Practices

• Biotechnology
• Chemical & Materials Technologies
• Cleantech
• Electrical & Computer Technologies
• Interference
• Internet & Domain Names
• Licensing & Transactions
• Litigation
• Mechanical Technologies
• Nanotechnology
• Pharmaceutical
• Startups
• Trademark & Copyright

Services

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Copyright
• Due Diligence
• International
• IP Strategy
• Litigation
• Opinion
• Patent
• Trademark

Trademark

Experienced Branding Advisors

The value of a good reputation in the market starts with the selection of a strong brand. We know from experience how to guide clients toward strong brands, and we understand the business value of doing it well.

The business objectives of our clients play a large role in our advice as we seek marks that will secure exclusivity in their key markets, avoid potential infringement issues, and maximize commercial impact. For this reason, we have built internal systems and created strong offerings to be highly effective in our support of clients through such critical decisions.

Because a company’s name, trademarks, and trade dress are critical in delivering the brand promise, protection of those assets calls for rigorous analysis, strategy, and execution. Our clients value the longstanding experience we bring to their challenges. Decades of experience in counseling our clients on the strategic selection, cost-effective registration, on-going management, and enforcement of trademark, trade dress, and domain name rights has conferred wisdom to our practice.

In 2008 alone, we filed 885 trademark applications, which is quantifiably the largest number filed by any New England firm devoted exclusively to IP law.

International Presence

Because the international market is an important part of decisions, counseling clients requires the knowledge and resources to traverse the labyrinth of independent legal systems, treaties, and agreements. Our clients rely on us to help them develop cost-effective global strategies for determining where and when to protect their trademark assets. Executing aggressively on those strategies in our clients’ key markets and manufacturing countries, we use a well-established network of international associates to efficiently extend our reach world-wide.

This reach is particularly useful in anti-counterfeiting matters, as well as in coordinating world-wide clearance and registrations to protect trademarks in a broad range of industry sectors. 

Technical Expertise

Our clients count on us to apply our sophisticated technical backgrounds to the art of branding their products and services. Understanding the technology behind a client’s product or service brands allows us to develop and execute strategies that return strong business value.

Enforcement Experience

When it becomes necessary to enforce our client’s trademarks or trade dress, we create strategies on when and where to litigate, whether to seek arbitration or other ADR solution, and how to craft a winning trial strategy.

We have successfully handled numerous domain name disputes, and trademark and trade dress infringement cases, including a case which has become the leading authority in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on trade secrets, a decision cited as a leading case on trade dress and copyright law, and the largest jury verdict in a trade secret case in Massachusetts history.

Scope of Practice

Services we provide clients in this area include:

• Strategic counseling on trademark clearance, selection and use
• Acquisition, assignment, and sale of trademark rights
• Drafting and prosecution of trademark registrations in U.S. and other countries
• Advice on internet domain name selection, registration, and use
• Trademark portfolio audits
• Trademark litigation including oppositions and cancellations before the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board
• Trademark issues on the internet (keywords, Second Life, etc.)
• Advice on international anti-counterfeiting, anti-infringement, and anti-parallel trade and brand strategies
• Licensing and development agreements
• Collateral security agreements involving trademarks
• Internet and domain name registrations, counseling, and dispute resolution
• Infringement and due diligence opinions
• Right to use and register opinions
• Client training and trademark audits
• Maintenance of trademark rights

Representative Industries Served

• Apparel & fashion accessories
• Athletic equipment
• Chemical technologies
• Computer hardware
• Computer software
• Consumer electronics
• Electronic components
• Financial services
• Fluid treatment and purification equipment
• Food, beverages & restaurants
• Footwear
• Hospitals
• Infant & children’s products
• Internet technologies
• Kitchen and houseware products
• Medical devices
• Office supplies
• Personal care products
• Pharmaceuticals
• Publishing
• Semiconductors
• Toys