Brian Moran handles a variety of commercial litigation matters, with an emphasis on intellectual property, antitrust, and licensing disputes. He counsels clients with regard to patent, copyright, trademark, electronic commerce, and computer law as well as technology licensing matters. Mr. Moran is the coauthor of a book entitled e-counsel: The Executive's Legal Guide to Electronic Commerce.
Mr. Moran has been involved in the enforcement of intellectual property rights throughout the United States. He also counsels clients on antitrust compliance and marketing and distribution issues, including vertical price restraints, customer and territorial allocations, volume discounts, price discrimination, promotional allowances and incentives, resale price maintenance, refusals to deal and dealer terminations, exclusive dealing arrangements, and tie-ins.
Professional Associations
- American Bar Association, 1995 to present
- Computer Law Association, 1998 to present
- Connecticut Intellectual Property Law Association, 2000 to present
Honors and Awards
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Litigation - Intellectual Property for 2012 (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC)
Experience
- Counseled several national trade associations on antitrust compliance, including the Aluminum Association, the Soap and Detergent Association, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the American Translators Association, and the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association.
- Successfully prosecuted three attempts to monopolize cases against AT&T and the Bell System on behalf of over fifty central station alarm companies.
- Successfully handled an attempt to monopolize case on behalf of the number two long distance telephone company on Guam against the market leader.
- Successfully obtained summary judgment on behalf of a resort development in South Carolina against a real estate brokerage firm, which had alleged Sherman Act violations.
- Successfully handled the defense of a Robinson-Patman Act price discrimination case in Philadelphia involving cardboard business machine cores.
- Successfully prosecuted class action for Communities Act overcharges.
- Obtained jury verdict on behalf of the sellers of a satellite technology company in a fraud action brought in federal court in Orlando.
- Successfully counseled a client and avoided an indictment in a Federal Trade Commissionn (FTC) price-fixing conspiracy investigation.
- Successfully litigated Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) fraud class actions in federal court in Chicago and Orlando on behalf of employees of a major national trucking firm.
- Represented a supplier and secured creditor both in the bankruptcy proceeding before the Southern District of New York and in litigation in Connecticut against a distributor of bedding and linen supplies.
- Handled the patent infringement case for personal and beauty care appliance manufacturer. Succeeded in having a number of the claims dropped, including the trademark infringement and false advertising claims.
- Defended a patent infringement suit involving electro-osmotic dehydration techniques, the net result of which was a favorable business arrangement between the litigants.
- Defended a patent infringement action involving a method for securing masonry walls.
- Successfully represented an employer in a patent ownership and inventorship dispute brought by former employees. Secured a prejudgment attachment against each of the individual plaintiffs, thereby leading to a favorable settlement.
- Defended a patent infringement action involving tampon cardboard applicators, which resulted in a favorable settlement.
- Defended client in a copyright infringement case before the Southern District of New York. Successfully obtained summary judgment for the defendant in a copyright infringement action involving competing embryology textbooks.
- Handled the prosecution of an eviction proceeding on behalf of a landlord against a lessor, who had filed for bankruptcy protection.
- Represented several lending institutions in actions against borrowers, including ones where bankruptcy protection had been sought by the borrowers.
- Obtain summary judgment for Fortune 500 company in defense of claims that client had a continuing obligation to provide access to its wastewater treatment facilities, fire suppression system and parking lot for plaintiff's use of an adjacent commercial property.
- Representation of PNBK Holdings, LLC, a special purpose bank holding company formed to acquire a controlling interest in Patriot National Bancorp.
- Obtained monetary judgment in favor of Columbus IT Partners US, Inc., a software developer/value-added reseller, after a five-day arbitration hearing in an action brought to enforce a contract concerning development and deployment of an enterprise software system before the American Arbitration Association.
- Representation of Imaginative Research Associates, a cosmetics and pharmaceutical research company, in an action brought to enforce intellectual property, noncompete, and confidentiality restrictions in a stock purchase agreement; defeated a motion for summary judgment and thereafter settled the action on favorable terms.
- Obtained summary judgment for a manufacturer of specialty pressure-sensitive, adhesive-coated films and foams in a patent infringement action based on a covenant not to sue in an asset purchase agreement. Also uncovered a terminal disclaimer covering a related patent that resulted in a six-figure refund of a prior license payment.
Publications & Presentations
Articles
- Coeditor of e-Counsel: The Executive's Legal Guide to Electronic Commerce
Books
- Merger Case Digest 1982 (1984), published by American Bar Association
Presentations
- "U.S. Antitrust Compliance" presented at Fancy Foods Trade Show, New York City
News
1.04.10, Robinson & Cole Partner Quoted on International Agreement to Bolster Intellectual Property Enforcement