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Capabilities / Trademarks

Trademarks

Strategic protection for your trademark assets.

Husch Blackwell counsels clients on the strategic use and registration of trademarks, service marks, trade dress, and product and packaging configurations. Our law firm's trademark team has helped register thousands of trademarks worldwide in coordination with our trusted associates outside of the United States for clients such as Anheuser-Busch, Bunzl Distribution USA, TricorBraun, Inc., AMC Theatres, Caleres, Inc., and Luxco, Inc.

We also actively manage domestic and global trademark portfolios on a worldwide basis and have extensive experience in clearing, evaluating, prosecuting, maintaining, and enforcing trademarks, service marks, trade dress, product design, and packaging configurations. Our tailored approach to selecting local counsel provides clients with the appropriate expertise and experience for their specific needs in the various applicable jurisdictions, while routinely delivering lower costs and higher quality representation when compared to “worldwide” firms that utilize their local offices regardless of fit or expertise.

Our firm’s trademark law team develops corporate and brand identity programs for startups, as well as for companies that are rebranding or entering new markets. We offer intellectual property audits designed to identify trademark protection opportunities, as well as licensing services.

Our trademark team also develops innovative litigation strategies to enforce, defend, and advance clients’ intellectual property interests. Our team takes a multifaceted approach to trademark enforcement, using a wide variety of tools—such as demand letters, letters of protest, negotiated settlements, oppositions, cancellations, and civil actions—to obtain the best results in the most efficient means possible and in close coordination with our clients. We are also able to employ the newly instituted expungement and reexamination procedures before the U.S. Trademark Office when applicable. We are strong advocates for our clients in resolving all manner of disputes, always bearing in mind each client’s specific business objectives.

Representative Experience

  • Obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of an agricultural seed coating company in a trademark infringement case.
  • Managed the trademark portfolio for Lucky Bucket Brewing Co., based in Nebraska.
  • Directed the trademark portfolio for SchillingBridge Winery Microbrewery, based in Nebraska.
  • Managed the trademark portfolio for Sergeant’s Pet Care Products Inc., an international pet product company.
  • Advised sporting goods company in trademark infringement/unfair competition litigation filed in a Wisconsin federal court. Plaintiff alleged client infringed trademark for fishing tackle eye cleaning tools and sought statutory damages in excess of $1 million. Prior to trial, and after the denial of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, the case was settled upon terms favorable to client.
  • Represented client in trademark dispute before the Canadian Trade-marks Opposition Board. After receiving evidence, the board ruled in client’s favor and refused the registration of the challenged trademark.
  • Counseled sporting goods company in trademark infringement and unfair competition litigation filed in a Missouri federal court. Matter arose out of defendants’ unauthorized use of trademarks that were confusingly similar to client’s registered mark. Parties ultimately agreed to settle case upon terms favorable to client.
  • Prosecuted a lawsuit on behalf of a trademark owner in the study abroad industry against a competitor over the latter's use of a confusingly similar name. Reached a settlement whereby the competitor agreed to change its name, agreed to the entry of a permanent injunction to keep it from using the similar name and paid damages to client.
  • Defended an Austin, Texas-based high-tech company in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed against it in Boston by Harvard University.
  • Drafted, prosecuted, and obtained patent and trademark applications for U.S.- based and foreign-based companies in the field of medical devices, chemical coatings and compositions, drugs, industrial machinery, controls, industrial parts, packaging, and housewares.
  • Managed the patent and trademark portfolio for many multinational corporations in the consumer products industry.
  • Managed foreign trademark portfolio for multiple brand divisions of Jarden Corp. and represented them in many foreign opposition matters enforcing clients’ rights abroad.
  • Represented several packaging manufacturers, including Nova Packaging Systems Inc., White Systems Inc., and Sencorp Inc., in obtaining patents and trademarks to expand their scope of protection and limit competition. Patent portfolios created to cover not only the clients’ products but also the machinery and methods used to produce such products.
  • Represented a manufacturer of chlorine and sodium hydroxide with various intellectual property matters, including technology licensing and trademark and copyright guidance. In 2010, led a Husch Blackwell team that helped this client negotiate a licensing transaction in which it acquired a key piece of new bleach-production technology, which it is now in the process of rolling out to all of its bleach-production facilities.
  • Managed all intellectual property-related work for one of the largest suppliers of rigid (glass and plastic) packaging in the United States, including utility and design patent prosecution, trademark and copyright guidance, licensing, and infringement matters.
  • Counseled one of the largest automotive lamp manufacturers in the world with all of its intellectual property matters, including utility and design patent prosecution, trademark guidance, and intellectual property infringement matters.
  • Defended bank in a trademark dispute in the United States District Court of Colorado and sought naming rights in front of the Colorado Banking Board. Handled a preliminary injunction hearing and several hearings in front of the Colorado Banking Board. Resulted in a negotiated resolution. 
  • Obtained a favorable decision in an ex parte appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board reversing a Section 2(d) likelihood of confusion refusal. In re Productos Verde Valle, S.A. de C.V., No. 87110668 (T.T.A.B. July 25, 2018).
News Releases | July 11, 2022
Tom Miller Joins Husch Blackwell's Intellectual Property Group

Veteran intellectual property lawyer Tom Miller has joined Husch Blackwell as a partner in its Milwaukee office and Technology, Manufacturing & Transportation industry group.

Media Mentions | April 30, 2022
INTA: Battling the Backlogs
News Releases | April 01, 2022
Husch Blackwell Adds Two Healthcare Partners to Virtual Office

Husch Blackwell is pleased to announce that Lisa T. Thomas and Bryan Stewart have joined the firm’s Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education industry group as partners.

Media Mentions | October 18, 2021
Missouri Lawyers Media: WJA 2021: Kristine L. Kappel

The advice and service that we get from Husch Blackwell are second to none. We work with several other firms for matters outside of intellectual property, and the experience just simply is not the same. Most importantly, the Husch Blackwell team offers the one thing that all clients are ultimately looking for in an attorney: SUCCESS.

Jamie Hawken, President, Utility Concrete Products LLC