Trademark Litigation

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Trademark litigation covering infringement, dilution, and unfair competition in federal court and TTAB proceedings, protecting the brand equity and goodwill your name carries through fast, focused enforcement and defense.

Your trademarks carry your reputation, and a knockoff, a confusingly similar name, or a dilutive use can chip away at goodwill you spent years building. We litigate trademark infringement, dilution, and unfair competition disputes in federal courts and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, whether you need to stop an infringer or defend against an overreaching claim.

Infringement And Injunctions

When another mark threatens to confuse your customers, speed matters. We prosecute infringement claims built on the likelihood-of-confusion factors, moving quickly for preliminary injunctive relief where the harm to your brand is immediate and pursuing damages and the infringer's profits where the facts support it. On defense, we attack the confusion analysis and the strength and scope of the asserted mark.

Dilution And Unfair Competition

Famous and distinctive marks face harms that go beyond direct competition, including blurring and tarnishment that erode what makes the brand recognizable. We litigate federal and state dilution claims alongside unfair competition and false advertising theories, tying the legal arguments to evidence of fame, recognition, and marketplace impact so the court sees the real damage to your brand.

TTAB Oppositions And Cancellations

Many brand fights play out at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board through oppositions and cancellation proceedings rather than in court. We handle these proceedings to block applications that encroach on your rights and to cancel registrations that should never have issued, and we coordinate TTAB strategy with any parallel federal litigation so the two tracks reinforce each other.

Frequently asked questions

You need to show that you own a valid trademark and that the defendant's use is likely to confuse customers. Courts weigh several factors, including how similar the marks are, how related the products are, whether you sell through the same channels, and whether there's evidence of actual confusion. No single factor decides it; courts look at the overall picture.

Remedies include an injunction to stop the infringing use, your actual damages, and the defendant's profits. In exceptional cases, the court can award enhanced damages and attorneys' fees. The right mix depends on the harm you can prove and how the defendant behaved.

Dilution protects famous marks from uses that blur their distinctiveness or tarnish their reputation, even when there's no likelihood of confusion. The catch is that the mark has to be truly famous, recognized broadly by the general public, not just well known in one industry. So dilution is a narrower tool reserved for the most recognizable brands.

Sometimes, through a preliminary injunction. You have to show you're likely to win, that you'll suffer irreparable harm without relief, that the balance of hardships favors you, and that an injunction serves the public interest. When granted, it can halt the infringement while the case proceeds.

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is the USPTO's administrative tribunal that handles oppositions to pending applications and petitions to cancel existing registrations. It's an alternative to federal court for fighting over whether a mark should be registered. Keep in mind the TTAB decides registration rights, not infringement damages, so you may still need court for those.

Anti-counterfeiting enforcement can run on several tracks at once: federal court action, customs seizures at the border, coordination with law enforcement, and enforcement abroad. Counterfeiting can also carry criminal penalties, not just civil liability. We help you decide which combination fits the scale of the problem and where the counterfeiters operate.

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