IP Litigation

Trademark, Copyright, Trade Secrets

Nardiello Law is uniquely equipped to handle any intellectual property claims that arise in litigation, from federal and state court to the USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, to the Court of International Trade. The firm’s founder, Jason Nardiello, has litigated intellectual property and business matters around the country to solve various business challenges and disputes.

Intellectual property litigation is one of the most complex areas of law in the U.S. It is not enough to simply assign a “general litigator” to an intellectual property case in the hope that the attorney’s skills acquired in litigating cases in unrelated areas of law will apply equally well to IP litigation. Many firms take this approach, and we believe that it is neither the most effective nor the most efficient method in terms of time and therefore cost.

Our clients benefit from our experience acquired by Jason Nardiello for nearly two decades in not only handling issues in trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, and other areas of IP law, but also in protecting clients’ rights through complex trademark prosecution at the USPTO, as well as creating and enforcing various IP-based agreements, such as licenses, assignments, and confidentiality agreements. Adding to the mix of experience is our handling of over 85 Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) proceedings, some for major foreign global companies who sought to protect their trademark rights at the USPTO. Finally, our knowledge of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) procedures for protecting and enforcing IP rights at the U.S. border rounds out our overall IP litigation services.

By having a well-rounded IP experience, both inside and outside of litigation, we can see the finer points of legal disputes that can be overlooked by attorneys who have not expanded their practice beyond general litigation. Below are some of the areas of IP law where we help clients.

TRADEMARK LITIGATION

Using our experience over a wide area of trademark law, including USPTO trademark protection practice, and adversarial Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) practice, we are a law firm that understands how to litigate trademark disputes in federal court effectively. While many law firms advertise as practicing in trademark disputes, many are only involved in this area of law tangentially and typically provide mostly general legal services.

Trademarks are words, logos, slogans, or designs that distinguish one company or “source” of goods from another. Put differently, when a person sees a trademark, they know where that product or service comes from and has an immediate idea of its quality. Many times, a brand is one of a company’s most important assets. As a result, it is crucial to protect this form of intellectual property. At other times, it may be necessary to defend oneself against trademark owners who are mistaken about the extent of their trademark rights. A trademark attorney can assist you or your company in protecting this valuable form of intellectual property.

As dedicated trademark lawyers, we work with clients to develop a plan to either enforce clients’ trademark rights or defend against trademark owners who may be mistaken about the extent of their rights under United States law. Our client counseling begins with a plan that considers all available tools to quickly resolve the dispute or place the client in a stronger position before litigation even begins. Many clients’ trademark disputes begin and end with cease-and-desist letters. In other cases, more action is required, but not necessarily federal court litigation. For example, if a client is concerned that a trademark application or a newly registered trademark will infringe its brand, it may be possible to oppose the trademark application or cancel that trademark registration at the USPTO’s TTAB before moving into federal court. Attacking the application or registration could result in significant cost savings to the client and a possible quick resolution.

Yet, some enforcement or defense plans do require federal court litigation. We are especially well-suited to represent clients in this area, having resolved trademark infringement cases and domain name disputes successfully for clients all over the U.S.

Many times, to prove a client’s infringement case—or to defend against one—consulting with or retaining a consumer survey expert is essential. For years Jason Nardiello has consulted with consumer survey experts to help prove whether the relevant purchasing public perceives specific problems that arise in trademark disputes, including the existence of a likelihood of confusion and dilution, whether a mark fails to function as a trademark, genericness, and secondary meaning. We have also worked with damages experts who have developed damages models that result in the fast resolution or settlement of cases.

TRADE DRESS LITIGATION

Trade dress is a type of intellectual property right that is closely related to trademarks. Similar to trademark law, this form of protection involves how product packaging or the product itself looks.

COPYRIGHT LITIGATION

We have resolved numerous copyright lawsuits for clients nationwide, including cases involving the rights of famous musicians and artists in areas of both traditional and electronic mediums of copyrighted works.

TRADE SECRET LITIGATION

Trade secrets are considered a type of intellectual property and can be extremely useful in protecting proprietary information if the proper legal requirements are followed. With our founder, Jason Nardiello having experience representing some of the most well-known companies globally in numerous industries in trade secret disputes, we can bring our knowledge of trade secrets to clients of all sizes. We provide trade secret litigation services to all sizes of clients, from individuals accused of taking a company’s trade secrets to corporations whose former employees have departed with the company’s information, which it relies on for its competitive advantage in the market.

UNFAIR COMPETITION LITIGATION

Nardiello Law PLLC represents businesses and individuals with unfair competition disputes in federal courts nationwide and state courts. Most companies will face an unfair competition problem at least once in their lifetimes, if not often. It is vital to know how these well-established legal concepts interplay with the core areas of intellectual property law: copyrights, patents, and trademarks. With the right legal team, a business will effectively enforce its rights or defend against baseless claims of unfair competition. If you believe you have a legal problem in this area, please contact us for a consultation.

FALSE ADVERTISING LITIGATION

False advertising harms both competitors and the public. It can give an extremely unfair advantage to the party making false or misleading statements about their products or others’ products. In some cases, businesses bring unsupportable allegations of false advertising against competitors to block them from the marketplace.

We have litigated false and deceptive advertising cases in both state and federal courts. Many of these cases also involve related unfair competition claims, consumer protection law violations, deceptive trade practices, deceptive claims in advertising, deceptive labeling, and deceptive sales tactics. These suits often request monetary damages and compensation for the recovery of financial losses.

Using our years of experience advising and litigating false advertising issues for clients, we can plan an efficient course of action to resolve our client’s advertising disputes. By doing so, we help our clients continue their marketing plans and grow their business as soon as possible.

DOMAIN NAME LITIGATION

The unauthorized registration and use of domain names having other parties’ trademarks or company names is one of the most common types of intellectual property disputes on the Internet.  We represent clients in various domain name cases, such as those involving domain name litigation in federal or state court and Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) proceedings. Many times, UDRP proceedings involve domain name squatting, hijacking, ransoming, or domain name theft. We also represent clients when someone uses a domain name that could cause confusion with a client’s  Internet domain name or trademark.

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