Trademarks

Stites & Harbison's trademark attorneys provide comprehensive, personalized services to a diverse clientele worldwide. We have extensive experience helping clients secure and protect their trademarks. Additionally, our team carefully collaborates with select international colleagues to assist clients with the registration and enforcement process internationally.

Services we provide include:

• Conducting clearance searches to select protectable marks;
• Prosecuting trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and state trademark offices;
• Facilitating the registration of trademarks abroad;
• Maintaining and renewing trademark registrations in the U.S. and abroad;
• Negotiating and documenting transfers and licenses of trademarks;
• Recording trademarks with U.S. Customs to help prevent the importation of counterfeit goods;
• Protecting our clients' marks on the Internet;
• Resolving trademark disputes through litigation, including practice before courts, the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board of the USPTO, and arbitration panels; and
• Generally assisting clients with management of their trademark portfolios.

We counsel and assist clients by negotiating licensing agreements, sponsorship agreements, and other relationships with third parties. In transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of trademark portfolios, our intellectual property attorneys team with our firm’s business services attorneys to:

• Coordinate due diligence efforts;
• Evaluate and assess the status of trademark portfolios involved in a transaction;
• Draft and negotiate the appropriate terms related to trademarks in a transaction, whether they are central to or incidental to the larger transaction; and
• Ensure the accuracy of documents that reflect the transfers of trademarks.

We also have experience working on secured transactions in which trademarks and other intellectual property form a significant part of the collateral securing a loan. In such transactions, we draw on the firm's interdisciplinary experience to achieve successful completion. We understand the value of communication and networking, so we are active members in a number of trademark organizations, including the International Trademark Association and the American Intellectual Property Law Association. These memberships enable us to advocate for trademark issues, maintain connections with trademark counsel around the world, and remain educated about emerging and significant issues facing brand owners today.

Trademark Basics

See our Intellectual Property Litigation information.