Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Trademark & Copyright Litigation

Manatt has powerful national litigation capabilities in the trademark, copyright and trade secret areas. We have litigated many novel legal claims involving software, databases, e-commerce, digitized media and financial business processes and achieved a number of precedent-setting victories that have earned our lawyers accolades from publications ranging from IP Law & Business to The Wall Street Journal. Major players in media, entertainment and sports; information and communication technologies; banking and financial services; consumer goods and services; and retail sectors have relied on us to enforce and defend their brands and content.

Trademark
In the trademark area, including protection of trade names, domain names and associated logos,  trade dress and the closely connected “right of publicity,” our attorneys have not hesitated to use the full scope of enforcement tools available under state and federal laws and international treaties to battle infringement and dilution, counterfeiting, false advertising, false claims of endorsement or origin, trade libel and disparagement, cybersquatting and other forms of unfair competition.

As a result of our leading entertainment and media practice, we are, by now, all too familiar with the challenges brought about by the digital economy, having litigated many complex and cutting edge cases for companies and individuals interested in protecting their hard-earned, albeit intangible, assets. Dilution, gray-marketing, ambush-marketing, deep-linking, framing, Internet traffic diversion, spamming and the improper use of metatags are among the host of issues clients call upon us to address on a regular basis.

Our vast experience in infringement and unfair competition cases has exposed us to virtually every type of proceeding, including:

• Litigation in state and federal courts throughout the United States
• Opposition, cancellation and concurrent-use proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the Patent & Trademark Office (PTO)
• Domain name arbitration proceedings under ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedures
• Mediation, "mini-trials," arbitration and other types of alternative dispute resolution
• Multinational litigation, in conjunction with local  with foreign local counsel
• Import and export proceedings before U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Section 337 Proceeding before the International Trade Commission (ITC)

Whether prosecuting or defending such cases, we litigate aggressively, our goal being 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 our transactional IP counsel 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 clients’ entire family of trademarks, including the hard-to-protect, such as those challenged as being “descriptive.”

Copyright
In the copyright area, we regularly litigate content ownership and work-for-hire disputes by bringing infringement suits in courts throughout the United States. We  defend the copyrights in literary works, web content, movies, dances, musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, radio and television broadcasts, architectural works and graphic and industrial designs. 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. In addition, we have successfully  sued web site hosts Act for posting infringing material under the Digital Millennium Copyright .

We have sought and obtained injunctions preventing the continued use of the copyrighted material by an infringer, monetary compensation (in the form of damages or profits gained by the infringer), and attorneys fees and litigation expenses. Our client roster has included corporate entities, such as Mattel and CafePress.com, and A-list celebrities like Will Smith, Steely Dan and Metallica.

We are also widely known for our work in antipiracy litigation, having obtained numerous prejudgment seizure orders against pirates of computer software, high-technology products, luxury goods and celebrity merchandise. Manatt attorneys were among the first to obtain domestic and international seizure orders for pirated materials on computer bulletin boards, orders freezing the assets of pirates, and “John Doe” seizure orders on behalf of internationally prominent music artists during their world tours.

Trade Secret
Our lawyers prosecute and defend claims of trade secret misappropriation in state and federal courts nationwide. Our successes have included obtaining as well as defeating preliminary injunctive relief, the stage at which much trade secret litigation is resolved.

Entertainment & Media
Intellectual property is the entertainment and media industries’ bread and butter, and 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. From high-profile disputes over copyright infringement and licensing agreements, to right of publicity matters, trademark claims, false advertising consumer class actions and Digital Millennium Copyright Act claims, our clients are confident in our abilities because they know that, chances are, we’ve already handled a case like theirs. 

We are nationally recognized as leaders in the defense of “song theft” or music copyright matters and have represented such popular talent as Howard Stern, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Al Franken, and Frosty Stilwell in radio- and broadcasting-related disputes.

We provide a full range of litigation and dispute resolution services within the following core entertainment industries:

• Music. We represent recording artists, record labels, music publishers and songwriters, record producers, distributors, in a full range of IP matters
• Motion Pictures/Television. We represent motion picture studios, television broadcasters, producers, distributors, sales agents, financiers and above-the-line talent in copyright infringement and idea submission claims, and disputes among underlying rights claimants
• Advertising. We represent a wide range of talent, advertising agencies, content providers and licensors, broadcasters, and consumer goods companies in a variety of advertising and branded entertainment-related disputes, including copyright, right of publicity and trademark claims, as well as in the defense of false advertising consumer class actions

Not-for-Profits
Virtually all not-for-profit organizations own trademarks, logos, domain names, trade names and copyrights in written materials, and Manatt attorneys have helped these organizations protect such assets, particularly with respect to the Internet and e-commerce. Our lawyers have successfully litigated many claims involving database infringement, computer trespass, inevitable disclosure, linking, framing, metatagging, spoofing and spamming. We have handled domain name and cybersquatting disputes domestically and internationally, and brought and defended complex copyright, trademark, database, patent and antitrust suits in courts around the nation, as well as technology-rights disputes arising from license agreements and contracts with Internet service providers, content and equipment providers, security firms and others.