Intellectual Property
Our experienced intellectual property attorneys provide expert counsel to our clients on the proper protection, use, licensing and enforcement of their proprietary rights. Our clients include technology companies, manufacturers, publishers, programmers, designers, photographers, graphic artists and illustrators, musicians, and authors. We have extensive experience representing our clients’ business, as well as legal interests. Recognizing the importance of intellectual property assets, Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP helps our clients identify and protect their intellectual property through timely registrations, experienced license agreement drafting, negotiating and related business counseling.
The firm’s intellectual property attorneys have extensive experience drafting and negotiating domestic and international software, music, merchandise, technology, right of publicity, and other intellectual property licensing agreements among and between businesses, manufacturers, distributors, resellers and end-users. We also prepare agreements involving the purchase and sale of intellectual property assets and counsel our clients concerning the risks associated with acquiring third-party intellectual property assets, both in connection with business purchases and otherwise.
Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP’s trademark practice assists clients with the selection, registration, use, licensing and enforcement of their trademarks and service marks. We conduct domestic and international trademark searches and maintenance programs on behalf of many clients, including overseeing the protection of the marks Jacuzzi®, Santana™, and Phish® , some of the most famous trademarks in the world, and maintaining registrations in over 60 countries. We have extensive experience in prosecuting trademark applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in representing clients in trademark disputes before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and in working with foreign trademark counsel to secure trademark registrations overseas.
Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP is also engaged in helping our clients maintain and protect their trademark rights on the Internet, including through protection and recovery of their proprietary domain names. We also have substantial experience with copyright matters. We provide expert counsel to our clients on the many issues associated with the creation, licensing and protection of their copyrighted works, including assistance with licensing and assignment agreements, third party copyright clearances, and filing copyright registration applications and agreement recordations with the U.S. Copyright Office to protect clients’ security and copyright interests.
Due to our aggressive representation of some of the country’s largest technology companies, Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP is a recognized leader in the enforcement of intellectual property rights. We are frequently called upon to conduct audits to help clients protect their intellectual property assets, which range from trade secrets, customer lists and formulas, to hardware design elements and software. Over the course of nearly two decades now, the firm has established a worldwide software anti-piracy program that serves technology companies around the globe. The firm has pursued more cases of software copyright infringement than any firm in the world, in excess of 14,000, and has recovered over $210 million from infringers for our clients.
In addition to software piracy actions based on copyright and trademark laws, the firm’s intellectual property litigators successfully have represented clients in connection with claims of unfair competition and trade secret actions brought against former employees and competitors, including actions involving client lists, pricing data, and other proprietary information.
If you have any questions regarding copyright, software, music, or other licensing matters, please contact Eric Doney or Jonathan Osder at 415.381.4161.
If you have any questions regarding trademark matters, please contact Michael Dalton at 510.451.0544 or Steven Lee at 415.381.4161.
