary Becker (Economics, 1992).

Practice Areas

Representative Matters

Constitutional Issues

Brush & Nib Studio, LC v. City of Phoenix, 247 Ariz. 269 (2019) (free-speech constitutional challenge) (argued)
Response to Petition for Review
Supplemental Brief
Response to Amicus Briefs
Oral Argument

AFSCME AFL-CIO Local 2384 v. City of Phoenix, __ Ariz. __ (2020) (constitutional challenge to pension plan practice) (argued)
Response to Petition for Review
Oral Argument
Piccioli v. City of Phoenix, __ Ariz. __ (2020) (constitutional challenge to pension plan practice) (argued)

Response to Petition for Review
Oral Argument
Saban Rent-A-Car LLC v. Ariz. Dep’t of Revenue, 244 Ariz. 293 (App. 2018) (dormant commerce clause and state constitutional issues) (argued), aff’d 246 Ariz. 89 (2019)
Opening Brief
Cross-Appeal Answering Brief
Oral Argument

Puppies ’N Love v. City of Phoenix, 116 F. Supp. 3d 971 (D. Ariz. 2015) (summary judgment on dormant commerce clause challenge to Phoenix city ordinance banning the sale of cats and dogs) (argued).

Major Legal Issues

Torres v. Terrell, __ Ariz. ___ (2020) (disposition of frozen embryos upon divorce) (argued)
Petition for Review
Supplemental brief
Oral Argument
State v. Jones, 246 Ariz. 452 (2019) (legality of medical marijuana extracts)
Amicus Brief

Administrative Law

Legacy Education Group v. Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, 2018 WL 2107482 (Ariz. App. 2018) (administrative law challenge regarding lack of agency rulemaking) (argued)
Opening Brief
Oral Argument

Perez-Guzman v. Lynch, 835 F.3d 1066 (9th Cir. 2016) (administrative law in immigration dispute) (argued).
Oral Argument

Arizona State Univ. v. Arizona State Retirement Sys., 237 Ariz. 246 (App. 2015) (administrative law challenge regarding lack of agency rulemaking).
Opening Brief

Appeals from Jury Trials

Torres v. JAI Dining Svcs. (Phoenix), Inc., __ Ariz. __ (App. 2020) (intervening/superseding cause) (argued)
Opening Brief
Oral Argument
McClure v. Country Life Ins. Co., 795 F. App’x. 548 (9th Cir. 2020) (joint venture and expert witness issues) (argued).
Answering Brief
Oral Argument
Ryan v. Henry, 2018 WL 456195 (Ariz. App. 2018) (ownership and control of company) (argued).
Oral Argument

Markham Contracting Co. Inc. v. First Am. Title Ins. Co., 2013 WL 3828690 (Ariz. App. 2013) (appeal from jury trial) (argued).
Answering Brief
Oral Argument

Intellectual Property & Antitrust

Aerotec Int’l, Inc. v. Honeywell Int’l Inc., 836 F.3d 1171 (9th Cir. 2016) (antitrust claims, including monopolization, exclusive dealing, tying, and price discrimination).
Answering Brief

eMove, Inc. v. SMD Software, Inc., 569 F. App'x. 527 (9th Cir. 2014) (appeal in false advertising case) (argued).
Answering Brief
Oral Argument

Honeywell Int’l, Inc. v. W. Support Grp., Inc., 947 F. Supp. 2d 1077 (D. Ariz. 2013) (summary judgment on copyright eligibility for technical manuals) (argued).

Other Legal Issues

Thompson/McCarthy Coffee Co. v. RepublicBankAZ N.A., 2019 WL 6713432 (Ariz. App. 2019) (waiver of affirmative defense) (argued)
Opening Brief
Oral Argument
Arizona State Univ. v. Arizona State Retirement Sys., 242 Ariz. 387 (App. 2017) (prejudgment interest) (argued).
Opening Brief
Oral Argument

Markham Contracting v. FDIC, 240 Ariz. 360 (App. 2016) (equitable subrogation).
Opening Brief

Awards

National Television Coverage

National Newspaper/Magazine Coverage

Local Media Recognition

Nearly every major television station in Phoenix has featured Eric's comments about his cases or legal analysis.
Arizona Republic (1, 2, 3, 4)
Arizona Capitol Times
Phoenix Business Journal

Legal Publications

Activities

Professional Activities

Ninth Circuit Appellate Lawyer Representative, 2017-present
State Bar of Arizona, Appellate Practice Section, Chair 2020-present; Executive Council, 2015-present
State Bar of Arizona, Intellectual Property Law Section, Chair 2020-present; Executive Council, 2016-present
Arizona Court of Appeals Pro Bono Attorney Coordinator, 2019-present
State Bar of Arizona, Antitrust Law Section, Immediate Past Chair, 2017-2018; Chair, 2016-2017; Executive Council, 2014-present
Arizona Appellate Handbook Committee, 2014-present
Judicial Review of Administrative Decisions Rules Study Group, 2016-2017

Community Activities

Phoenix-Taipei Sister Cities Committee, 2013-present

Publications

Recurring Contributions

SCOTUSblog posts
Civil Appellate Highlights (monthly column in Arizona Attorney) (with Joseph N. Roth)
Arizona Appeals content for Practical Law (with Hayleigh S. Crawford)
Arizona Appellate Handbook (coauthor of chapter on special actions)

Journals, Law Reviews, and Book Chapters

The Chicago Tradition and Judge Ginsburg (with Barak Orbach & D. Daniel Sokol), in An Antitrust Professor on the Bench: Liber Amicorum 43 (Nicholas Charbit et al. eds., 2018) (book chapter)
The Overhaul of the Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure, Ariz. Attorney 52 (Jan. 2015) (with Thomas L. Hudson & Joseph N. Roth)
The Jurisdiction of the D.C. Circuit, 23 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 131 (2013) (lead author)
The Role of Economic Analysis in Competition Law (with Douglas H. Ginsburg), in Intellectual Property, Competition Law, and Economics in Asia (Ian McEwin ed., 2011) (book chapter)
Antitrust and the Google Books Settlement: The Problem of Simultaneity, 2010 Stan. Tech. L. Rev. 4
A Postmortem Look at Citywide WiFi, 14 No. 2 J. Internet L. 1 (2010)
The Failure of Public WiFi, 14 J. Tech. L. & Pol'y 161 (2009)
Reducing Fraud against the Government: Using FOIA Disclosures in Qui Tam Litigation, 75 U. Chi. L. Rev. 497 (2008). Reprinted in 49 False Claims Act & Qui Tam Q. Rev. 159 (2008)

Speaking

Appellate Oral Arguments By Remote Video (State Bar of Arizona) (2020)
Annual IP CLE in the Garden (all-day seminar) (State Bar Intellectual Property Law Section) (Chair) (2020)
Judgment Entered: Now What? (State Bar of Arizona Appellate Practice Section) (2020)
Arizona Supreme Court Review (half-day seminar) (Co-chair, panelist) (2019)
Compelled Speech or Public Accommodation? (Federalist Society) (2019)
Brush & Nib and Beyond: New Frontiers in LGBT Rights (American Constitution Society) (2019)
Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference (2019)
Antitrust in the Age of Populism (State Bar of Arizona Antitrust Section) (2019)
Inclusion: The Legal Landscape Affecting Religion and People of Faith (State Bar of Arizona Religious Liberties Law Section) (2019)
Federal Pro Bono Opportunities (Federal Bar Association) (2019)
SCOTUS IP Cases Review (State Bar Intellectual Property Law Section) (2019, 2017)
Amicus Briefs on Appeal (Moderator) (State Bar of Arizona Appellate Practice Section) (2019)
Working with the Court of Appeals (all-day seminar) (Co-chair) (2018, 2016)
First Mondays Live Podcast (Co-chair; guest panelist) (State Bar of Arizona Appellate Practice Section) (2018)
Open for Business? Non-Discrimination Best Practices and Legal Advice (Arizona LGBT Bar Association) (2018)
Arizona Supreme Court Review (half-day seminar) (Co-chair; moderator) (2017)
The Record on Appeal (State Bar of Arizona Appellate Practice Section) (Moderator) (2017)
Internet Advertising Update (State Bar of Arizona Intellectual Property Law Section and Antitrust Law Section) (Moderator) (2017)
Professional Licensing After North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners (State Bar of Arizona Antitrust Law Section and Administrative Law Section) (Moderator) (2016)
Special Actions in the Court of Appeals (State Bar of Arizona Appellate Practice Section) (Moderator) (2016)
Beyond the Boilerplate: Writing Effective Cease-and-Desist Letters (Association of Corporate Counsel) (2016)
Banking and the Free Society (Las Vegas, NV) (2016)
US Airways–American Airlines Merger: Antitrust/Competition Issues and Effects of the Recent Merger (State Bar of Arizona Business Law and Antitrust Sections) (2014)
Lessons from United States v. Apple: Risky Contract Terms for Non-Monopolists (Association of Corporate Counsel) (2014)
Freedom and the Financial Markets (Washington, DC) (2012)

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