Find Lawyers in North Carolina, United States 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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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...
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...
Kirk Bradley is a partner in the Intellectual Property Litigation Group. His practice focuses on litigation and counseling in complex patent cases during discovery, trial, and appeal. His experience encompasses a wide variety of technologies, including marine electronics and sonar, financial services, medical devices, wireless telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and software programs. Mr. Bradley frequently counsels clients on how to manage or avoid patent issues affecting their business, pr...
Mr. Calkins, a registered patent attorney, has over 20 years of experience in client counseling and portfolio management in patent procurement, licensing and enforcement, primarily in the life sciences, chemical, medical and computer software arts. His current practice also focuses on the corporate and transactional aspects of intellectual property, including licensing, merger, acquisition and/or equity investment due diligence. Mr. Calkins' experiences allow him to understand the business va...
Brian M. Davis is a Partner at VLP, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and former Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group. Brian focuses his practice on client counseling relating to trademarks, including trademark clearance and the prosecution of U.S. and foreign trademark applications. He also has experience with copyright and other intellectual property issues, such as domain name disputes (including the UDRP), licensing programs and other intellectual property-r...
Art DeBaugh focuses his practice on trademarks , marketing/advertising/promotions issues, copyrights, trade dress, trade secrets, and business and corporate matters. As a North Carolina State Bar certified specialist in trademark law, Art has more than 25 years of experience protecting clients' intellectual property . Prior to joining Bell, Davis & Pitt in 2013, Art served as a partner in two law firms in the Research Triangle area. Prior to that, Art was chief counsel – intellectua...
Angela is a North Carolina State Bar Board Specialist in Trademark Law and a Certified Information Privacy Professional- United States (CIPP/US) who also serves as the firm's Director of Legal Innovation . She oversees several initiatives to optimize and increase the efficiency of the firm's legal services. In addition to adopting and executing practices, such as Legal Lean Sigma, Angela is responsible for moving the firm through the implementation of process improvement, design methodologies...
Mr. Ellsworth counsels clients to procure, protect, license and enforce intellectual property rights. Mr. Ellsworth works diligently to understand his client’s business and to leverage that understanding to achieve his client’s intellectual property goals in a turn-key and cost-efficient manner. Mr. Ellsworth manages extensive domestic and international patent portfolios for several publicly traded companies and provides strategic counseling to a variety of smaller business concer...
With a career that has included in-house patent counsel positions at GlaxoSmithKline and Targacept, Inc. (now Catalyst Biosciences), Amy Fix understands the core business issues her clients face. She has spent many years helping clients protect pharmaceutical, agricultural and polymer technologies, and is notably skilled in the growing sector of small-molecule drug development. Amy’s clients range from large international pharmaceutical corporations to smaller companies producing innova...
Chris Gegg counsels clients with regard to procuring, protecting, licensing, enforcing and defending intellectual property rights. Mr. Gegg's experience includes patent and copyright matters related to computer networks, hardware and software, as well as the electrical, mechanical, optical and business method arts. His practice involves extensive design patent and utility patent preparation and prosecution, patent infringement and patent validity matters. He also works on intellectual propert...
Registered to practice before the USPTO and backed with industry experience in engineering, Michele manages and counsels both consumer-oriented and tech-focused clients on trademark, copyright and other intellectual property issues. She uses her skills in Arabic and French to tap into a global network of associates to effectively represent international clients with their various IP needs. Michele Glessner is a member in Moore & Van Allen's Intellectual Property group. She concentrates he...
Guy Gosnell leads the Intellectual Property Patents – Electrical & Computer Science Group and its efforts to counsel clients in regard to patent matters in the electrical, computer software and business method arts. Guy has more than 20 years’ experience in the intellectual property field and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Guy has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America , the Top Attorneys in North Carolina and in Super Lawyers magazi...
Arlene Hanks is a member of the Trademark group, and boasts extensive experience in domestic and international trademark prosecution and protection, and in copyright, intellectual property licensing and transactional work for diverse clients. Arlene aids clients in developing branding strategies, maximizing brand investment and protecting and policing brands globally, working with an extensive worldwide network of foreign counsel. She also assists clients in intellectual property licensing an...
Susan Jackson is a partner in the Charlotte office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP and focuses her practice on patents, trademarks, copyrights, and unfair competition, as well as client counseling, licensing, and opinion work. She places particular emphasis on patent and trademark preparation and prosecution. Ms. Jackson has a chemical engineering background and has experience in chemical and materials-related inventions in the areas of specialty chemicals, chemistry, additives,...
Larry Jones focuses his practice on litigation, counseling, and the management of trademark and copyright enforcement and adversarial matters. These services are directed primarily to clients who have large multinational trademark portfolios. His practice also involves the management of the conflicts and litigation dockets of companies who regularly encounter copyright and trademark disputes arising from the merchandise manufactured or marketed by those clients. Mr. Jones routinely represents...
As an intellectual property attorney with more than 30 years of experience, Dick Lupo focuses his practice on intellectual property and technology transactional matters. Heavily involved in a variety of intellectual property and transactional matters for emerging-market companies as well as established businesses, Dick provides sophisticated IP counsel to diverse clients in wide-ranging industries, including: Financial services Heavy industrial manufacturing Internet applications Computer sof...
Doug Meier is an experienced patent attorney and managing partner of NK Patent Law. With a background in electrical engineering and in-depth experience practicing patent law, Doug brings a unique combination of legal and technical experience that allows him to quickly understand complex electrical, computer, and software technologies. Before becoming a patent lawyer, Doug worked as an electrical engineer for a major defense contractor in Houston, Texas, where he designed and developed softwar...
R. Andrew "Drew" Patty II is a partner with Phelps Dunbar, LLP in the firm's Intellectual Property and Cybersecurity Groups. He has extensive experience in a broad range of transactional intellectual property matters and related litigation. He also has a growing cybersecurity and data privacy practice. His chemical patent experience includes patent preparation and prosecution in the fields of oilfield proppants and other downhole chemicals, refinery catalysts, organometallic chemistry, microb...
Coe Ramsey is a media and entertainment lawyer with an emphasis in broadcast, music, and intellectual property law. A former disc jockey, Coe represents radio and television stations, programming networks, music-related businesses, musicians, producers, artists, new media companies, and others in nearly every area of media and entertainment law. Coe has a diverse entertainment practice that includes matters related to music, radio, film, television, and publishing. His passion for broadcastin...
Kevin Ransom heads the Moore & Van Allen Intellectual Property group. A trained electrical engineer with corporate experience, Kevin brings both technical experience and legal know-how to his widely varying U.S. and non-U.S. based intellectual property clients. Some of the services Kevin provides his clients include: Obtaining patent protection in the U.S. and non-U.S. patent offices. Infringement and invalidity investigations, product landscaping, and freedom to operate investigations, a...
David Sar represents clients in commercial disputes and matters pertaining to technology and intellectual property. He litigates and handles business transactions involving trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and technology. He counsels clients in nearly every area of intellectual property, and handles business transactions involving trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets and technology. He has handled the prosecution or maintenance of more than 4,000 trademark and copyrig...
Ryan's practice encompasses a wide range of intellectual property ("IP") matters, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. He supports and negotiates IP issues, including licensing and non-disclosure agreements and IP-related terms and conditions in various other types of agreements, such as joint development, manufacturing, service, and sales agreements. He is a registered patent attorney and has significant experience with preparing, filing, and prosecuting patent appli...
Bryan Skelton’s clients rely on his years of experience in intellectual property counseling and his focus on developing, executing, and enforcing worldwide market exclusivity strategies for their core assets. Pharmaceutical, chemical, and biotechnology companies of all sizes call on Bryan for portfolio growth, management and acquisition, due diligences, and strategic partnering. Bryan focuses his practice on advising pharmaceutical companies and research institutions on complex legal is...
George Taulbee heads the firm’s Technology, Privacy & IP Transactions Group in North Carolina. He focuses on all intellectual property and transactional matters involving computer and Internet technology, electronic commerce, and sports and entertainment. Mr. Taulbee has more than 25 years of experience working in software licenses and development outsourcing, joint venture, website hosting, and content and linking agreements. He has extensive experience in patent, trade secret and ...
A frequent author and speaker on intellectual property law developments and a trained mechanical engineer, Henry Ward focuses his practice on preparing and negotiating technology and commercial agreements and counseling clients in connection with patent, trademark, copyright, advertising regulations and litigation matters. He counsels clients on obtaining, protecting, licensing and enforcing intellectual property in a variety of industries, including: Metallurgy Welding Telecommunications Com...
A registered patent attorney, Mark Wilson has been recognized nationally for his experience and expertise in intellectual property. Although Mark can be found regularly in the courtroom, his practice broadly encompasses all aspects of intellectual property counseling, from IP acquisition to litigation and everything in between. Mark has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America, Chambers Partners USA, IAM Patent 1000, World Trademark Review 1000, North Carolina Super Lawyers, and North Carol...
Suzanne Gainey practices in both the Commercial & Technology Transactions and Privacy & Data Security groups. Her experience involves a wide-range of technology, intellectual property, and privacy matters, with a focus on transactional work. Suzanne’s practice is focused on supply chain, licensing, technology and commercial transactional matters, as well as data security and privacy. She has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating a variety of commercial contracts, incl...
Van Gambrell, a biomedical engineering graduate of Vanderbilt University, is a senior associate in the Moore & Van Allen Intellectual Property group. Van concentrates his practice on intellectual property acquisition and licensing, supply chain and commercial transactions, and patent prosecution. Van’s transactional practice includes intellectual property acquisition and licensing matters, technology transfer agreements, data security compliance, supply chain, and other commercial a...
Zack Higbee is a patent attorney known for building exceptional patent portfolios and helping clients navigate competitor IP. With particular experience with fintech/insurtech, electromechanical systems, and biomedical devices, Zack partners with clients to offer tailored solutions and valuable guidance to protect client IP and drive growth with a focus on long-term value and freedom to operate. Zack is a registered patent attorney practicing all aspects of U.S. and international patent prose...
Clients turn to Madison for his expertise in patent prosecution and counseling, patent portfolio management, and patentability/clearance investigations, and he regularly assists clients in securing protection for their electro-mechanical, software/firmware, medical device, and fintech inventions. Madison prepares and prosecutes U.S. and foreign patent applications in advanced mechanical technologies, optical communication systems, fluid and thermal systems, and performance materials as well a...
Erica is a North Carolina State Bar Board Certified Specialist in Trademark Law. She assists individuals, small businesses, and large corporations with a wide array of intellectual property matters. Her practice focuses on trademark selection and clearance, trademark prosecution and registration, and trademark portfolio management. She also routinely engages in resolving trademark disputes, including drafting cease and desist letters, negotiating coexistence agreements, providing subject matt...
Katie Wong focuses her practice on commercial and intellectual property litigation, representing clients in all state and federal courts. She works with individuals and companies facing white-collar criminal charges and government investigations. She represents businesses of all sizes, as well as individuals, in litigation in state and federal court. She counsels clients through a wide variety of complex commercial matters, and has experience with both civil and criminal procedure. Katie also...
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