Duane Morris LLP - Trademark, Copyright, Entertainment and Advertising

Trademark, Copyright,
Entertainment & Advertising
at a Glance (Printable PDF)

Ranked a Leading
Law Firm in Intellectual Property: Trademarks: Litigation

World Trademark Review names
Duane Morris attorneys as leading trademark professionals.

Ranked a Top 10 Firm (North America - North East) by Trademark Lawyer magazine from 2022-2024.

Duane Morris offers a full-service Trademark, Copyright, Entertainment and Advertising practice that provides clients with strategic day-to-day counselling regarding selection, procurement, registration, licensing and enforcement of their trademarks and copyrights on a worldwide level. We prosecute, maintain and manage nearly 20,000 trademarks for hundreds of clients in more than 200 jurisdictions, earning rankings and recognition from a number of publications, including World Trademark Review.

Recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to procuring, maintaining, enforcing and commercializing trademarks and copyrights, Duane Morris attorneys understand our clients’ businesses and competitive landscapes. This enables us to collaborate with clients to develop best practices that suit their portfolios and business needs.

We have extensive experience in all facets of trademark and copyright law and have the insight and legal skills to advise clients in a variety of industries, including:

Consumer Products
Technology
Entertainment, Gaming and Sports
Financial Services
Hospitality
Life Sciences, Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals
Professional Services
Publishing, Broadcasting and Media
Restaurants, Food and Beverage
Retail, Fashion and Luxury Goods

Trademark, Copyright and Portfolio Management

Trademarks

Trademark prosecution and portfolio management require experience, skill and acumen. Our attorneys have decades of experience with search, clearance, registration and portfolio management on an international scale. We represent some of the most recognized brands in the world from a client base of over 1,700 companies, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. We work with our clients to understand their business in order to provide the most effective and strategic legal advice from the planning and launch of a brand through its implementation, growth and protection.

Our guidance includes conducting in-house trademark searches and collaborating with professional search firms, and if necessary, conducting investigations to ensure that our clients have the most comprehensive trademark information available. With this information in hand, we render opinions and advice and counsel clients on strategies to overcome barriers and during the registration process, including changing the trademark, seeking consent or instituting inter partes proceedings. We also advise clients on strategic foreign filings and offer the advantage of our longstanding global relationships with a network of international law firms, which is beneficial when protecting intellectual property rights throughout the world and across multiple jurisdictions.

As part of our global portfolio management, Duane Morris regularly assesses our clients’ portfolios and identifies trademarks and geographic areas that require enhanced or discontinued protection.

We assist in implementing trademark policing and enforcement programs, and protect against dilution and infringement. We focus on prevention and practical resolutions so as to avoid or minimize damage to a brand without resorting to expensive and time-consuming litigation.

Copyrights

In the wake of rapid technological innovation, the complexity level of copyright issues has increased exponentially. Duane Morris’ lawyers are experienced in tackling these multifaceted issues and providing innovative solutions. In light of these advancements, copyrights are now created, distributed, exploited and owned in nontraditional ways. Our attorneys have widespread and in-depth familiarity with these issues, as well as content-specific copyright matters including risks with use and ownership of user-generated content and content sharing (i.e., video, audio, photo, etc.).

Duane Morris lawyers adeptly handle the gamut of complex intellectual property challenges associated with AI and AI-related technologies, including natural language processing, deep learning, AI hardware and others. This includes advising clients on the propriety of using works and data in the training, benchmarking and fine-tuning of models, including fair-use and derivative-works analysis and assessing potential infringement liability and guidance on safeguarding ownership in an uncertain registration and regulatory environment.

We regularly counsel clients on registering their copyrights in all types of works, including graphics, music, text, video, photography and images, and software, and advise on copyright licensing, publishing, enforcement and fair use matters. Our attorneys have extensive experience enforcing rights through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), including enforcement against repeat offenders, as well as drafted software licenses, website linking agreements, music and video distribution or streaming deals and work-for-hire agreements.

Domain Names

Protecting brands includes oversight and management of domain names. At Duane Morris, we counsel clients on strategies, acquisition and enforcement of domain names. We are a registered trademark agent of ICANN’s (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), a global repository of validated trademarks that assists trademark holders with the launch of new top-level domains (TLDs) and to prevention of infringements in the domain name system.

We have recovered thousands of domain names from cybersquatters through ICANN’s Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and federal court actions under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).

Trademark and Copyright Litigation

Our attorneys litigate trademark claims in federal courts throughout the country, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and the International Trade Commission with a focus on protecting the goodwill and brand values that our clients have worked to develop through their trademarks, and handle an array of disputes, including infringement, dilution, unfair competition, false advertising and counterfeiting. We have extensive experience with both taking cases to trial and using alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

From the outset of each case, we work closely with clients to identify risks, opportunities and costs associated with various strategies for dispute resolution, including litigation, mediation, arbitration and negotiated settlements.

Increasingly, we are involved in global anti-counterfeiting enforcement by coordinating efforts to stop the sale of knockoff goods around the world, including identification, interdiction, seizure and forfeiture of suspect and parallel import goods (or gray market goods). Our lawyers have obtained ex parte orders to seize counterfeit goods under both copyright and trademark laws. We regularly assist clients in developing strong anti-counterfeiting/piracy programs to prevent damage to their brand.

Duane Morris attorneys assist clients in taking advantage of laws that provide protection for intellectual property from acts of unfair competition and unfair trade practices, such as the Sherman Act, the Lanham Act, and federal and state computer fraud statutes, as well as employment law covering inventions, trade secrets and right of publicity laws. Duane Morris can assist in drafting nondisclosure and noncompete agreements. As unfair competition and unfair trade practice laws are often intertwined with patents, trademarks and copyrights, Duane Morris’ Intellectual Property practice is strategically positioned to handle such matters.

IP Transactions

Our attorneys assist clients with the review and protection of IP rights in a multitude of corporate transactions, including due diligence and audits in connection with M&A transactions, public offerings and financings, as well as negotiating and drafting corporate purchase, acquisition and financing agreements. We work with our employment attorneys to draft employment contracts to ensure the protection of corporate-owned intellectual property, confidential information and trade secrets, and to develop employee social media policies to protect the employer’s brand and reputation. Our attorneys also draft and negotiate IP licenses, co-branding agreements, publicity agreements, distribution, reseller, manufacturing and supply agreements, among others.

Advertising, Internet and New Media

The internet and the rise of new media has introduced new IP issues and implications. Duane Morris’ attorneys regularly counsel clients on a variety of online and traditional advertising and branding issues, including social media matters, clearance of advertising copy and content, comparative and false advertising, surveys, endorsements and testimonials, promotions (i.e., sweepstakes, contests, incentives, etc.), mobile marketing and privacy, publicity and image rights.

Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Protection

Cybersecurity concerns are ever-present. Duane Morris lawyers have more than a decade of experience preparing, protecting and responding to cyberattacks to protect our clients and their valuable assets. Cyber threats are perpetrated through a variety of means, such as phishing and fraudulent email, misleading domain names, online auction sales of counterfeit/infringing goods and copycat websites. These threats all involve the use of IP, especially trademarks and copyrights, and we are prepared to fight these cyber threats through ICANN’s domain name arbitration Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), website take-down procedures under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and IP complaint procedures and policies that allow for removal of infringing uses/content (i.e., X, Google, the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program on eBay, YouTube, Facebook, CafePress, etc.) and other means.

We have assembled a firmwide Cybersecurity Response Team, which includes lawyers with extensive knowledge of the technology, regulatory compliance, media relations, public perception and potential liability issues that come with these attacks. The team frequently counsels on enterprisewide data protection and cybersecurity policies and procedures, privacy disclosures and terms of use agreements, data breaches of personally identifiable information and personal health information.

Gaming and Sports

Our IP attorneys work with sports and entertainment clients, corporations, media companies, celebrities and athletes to register and protect trademarks, ensure brands are established as revenue-generating assets, protect and maximize the value of trademarks and copyrighted works, and manage the legal issues involved in creating, distributing or using all manner of marks, merchandise and original content. In addition to safeguarding brands through registration and enforcement, we assist clients with licensing, sponsorship and endorsements of events and websites, as well as providing counseling on the creation of joint ventures to distribute content and products. We also advise on recording, songwriting, publishing, syndication and merchandising to ensure that copyrighted works are protected against piracy.

We have decades of experience serving gaming, casino and related clients in all aspects of IP protection in the gaming industry on a global basis, including trademark and copyright registration, patent registration, licensing, transactions and rules for sweepstakes and games, gaming hardware and software, security systems and other gaming processes.

Life Sciences, Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals

From major multinational corporations seeking to expand market share to startups with ideas growing in the laboratory, life sciences companies of all levels of development turn to Duane Morris for counsel and representation aimed at improving their organizational health. Our attorneys are experienced in navigating the challenges posed by the development, manufacture, marketing and sales of medical devices, biologics and pharmaceuticals, including a significant focus on generic drugs. We seek to quickly and effectively clear regulatory hurdles while protecting our clients’ intellectual property and monetary assets.