Overview
Owners of industry-leading brands look to Schiff Hardin for counsel on trademark matters.
Our trademark team has the deep knowledge and decades of experience that allow lean staffing and fair, competitive pricing. Whether the client is an entrepreneur, a nonprofit institution, a private business, or a public company with worldwide reach, our trademark lawyers leverage experience and insight to deliver creative and efficient results.
Trademark Disputes and Litigation
Schiff Hardin has an enviable track record of preventing and resolving brand disputes through negotiated settlements and coexistence agreements, without litigation. But where litigation is required our trademark team vigorously and successfully pursues and defends cases in court and in both U.S. and foreign trademark offices.
Trademark litigation matters have involved a wide range of marks, including nontraditional marks such as trade dress, for such clients as Warner Bros., Kraft Foods, US Foods, and Newell Rubbermaid. We have solved trademark challenges for some of the best-known names in the fashion and jewelry industries, and have also protected the rights of celebrity clients like sports superstar Michael Jordan in trademark and publicity rights matters.
Trademark Management, Prosecution and Brand Strategy
Schiff Hardin trademark lawyers are active advisors. We manage domestic and worldwide brand portfolios for more than 100 clients, providing creative and cost-effective solutions in all phases of brand development, clearance, and registration. The team utilizes its experience in trademark litigation and transactions to help clients build and strategically position strong brands.
Trademark Transactions
Our trademark group routinely handles transactions involving key brands, working directly with our corporate attorneys from the diligence phase to the negotiation of asset purchase and other agreements. The trademark team also handles complex licensing matters for many of our brand-owner clients and for clients who use marks under license.
This includes overseeing the brand licensing program of Dorel Juvenile Group and negotiating domestic and international licensing agreements for its Safety1st brand across a wide range of products and licensees. We also recently represented Kraft Foods in connection with its licensing and distribution agreement with Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., under which Kraft Foods’ coffee brands are sold in licensed portion pack formats compatible with Keurig® commercial brewing systems.
