Stephen T. Neal is an intellectual property attorney based in San Mateo, California.

Steve Neal has extensive experience in all aspects of patent law, including patent preparation and prosecution; patentability, validity, infringement, and due diligence opinions; strategic patent portfolio development and management; and patent litigation. He also has experience in copyright and trademark matters, having successfully litigated trademark matters in the Northern District of California, registered and defended trademarks before the USPTO, and defended websites against accusations of copyright infringement.

He has technical expertise in the areas of electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer software, energy systems, and mechanical engineering.

Steve’s particular technical expertise covers a variety of highly competitive technologies, including operating systems; cloud computing; internet security; microprocessors; telecommunications; online commerce; image processing; artificial intelligence; memory management; power management; interactive entertainment; big data; microgrids; food processing; and bone and joint replacement devices.

Prior to founding Stephen T. Neal, Intellectual Property Law, Steve was a partner at Prass, LLP, an associate of the San Jose, CA office of Kenyon & Kenyon, and an associate of the Sunnyvale, CA office of Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor, and Zafman.

Prior to his legal career, Steve worked as a software engineer for Neural Applications Corporation, where he was involved in the development of an intelligent Internet ad-targeting software.

He is a co-author of Eldred v. Ashcroft: Supreme Court Upholds 20 Year Copyright Extension, ClientTimes Vol. 11, No. 1 (2003).

He has been admitted to the California State Bar and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He received his Juris Doctor in 2000 from the University of Iowa College of Law where he was a Moot Court Judge and the Associate Editor of Journal of Corporation Law.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engingeering from Iowa State University in 1997, where he was a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu.

He earned a Master of Public Affairs from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley in 2022, with an emphasis in energy policy. His capstone project for the California Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety was "The Human Grid: Improving the Safety Culture at California's Utilities".