Trademark and Copyright Litigation

Aggressively protecting your brand in the trademark area—including protection of trade names, domain names and associated logos, trade dress and the closely connected “right of publicity”—our lawyers do not hesitate to use the full scope of enforcement tools available under state and federal laws and international treaties.

We are all too familiar with the challenges brought about by the digital economy. Our lawyers have litigated many complex and cutting-edge cases for companies and individuals seeking to protect their hard-earned, albeit intangible, assets.

Whether prosecuting or defending cases, we litigate vigorously. Our goal is to achieve a fast and fair resolution, ideally with a “business” component that makes allies of adversaries. We recognize that brands are among a company's most important assets and we regularly assist clients in building their brands into enduring franchises and extending them into new markets. But just as important is the role played by our litigators in preserving the value created, nationally and globally, by enforcing and defending a client's entire family of trademarks, including marks that are considered hard to protect.

Keeping your ideas in your hands

When it comes to copyright protection, we regularly litigate content ownership and work-for-hire disputes by bringing infringement suits in courts throughout the United States.

We can also defend such suits by demonstrating lack of substantial similarity, fair use and fair dealing, the existence of license or permission to use copyrighted work, first sale/exhaustion of rights and other defenses.

Acting on entertainment and media experience to protect your work

Intellectual property is the entertainment and media industries' bread and butter. One of the reasons Manatt has become a go-to firm for many of the major players in these industries is our knowledge of IP laws applicable to television, radio, motion pictures, music, digital entertainment, art and advertising.

Who we work with

Major players in industries such as media, entertainment and sports; information and communication technologies; banking and financial services; consumer goods and services; publishing; not-for-profit organizations and retail have relied on us to enforce and defend their brands and content.

What we do

• Copyright disputes
• Antipiracy litigation against pirates of computer software, high-technology products, luxury goods and celebrity merchandise
• Prosecute and defend claims of trade secret misappropriation
• Database infringement, computer trespass, inevitable disclosure, linking, framing, metatagging, spoofing and spamming
• Domain name and cybersquatting disputes
• Patent and antitrust suits
• Technology-rights disputes arising from license agreements and contracts with Internet service providers, content and equipment providers, and security firms
• Dilution, gray-marketing, ambush-marketing, deep-linking, framing, Internet traffic diversion, spamming and the improper use of metatags
• Battle infringement and dilution, counterfeiting, false advertising, false claims of endorsement or origin, trade libel and disparagement, cybersquatting and other forms of unfair competition
• Litigate content ownership and work-for-hire disputes