Merchant & Gould is privileged to represent its clients before federal and state courts nationwide, the International Trade Commission and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in inter partes proceedings, reexaminations, interferences, and oppositions.
Simply put, we are willing to litigate any issue and go wherever our clients' challenges take us.
The focus of our practice is complex litigation involving technology and unfair competition, including patent protection, copyright, trade dress and trademark infringement, trade secret and patent litigation, false advertising claims and claims arising from the licensing of technology. We have substantial experience in a number of industries, including the pharmaceutical, computer software and hardware, semiconductor, food, printing and consumer products industries.
M&G offers clients unique value in that our trial lawyers, with deep litigation experience in intellectual property and technology-related matters, team with colleagues from other practice groups with deep technical knowledge and experience with the procedures and requirements of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. We can quickly focus on what matters. We align litigation strategy with the client's business goals, we are responsive and we maintain a high level of communication with our clients, including secure extranet access to the client's litigation files. Our trial practice includes:
- Trademark, Trade Secret, Copyright and Patent Litigation
- Appeals
- Interferences
- Trademark Oppositions and Cancellations
- International Trade Commission Cases
United States International Trade Commission Practice
Merchant & Gould has extensive experience representing clients in United States International Trade Commission investigations under 19 U.S.C. § 1337, which prohibits importation of articles that infringe United States patents, trademarks, copyrights and registered mask works. The ITC is an alternative forum to litigation in the United States federal district courts. Investigations are conducted at a fast pace, typically completed within 12-18 months, and the remedy of an exclusion order prohibiting infringing imports can be broad in scope. The ITC has a unique set of rules of practice and procedure. Thus a party contemplating enforcement of its intellectual property rights in the ITC, or a party named as a defendant in an ITC investigation is well advised to retain attorneys knowledgeable about ITC practice as well as the substantive law. Attorneys in Merchant & Gould's Litigation Practice Group have the required expertise.
Representative § 1337 investigations handled by the firm include:
- In re High Intensity Retroreflective Sheeting, ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-268
- In re In-Line Roller Skates, ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-348
- In re Tape Dispensers, ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-354
- In re Curable Fluoroelastomer Compositions and Precursors Thereof, ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-364
- In re Canary Yellow Self-Stick Repositionable Note Products, ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-467
More detailed information about the ITC is in "A Guide to Litigation in the United States International Trade Commission" available upon request.
