Trademark & Intellectual Property
Trademark protection, clearance, and licensing — for businesses whose brand is the business.
Trademark protection
Federal trademark registration is what gives a brand legal teeth — the ability to block third-party use, the presumption of ownership, and the right to expand the mark across the country. We handle the full registration lifecycle: clearance searches, applications (use-based and intent-to-use), Office Action responses, maintenance filings (Section 8 and 15 declarations, renewals), and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings when needed.
- Trademark clearance and knockout searches before adoption
- Federal registration applications (TEAS Plus and Standard) under Section 1(a) (use-based) and 1(b) (intent-to-use)
- Office Action responses — likelihood of confusion, descriptiveness, specimen refusals
- Post-registration maintenance — Section 8 declarations of use (years 5–6), Section 15 incontestability, renewals (years 9–10)
- International protection via the Madrid Protocol where the client’s footprint warrants it
Copyright and licensing
We handle copyright registration for original works of authorship (software, written content, design, media), and we draft and negotiate IP licensing agreements — inbound licenses that acquire rights from third parties and outbound licenses that monetize the client’s IP. For media and entertainment clients, we draw on Roby’s background in the Media & Entertainment Transactions practice at Katten Muchin Rosenman.
What we don’t handle
We don’t prosecute patents (that requires a registered patent agent or patent attorney with a technical background, which we refer to specialist firms). We don’t handle contested trademark or copyright litigation — we’ll manage pre-litigation strategy and demand-letter practice, but if a matter moves to active litigation we refer to IP litigation counsel we trust.
Frequently asked.
When should a company file a federal trademark?
As soon as the brand has commercial momentum worth protecting — typically after launch, once the mark is in actual use in commerce, or earlier on an intent-to-use basis if the brand is being developed for imminent launch. Federal registration takes roughly 12–18 months from filing to registration in an uncontested case, so earlier filings have a meaningful time-to-protection advantage. Waiting creates the risk that a third party adopts a confusingly similar mark in the interim.
Use-based versus intent-to-use application — which one?
File Section 1(a) (use-based) if the mark is already in use in commerce on the goods or services you want to cover. File Section 1(b) (intent-to-use) if you have a bona fide intent to use the mark but haven’t launched yet — the filing locks in a priority date, but you eventually have to file a Statement of Use with evidence of commercial use before registration issues. Most growth-stage companies end up using a mix, depending on which products or service lines are live.
Do you handle trademark litigation?
No. We handle pre-litigation strategy — cease and desist correspondence, coexistence agreements, negotiation with adverse parties — and we can carry a matter through TTAB opposition or cancellation proceedings. Active federal-court trademark or copyright litigation goes to specialist litigation counsel; we refer to firms we’ve worked with and stay involved as liaison.
Can you protect my brand internationally?
Yes, through the Madrid Protocol, which allows a single filing based on a U.S. application or registration to extend protection to any of the 100+ Madrid member countries. For markets outside the Madrid system, we coordinate with local trademark counsel in-country. Whether international filing makes sense depends on where the business actually operates and plans to operate.
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