Attorneys
David Swetnam-Burland
David Swetnam-Burland regularly represents Brann & Isaacson’s business clients, including over a dozen of the 100 largest internet retailers, in business, intellectual property, privacy, class action, and tax litigation, as well as individual and mass arbitrations. He has appeared in federal and state trial and appellate courts from Maine to California, and before federal and state agencies throughout the country. Dave also advises clients on data privacy and security and state and local tax compliance.
Dave has experience in all aspects of litigation, from dispositive motions through trial. He has argued and won judgments for clients on motions to dismiss, summary judgment, and at trial. He has also handled appellate matters in state and federal court, including successful oral arguments in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. He has served as lead counsel on a petition for a writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, and co–authored amicus briefs for leading national internet retailers and other clients in the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit, and U.S. district courts; he has co-authored law review and other articles on key issues in privacy, patent litigation, and state and local tax law.
Before joining the firm, Dave served as law clerk to United States District Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.
Contact
Email: dsb@brannlaw.com
Phone: 207.786.3566
Practice Areas
Education
University of Michigan Law School
(J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif)
University of Michigan
(M.A. in Philosophy)
Wesleyan University
(B.A. with high honors)
Bar Admissions
& Membership
Maine
California
Oregon
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third and Federal Circuits
U.S. District Court for the District of Maine
U.S. District Court for the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of California
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Professional Affiliations & Publications
“New Year, Old Threats: Private Tax Enforcement Looks Back to the Future,” State Tax Notes (January 29, 2024) (with David W. Bertoni)
“Machine Learning Machinations in the State Tax Metaverse,” State Tax Notes (November 6, 2023) (with Jamie Szal)
“Post-Wayfair, Franchise Taxes Still Fail Complete Auto Inspection,” State Tax Notes (October 18, 2021) (with Martin I. Eisenstein and Matthew Pick)
“A Shield, Not a Sword: Arbitration in Consumer Tax Cases,” State Tax Notes (September 21, 2020) (with David W. Bertoni and Nathaniel Bessey)
“Chaos Theory: The States’ Response to Wayfair,” State Tax Notes (June 10, 2019) (with Martin I. Eisenstein)
“Storming the Castle: Qui Tam After Sprint’s $330M Settlement,” State Tax Notes (March 11, 2019) (with David W. Bertoni)
“The Sky is Not Falling” GAO Report Hobbles Attack on Quill“, State Tax Notes (March 5, 2018) (with David W. Bertoni)
“Alice’s Adventures in Oz: Revealing the Man Behind the Curtain,” 9 Akron Intell. Prop. J. 29 (2015) (with Stacy O. Stitham)
“Patent Law 101: The Threshold Test as Threshing Machine,” Texas IP Law Journal, vol. 21, no. 1 (August 2013) (with Stacy O. Stitham)
“Back to the Future: Revisiting Zippo in Light of ‘Modern Concerns,’” 29 John Marshall J. of Comp. & Info. Law, No. 2 (Fall 2012) (with Stacy O. Stitham)
“Fractious Form 18,” 45 CONNtemplations 1 (2012) (with Stacy O. Stitham)
“Vendor Indemnification on the Open Range,” Intellectual Property Litigation, Vol. 23, No. 1 (2011) (with Stacy O. Stitham)
“ResQNet: Rescuer or Wrecking Ball in Patent–Licensing Negotiations?”, Intellectual Property Litigation, Vol. 22, No. 1 (2010) (with Stacy O. Stitham)
Co–author of amicus curiae briefs for internet retailers in leading patent cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, including Limelight Networks v. Akamai, No. 12–786 (2014) (elements of proof of indirect patent infringement); Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, No. 13–298 (2014) (effect of a presence of a computer in a claim on patent eligibility); Microsoft v. i4i, No. 10–290 (2010) (standard of proof of patent invalidity); and Bilski v. Kappos, No. 08–964 (2009) (patent eligibility of business method patents)
Law Clerk to United States District Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (2002–2003)