Best Lawyers in America for Trademark Law
Practice Area Overview
A mark is deemed protectable if it is distinctive, meaning that it is capable of identifying the source of a particular good. In determining whether a mark is distinctive, trademark law uses four separate classifications based on the relationship between the mark and the associated product: (1) arbitrary or fanciful (marks such as KODAK® and APPLE® that bear no inherent relationship to their associated products); (2) suggestive (marks such as COPPERTONE® that evoke a characteristic of the associated products); (3) descriptive (marks such as HOLIDAY INN® that directly describe a characteristic or feature of the associated products); or (4) generic (terms that describe the general category of the associated products, e.g., “phone,” “keyboard,” etc.). The first two categories of marks are protectable without proof that they have acquired distinctiveness in the minds of consumers, while descriptive marks require evidence that the consuming public has come to associate the term with its specific source. Generic terms are never protectable as trademarks, as they are necessary for general identification of a particular product category.
Once a trademark owner has acquired protectable rights in a mark, it may enforce its rights by preventing the use and/or registration of all subsequent infringing marks. The standard for infringement in the United States is “likelihood of confusion,” which means that consumers viewing the respective marks on their associated products are likely to be confused as to the source of those products or as to the sponsorship or approval of such products. In other words, determining infringement is not as simple as merely comparing the marks to see if they are identical; rather, courts will employ a multifactor test. While the precise factors vary slightly by jurisdiction, courts generally consider the following elements: (1) the strength of the plaintiff’s mark; (2) the relatedness of the goods; (3) the similarity of the marks; (4) evidence of actual confusion; (5) the similarity of marketing channels used; (6) the degree of care exercised by the typical purchaser; (7) the defendant’s intent; and (8) the likelihood of expansion of the product lines.
Protecting and enforcing trademarks is critical to the success of any company. Trademarks allow consumers to distinguish a company’s products and services from those of its competitors, and also serve as indicators of the quality of such products and services. Indeed, many companies’ trademark portfolios constitute the majority of the value of their businesses. Please consult with an experienced trademark lawyer to explore how to best to protect your company’s trademarks.
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Tara Aaron-Stelluto is a partner in the Nashville office of Barton LLP, where she practices in the areas of Intellectual Property, Business Transactions, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence. Tara helps her clients optimize and protect their most valuable asset – their intellectual property. She focuses on domestic and foreign trademark clearance, prosecution, licensing and enforcement; domain name and UDRP proceedings and other ex parte proceedings against online infringers; copy...
Frank focuses on patent procurement and patent portfolio strategizing in electrical, software, electro-mechanical engineering and medical device related technologies. In addition, Frank provides services in licensing, diligence exercises, and validity and infringement studies and opinions, as well as related litigation counseling. Frank counsels a range of businesses from established public companies through early and late stage startup businesses.In addition to his years as a patent attorney...
Steve Abreu takes a pragmatic approach to trademark clearance, registration and enforcement to help a wide range of enterprises meet their intellectual property protection and business goals. Steve’s clients are varied and include renowned institutions of higher learning, consumer and medical product companies, and specialty magazines. He also represents well-known manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products. Steve’s strategic outlook on trademark and copyright pro...
Household names in the technology and entertainment sectors and famous brands in all areas of consumer products and services rely on Kristin as an advocate and trusted advisor on IP, general advertising and competition issues. She has counseled multinational clients in multiple high-profile disputes involving novel ecommerce issues. She also gives strategic advice to clients on exploiting their copyrights and trademarks over social media, and on how to best protect their IP rights in software...
As co-chair of the firm's Life Sciences group, Bradford Addison has successfully prosecuted more than 10,000 original and complex patents over the course of his career. With a Ph.D. in pharmacology, Brad understands even the most cutting-edge science and technology behind innovation, as well as how to realize the true value of a commercially viable patent. Brad prepares and prosecutes patent applications in the chemical and biotech areas, including pharmaceuticals, molecular biology, instrume...
Trusted IP attorney with background as a professional musician. Brings an artist’s perspective to copyrights and contracts. Has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in trademark and copyright disputes. Both an attorney and a professional musician, Peter Ajemian offers his clients a unique perspective as he combines his real-world experiences in the music industry with over a decade and a half of experience in intellectual property law. Peter is a published songwriter and guitarist...
Alan Albert is a nationally-honored trial lawyer who has represented clients from Muhammad Ali to multinational corporations in a broad array of commercial disputes, white-collar criminal investigations and prosecutions, intellectual property litigation and other governmental and regulatory matters. Mr. Albert has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America continuously for the past 20 years, and is one of a small number of lawyers in the country to be recognized by Best Lawyers in six dis...
Mike Allen dedicates his practice to protecting clients’ rights and assets, including their contract rights, intellectual property rights, shareholder rights, and estate rights. His rare blend of experience in negotiating, contracting, counseling, and litigation helps him provide meaningful insight to clients at all stages of their business relationships. Mike’s goal is to protect client interests without the need for litigation, but with more than 35 years of dispute resolution e...
Mr. Amburn concentrates his practice on intellectual property protection and litigation. He prepares and prosecutes patent and trademark applications, drafts intellectual property opinions and agreements, and counsels clients in obtaining and enforcing intellectual property rights. He works on a wide variety of technologies including mechanical, software, and business methods. Mr. Amburn has over fourteen years of litigation experience including first chair jury trial, mediation, arbitration,...
Mr. Anderson is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with 37 years of experience at Winston & Strawn LLP. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers who has tried many cases to verdict before federal and state courts and who has has argued many times before federal and state courts of appeal, including two arguments before the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Anderson served for many years as the General Counsel and Member of the Executive Committee of Winston & Strawn LLP.
Frank’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation. Frank has successfully tried patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright cases in Federal Courts nationwide, the Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Federal Circuits, and the International Trade Commission. As a registered patent attorney, Frank is authorized to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Frank has been lead counsel for a wide variety of clients, from individuals to major corporations, in intellec...
Margie Aoki collaborates with clients to develop strategies to protect their intellectual property, working closely with inventors to craft robust utility and design patent applications that highlight the client's innovations. During examination, Margie encourages open communication with patent examiners to find the most efficient path towards allowance. Margie's experience extends to freedom-to-operate and validity opinions, design-around strategies, and due diligence for portfolio acquisiti...
Erika Harmon Arner is a nationally recognized leader in trial practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and related appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She consistently ranks as one of the top three female attorneys appearing in PTAB trials and was named a PTAB Litigator of the Year by Managing Intellectual Property. She has argued and won a number of landmark cases at the PTAB and Federal Circuit for both patent challengers and patent owners. Erika&rs...
Greg Arovas has established a reputation as one of the top intellectual property litigation lawyers in New York. Greg has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in numerous high-profile patent and trade secret litigations, including cases for high-technology clients such as Intel, IBM, Samsung, Sony, Xerox, Lucent, Agere, Oracle, Siemens, Infineon, Xilinx, and KCI. Greg has tried numerous District Court and ITC cases to verdict involving a wide range of computer, software, communications ...
John S. Artz, a partner with Dickinson Wright PLLC has more than twenty-five years of experience and practices in all areas of intellectual property litigation. He also has extensive experience with the acquisition, management, and prosecution of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret assets. He serves and has served as lead counsel for many companies in federal courts across the country, including the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. John also has served as lead counsel in 25+ IPRs ...
Robert Asher leads the post-grant proceedings team at Sunstein leveraging his deep experience in patent litigation and patent prosecution. He is an astute and accomplished advocate for inventors and businesses affected by patents. Clients have been richly rewarded from Bob’s litigation guidance, appellate advocacy and patent prosecution work. He is the chair of Sunstein’s PTAB Litigation practice group. Our team won a $14.6M verdict for patent infringement of infrared thermometer ...
From Paris runways to retail outlets across the US, Karen Artz Ash protects the intellectual property of major names in fashion. She provides comprehensive IP counsel to designers and clothing manufacturers as well as clients in other industries in which IP assets figure prominently. The institutional memory that she and her team have established with long-time clients and within the fashion industry as a whole allow her to provide practical and deeply informed advice across a wide range of i...
Mr. Atkins is the leader of Pillsbury’s Intellectual Property Litigation team. He is a trial and appellate lawyer with 20 years of experience. He is a registered patent attorney who personally handles all of his cases and has won jury verdicts on both sides of the courtroom. Recent victories include (1) getting two university co-inventors added onto two NIH cancer drug patents with annual sales of approximately $2B, (2) an infringement jury verdict for a consumer product against a major...
Eric Babych has prepared and prosecuted patent applications on a global scale for over a decade. He also manages large-volume patent estates and coordinates prosecution strategies worldwide. Eric works thoroughly and efficiently to understand his clients’ innovations as well as the commercial goals behind the innovations. Representing clients who are faced with domestic and overseas business challenges, Eric’s international experience and perspective support him in offering action...
A.J. Bahou is Bradley's Artificial Intelligence (AI) practice leader and an intellectual property attorney who focuses on the intersection of law and technology. A registered patent attorney, trial lawyer, mediator and arbitrator, he has extensive experience in the areas of electrical and computer engineering technologies, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, medical devices, computer hardware, blockchain, software, and internet security systems. With 20+ years of experience, A...
W. Todd Baker is an IP litigation partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Todd is experienced handling post-grant matters at the USPTO including all aspects of IPR proceedings at the USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). He advises clients on issues of patentability, derivation, inventorship and priority related to post grant matters before the PTAB as a supplement or an alternative to traditional litigation-based patent validity challenges. Todd litigates...
Dane Baltich understands the importance of strategically growing and managing international patent portfolios. He also guides his clients on the issues of licensing, infringement, validity, and enforceability of patents. With his expertise, Dane positions patent portfolios for monetization, downstream litigation, and other strategic purposes for both domestic and international clients. His vast experience includes drafting and prosecuting patent portfolios across a broad range of fields, incl...
Bill Barber has devoted his legal career to the field of trademark law, focusing primarily on trademark litigation and policing, handling cases in federal courts across the U.S. and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Experienced in all aspects of litigation, including jury and bench trials as well as appeals, Bill also handles domain name disputes through ICANN’s domain name dispute resolution policies. He regularly assists clients with a wide range of trademark needs, includi...
Ilan Barzilay is an intellectual property practitioner specializing in obtaining and enforcing patent rights. Ilan leads a team of attorneys that procures patents for clients ranging from technology startups and research institutions to established companies and multinational corporations. He is a trusted advisor to clients seeking meaningful patent protection crafted to align with important business goals. His practice also includes handling contentious matters in the federal courts and befo...
Over the course of more than 25 years as a patent attorney matched with in-house experience as a pharmaceutical chemist at DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals and Smithkline Beecham, Allen Baum, partner-in-charge of the Raleigh office, has the ability to take complex scientific and legal issues and distill them into timely, relevant and useful counsel. Allen represents life sciences companies in patent and licensing matters. Clients hire Allen to identify and execute strategies to protect key commer...
Mr. Beavers' practice focuses on counseling corporate clients regarding the protection and management of their intellectual property assets, especially patents and trademarks, both in the United States and internationally. Mr. Beavers has 30 years experience in the practice of intellectual property law. He served as General Counsel to Gibson Guitar Corp. from 1995 to 1997. He has filed and prosecuted over one thousand patents in the mechanical arts. Mr. Beavers' current practice is heavily fo...
Pete Becker develops and implements global trademark, copyright, trade secret, and domain name protection, policing, and licensing strategies for clients. He has decades of experience building, maintaining, monetizing, and right-sizing clients’ soft IP portfolios. Pete has cleared global branding runways for large (US$500M+) new product launches by identifying, evaluating, and eliminating trademark obstacles in over 150 jurisdictions. While serving as in-house counsel, he managed one of...
Olivia is an intellectual property litigator who represents individuals and corporations across the country in complex technological matters. She helps clients protect, enforce, and defend intellectual property rights, including patents, trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks. An experienced trial lawyer, Olivia has litigated and tried significant cases before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and other federal courts around the country, and has also briefed and ...
Alan Behr is a partner in the Corporate & Business Law Department and Intellectual Property Practice, and chairman of the Fashion Practice at Phillips Nizer LLP. He is also a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Mr. Behr concentrates his practice on international intellectual property, fashion, and entertainment law. He represents established and up-and-coming businesses and individuals in the fields of electronic entertainment, emerging technologies, publishing, fashion, and consume...
With more than 25 years of Intellectual Property experience, Joel actively tries cases in both state and federal courts. A founding member and former co-chair of the firm's Intellectual Property and Technology Service Group, he manages all aspects of infringement litigation for both federal and state courts, including trial and appellate practice. He has also prepared and prosecuted trademark and copyright applications, prosecuted and defended trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings...
For over 35 years, Spiro has earned a reputation as an aggressive, trial and appellate patent and intellectual property litigator. He has successfully resolved cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars and is known for seeking the most efficient and cost effective path to either an amicable settlement or a win on the merits.
Pat Bergin is a registered Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is the chair of the Information Technology, Data Privacy and Security Section at von Briesen & Roper, s.c. and regularly assists clients with a broad range of intellectual property issues with an emphasis on domestic and international intellectual property procurement, including: drafting and prosecuting utility and design patent applications in the mechanical, electro-mechanical and medical ...
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