LitigationMerchant & Gould is privileged to represent its clients before the federal and state courts, in the International Trade Commission, and in inter parte proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
including reexaminations, interferences, and oppositions. Our national litigation practice spans across all of the cities and regions in which we have offices, or wherever our clients' need arise.
The focus of our practice is complex litigation involving technology and unfair competition, including patent, trade secret, copyright, trademark and trade dress, false advertising, 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.
Merchant & Gould offers its clients unique value in that its 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.
- Trials and Appeals
- Patent Interference
- Trademark Oppositions
and Cancellations
- International Trade
Commission
United States International Trade Commission Practice
Merchant & Gould has extensive experience representing clients in United States International Trade Commission investigations under 19 United States Code § 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 337 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. Contact Albert Underhill if you have questions.
Links
Intellectual Property Owners Daily News
Case Law
CAFC - Full text CAFC cases
CAFC Calendar
PACER - Federal Circuit Dockets
Legal and Patent Research
US Code - search by US Code title
Minnesota Statutes
Federal Judicary Homepage - links to Federal Circuit Courts
CFR 37
Delphion Patent Server - Search US patents, view images; FORMERLY IBM Patent Server
European Patent Office - Esp@ceNet - Search foreign patents, including EP, WIPO and Japan
Court Rules
Minnesota Local Court Rules - Updated May 2000
Court Rules: Federal and State | 
