Herrick’s Intellectual Property and Technology Group draws on the legal acumen of seasoned IP litigation and transactional lawyers to protect, preserve and enhance the value of brand names and logos, works of authorship and original content, designs, computer code, publicity rights, novel ideas, and proprietary technology and information, as well as advise clients on e-commerce business and privacy issues. Our services are provided to a wide range of clients across diverse industries, including fashion and apparel, luxury goods, art and photography, sports, media, marketing, publishing, music, and a wide variety of online businesses and technology services.
We have extensive experience licensing brands, content, technology, data and publicity rights, and litigating copyright, trademark, trade dress, rights of publicity, false advertising, trade secrets, licensing and other IP disputes in state and federal courts. We feature a robust copyright and trademark practice focused on clearing, registering, maintaining and assigning copyrights and trademarks in the U.S. and abroad. International entities also frequently turn to us to protect, license and enforce their rights in the U.S., and our global network of trademark counsel gives our multinational clients international reach with centralized administration, registration and enforcement capabilities.
The Herrick team also has extensive experience in transactional technology matters, including software licensing, cloud computing and SaaS services, website development agreements, service level agreements and source code escrows, and advising on use of generative AI content for business and marketing purposes.
Intellectual Property Litigation
Our litigators have broad experience enforcing and defending copyright, trademark, trade dress, rights of publicity and trade secret rights and assets in a wide variety of industries. We also litigate trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and pursue domain cybersquatting claims in UDRP arbitrations and court actions.
Trademark and Copyright Registration and Prosecution Services
Our global trademark practice provides cost-effective services for clearing, registering, maintaining and assigning trademarks in the U.S. and abroad. We also assist clients with copyright registrations, and copyright and patent assignments. We issue and advise on comprehensive trademark use and registration opinions, factoring in clients’ business needs and levels of risk tolerance.
Corporate and Lending Transactions
We assist clients in conducting IP due diligence, documenting IP transfers, preparing and recording IP security agreements, and issuing enforceability and risk assessment opinions. We also provide incisive counsel for M&A transactions involving IP assets, including joint ventures, strategic alliances, and IP asset acquisitions and financings.
E-commerce and Doing Business Online
Many clients look to us to provide advice and guidance on their online business operations at both the retail and B2B levels. This includes drafting and updating online terms of use and privacy policies, negotiating website development and hosting agreements, handling domain name disputes and assignments, ADA compliance, and defending claims against Internet service providers.
Cybersecurity
The threat and huge impact of cyber-attacks has grown exponentially in recent years. We guide our clients on responding rapidly to data breaches, complying with federal and state data security laws, and complying with state data breach reporting laws. Our Insurance Group also works with our IP Group in advising clients on appropriate cyberinsurance coverage.
Software, Cloud Services, Technology and Licensing
We guide clients on how to protect propriety and original software as trade secrets and under U.S copyright law, and help negotiate software licenses and SaaS/cloud technology services agreements, as well as website development and hosting agreements. The exponential growth of generative AI for marketing and promotional purposes has led clients to seek our guidance on best practices and intellectual property issues respecting the use of AI platforms and generative output.
Areas of Focus:
- Anti-counterfeiting counseling, enforcement and defense
- Copyright registration, assignments and counseling
- Copyright infringement and defense
- Data breaches
- Data privacy and security
- Domain name and cybersquatting disputes
- False advertising
- IP and technology transfers and joint ventures
- Licensing, development and other contractual disputes involving IP and technology
- Licensing transactions
- M&A due diligence involving IP and technology assets
- Publicity rights licensing and related litigation
- Sponsorship and naming rights transactions
- Software development and licensing, including cloud-based services
- Website development and hosting
- Trade dress protection and infringement
- Trade secrets litigation
- Trademark clearance, registration and portfolio management
- Trademark infringement
- Unfair competition