Unique among U.S. law firms, our international trademark and copyright practice has been a key focus for more than 50 years. We advise U.S. and global clients in the search and clearance, filing and prosecution, and enforcement and maintenance of their rights in jurisdictions all over the world.
We also coordinate multijurisdictional enforcement and litigation matters to protect the rights of our clients. We have developed a premier network of foreign counsel firms, with whom we have worked for decades, to ensure that our clients’ work is handled by the leading lawyers in each country for each specific matter – and at the most competitive rates. With no offices outside the U.S., we are free to evaluate and choose the best counsel in each country for each specific matter while our competitors send work to their satellite offices abroad with varying capabilities. Our extensive knowledge of the trademark laws and practices in virtually all countries around the world often enables us to respond to client inquiries immediately without assistance from foreign counsel, saving clients time and money.
We are able to advise clients quickly on new issues and frame responses to ensure that our clients do not waste time and resources by, for example, filing oppositions with little to no chance of success or abandoning applications when a brief but well-argued response would overcome the objection – not only do we know how to overcome such obstacles, but we also know which arguments not to make. We have in-depth familiarity with the filing requirements of every jurisdiction in the world where trademark protection is possible, and maintain and update such information in the firm’s proprietary trademark filing and prosecution database.
Strengths that Matter to our Clients
- Our unparalleled knowledge of the Madrid Protocol and other treaties enables us to be efficient with our clients’ time and money when launching global filing strategies.
- Drawing upon our own in-house knowledge of other legal systems and precedents, as well as our clients’ business, we direct the planning and execution of relevant pleadings in contentious matters in close consultation with the best available foreign counsel, and we frequently are able to suggest alternate strategies and craft creative solutions to difficult issues.
- We take a consistent approach to similar issues as they arise in different countries, making sure that action is not taken which could be successful in one country, but would put clients’ rights at risk elsewhere.
- Well-established brands constantly encounter trademark pirates trying to encroach on their brand by registering a well-known mark in a slightly related or even unrelated area. We know how to defeat pirated marks and work with clients to ensure that their own rights remain strong and that they have the protection they need to expand globally into related goods and services.
- We are able to quickly staff large projects, such as searching many alternate marks simultaneously for a particular global launch, or executing a global filing program to meet Convention Priority deadlines on a tight timeframe.