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Trademarks & Service Marks

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Overview

We appreciate that your brand is one of your most important assets. Our brand is built on protecting your brand. As leaders in intellectual property and trademark law, Harness IP safeguards many of the most recognizable brands on the planet. We use efficient processes and tools to clear trademarks and service marks, conduct packaging and advertising reviews, and have a network of 150+ international firms to secure global coverage of trademark rights.

We work with our clients to make sure that they use their marks correctly. Through extensive watching and monitoring, we spot potentially conflicting marks long before there is a conflict. Our experience includes:

  • Searching, clearing, filing and registering trademarks, service marks and domain names in the U.S. and abroad
  • Filing and defending trademark and service mark Oppositions and Cancellations before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
  • Enforcing and defending trademark and service mark rights in civil actions in Federal District Court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • Filing and defending UDRP domain proceedings before WIPO, NAF and other global administrative bodies
  • Combatting online infringement against cybersquatters, typosquatters and metataggers
  • Negotiating and drafting trademark licenses and franchise agreements
  • Safeguarding IP assets in mergers, acquisitions, investments and due diligence projects
  • Litigating disputes that involve trade dress, trade names, unfair competition and comparative advertising
  • Trademark validity and infringement opinions
  • Global anti-counterfeit and Customs enforcement actions

We develop trademark strategies that match our client’s commercial goals rather than simply file applications. The need to enforce trademark rights has escalated because the Internet makes it easier for counterfeiters to hijack brands, duplicate copyrighted materials and sell pirated goods. We take pride in not only shutting down these predators, but also in doing so quickly and cost effectively. It may sound like a cliché, but when it comes to trademark and service mark matters throughout the world, we make it our business to be certain that we’ve got your back.

Our Firm is consistently ranked as one of the top trademark filers. Our trademark attorneys have received numerous recognitions and awards including the American Corporate Counsel Association’s Client’s Choice award in trademark law, The Top 250 Women in IP, Leading Lawyers, Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers.

Focus Areas

Anti-counterfeiting

Counterfeiting is an escalating threat to brand owners in the world economy. Harness IP knows what it takes to defeat counterfeiters. We execute proven legal tactics and enforcement actions when it comes to worldwide brand protection. Whether our client is a small domestic company or a large international corporation, we work tirelessly to protect our client’s brands from counterfeiters.

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Enforcement

Trademark enforcement can be crucial to maintaining and growing market share. Harness IP is known for customized and cost-efficient global enforcement strategies. Whether on the offense or defense, our attorneys understand how to protect trademarks and trade dress, as well as prosecute and defend unfair competition claims related to false advertising, counterfeit and gray market goods.

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Global Trademark Strategy

Harness IP employs a global trademark strategy. For decades, our clients who sell products and services throughout the world have turned to us to assist them in developing worldwide registration strategies that make sense for their businesses.

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Trademark Litigation

Harness IP is known for world class trademark litigation. Our litigators are industry leaders in the prosecution and defense of the full spectrum of trademark related claims. We handle all aspects of such disputes, ranging from informal negotiations to trial and appeal — and often with millions of dollars at stake. Our attorneys take a practical, business oriented approach to resolving trademark disputes, ever mindful of the critical balance between cost and result.

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Trademark Selection, Prosecution & Registration

For nearly a century, Harness IP has helped clients to protect their marks throughout the entire trademark life cycle. With decades of experience and thousands of marks in our care, we have at our fingertips the practical answer to even the most unusual trademark questions. Our lawyers are highly skilled and effectively shepherd applications through the trademark office bureaucracy, maintaining and enforcing many of the world’s most famous trademarks and service marks. Regardless of the problem, we have probably seen it before, and solved it.

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Maximizing Trademark Rights

Few assets are as important to a business as a trademark. That is why Harness IP is dedicated to helping clients fully realize the value of their mark. We deliver extensive experience in all areas of trademark licensing, as well as with merchandising programs and larger scale trademark holding company matters. We are involved in significant transactions of important brands. We ably represent both licensors and licensees, as we are well versed in the commercial and legal aspects pertaining to both sides of the deal.

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TTAB Proceedings

Harness IP knows what it takes to prevail before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Trademark registration is one of the first steps in protecting a mark in the U.S., and when a Trademark Examiner refuses a registration, or when there is a dispute as to whether an applicant is entitled to a registration, these disputes are resolved by the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (TTAB). The March 15, 2015 Supreme Court decision in B&B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc. shows that courts should follow TTAB decisions. As a result, it is more important than ever to get the right result before the TTAB.

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Trademark & Domain Name Protection

Selecting the right name or mark is one of the most significant choices a business can make. An organization’s or individual’s moniker, website domain name, trademark and trade dress often have a significant impact on the overall profitability of a business. Harness IP ensures that such marks and domain names are not only substantiated, but also poised and strengthened for success.

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Customs & Border Protection

Most people know that our U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) has the ability to seize counterfeit and infringing goods at U.S. borders. But did you know that trademark and copyright registration owners can record those documents with CBP, and CBP will actively look for, seize and destroy infringing and counterfeit products?

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