Karl Kronenberger: Relentlessly Committed to His Clients

When Karl Kronenberger approaches a legal problem, the word relentless comes to mind. Because, if you want to be the best internet law firm in the country, you’ve got no other option.

So it’s no surprise that Kronenberger brings a single-minded focus and an unmistakable intensity to every legal challenge. Relentlessness is his default setting.

It dates back to when he was an Army officer and federal prosecutor. Kronenberger served as an attorney in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, which is the branch of the military that deals with military law. Karl also was federal prosecutor, and he had great pride when he uttered the words in his introduction to judges: “Karl Kronenberger, for the United States.” These experiences helped him to develop aggressiveness and creativity coupled with the highest ethical standards.

Today, he applies those same standards representing his clients.

“Clients need attorneys who are tech-savvy and relentless in their advocacy,” he said. “I mean relentless in a way that’s aggressive and strong, no matter what happens.”

He’s also an experienced litigator with more than 20 jury and 100 bench trials under his belt. Clients rely on him to handle complex cases involving Internet trademark, copyright infringement, spam litigation defense, false advertising, FTC lawsuits, internet defamation and privacy disputes.

“My background as a prosecutor and Army officer influenced me tremendously,” he said. “And I bring that attitude of representation to my clients. My team and I work as hard as we can, in every way we can, with creativity, speed and resourcefulness.”

The Genesis of A Legal Career: Mosaic

Kronenberger was in the Army stationed overseas when he first encountered the Mosaic browser in 1994. Mosaic was one of the first graphical web browsers that contributed to the explosive growth of the World Wide Web. He was already fascinated with technology. But with Mosaic, Kronenberger recognized an unmistakable strategic tool for organizations and individuals. Those insights pushed him to develop technology protocols for the JAG Corps that increased efficiency of Army attorneys through the use of automation.

The Startup Bug

After leaving the Army, Kronenberger moved to San Francisco where he and his brothers founded an animation and software company. Located south of Market Street, the firm grew to 35 people. After two years, they sold it to investors.

The experience of starting a company and managing it to success gives him a unique perspective that many law firms don’t always offer.

“Most of my clients are emerging companies. They’re bootstrapping their way to success without the help of venture capital funding,” he said. “I know what that takes. It’s a huge effort. My own startup experience makes it easier to understand my clients’ needs.”

Kronenberger Law Firm Starts Up

After selling his company, Kronenberger founded the law firm in 2003 with a focus on internet law. At the time, a lot of internet law was related to so-called e-contracting, domain name disputes, and spam litigation. That evolved and eventually, legal issues related to trademarks, copyrights, unfair competition, and consumer privacy became more common. Today, there are few areas of the law that are evolving as fast as internet law.

Spam Statute From Federal To California Courts...

“We’ve seen spam litigation evolve from mostly federal cases under the federal statute, to almost exclusively the California statute,” Kronenberger said. “Our firm was instrumental in developing the law to make it harder for spam litigation mills to sue in federal courts, which is one of the reasons why so much spam litigation is now filed in state courts in California.”

Regarding the FTC…

“We haven’t seen much in the evolution of the most basic standards used by the FTC to protect consumers. But, the FTC has continually issued new guidance on how to comply with the FTC Act in the realm of new media, especially on the topics of required disclosures for consumers during in online marketing” . . . “A lot of the same issues are being litigated by the FTC that have been business issues for many years, but in the context of regularly changing new media contexts. Issues like fraudulent claims by sellers, or not providing sufficient notice billed to credit cards have always been FTC priorities. Make no mistake, the FTC has remained consistent.”

Regarding E-commerce…

“This is one of the fastest emerging legal areas because of Amazon. We’ve always dealt with IP issues with merchants. But, the explosive growth of the Amazon marketplace led to many unique disputes that we didn’t deal with ten years ago. Bad actors are continually reinventing themselves in the Amazon Marketplace, where they continue to engage in unfair competition and a variety of different types of IP infringement and other unlawful activities.”

Regarding Cybersecurity…

“We’re seeing more cybersecurity breaches by anonymous actors, in addition to other anonymous activity, such defamation. It has become more sophisticated. But, we have our own digital forensic techniques to identify anonymous bad actors. We serve subpoenas on social media outlets, ISPs, cloud communication platforms, and a wide variety of other service providings when rooting out those behind anonymous unfair competition or defamation.”

Life Away From The Office: Running and Art

When he isn’t focussed on internet law, Kronenberger has several interests that give him time to refresh and unwind. He runs three to four miles per day - a legacy daily running ritual when he was in the Army.

And then there’s art. Not only does he represent artists, he also collects art. All types of art, including mixed media, photography, and, recently, digital artwork, which the firm recently installed in the lobby of their offices.

“It (the digital art piece) changes images throughout the day,” Kronenberger said. “I like modern work, especially if it’s connected to San Francisco and to California.”

Regardless of what the future looks like for internet technology, Karl Kronenberger has no doubt the legal challenges will be complex. To meet the challenges, it will require unique legal skills, creativity, and relentless focus on client needs.