Alston & Bird LLP has grown to become a leading international firm while remaining steeped in a culture with client service and teamwork as the cornerstones of all that we do. We develop, assemble, and nurture the strongest and broadest array of legal talent and expertise necessary to meet our clients’ needs in an ever-changing and fast-paced environment.
Skadden’s Intellectual Property and Technology Transactions and Intellectual Property Litigation Groups offer clients a full range of legal services relating to the acquisition, enforcement and commercialization of IP and technology assets.
Our services include counseling on engagements involving patents, copyrights, trademarks, outsourcing, privacy and data security. Attorneys in our group also litigate these issues in federal and state courts. Skadden attorneys advise on virtually every type of IP transaction and dispute, negotiating and drafting numerous licenses and alliance agreements and handling a wide variety of matters relating to the creation, use, licensing and transfer of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, digital assets and NFTs. We also provide IP support in conjunction with M&A, IPOs and financings. In addition to understanding IP matters and the science and technology underlying them, our attorneys are familiar with the business models used by our clients to maximize the value of these technologies, and we seek to create or add value to their IP and technology portfolios.
The nationally recognized attorneys in our group also successfully represent clients in all stages of disputes and provide strategic business advice concerning all manner of intellectual property issues, including patents, misappropriation of trade secrets, trademarks and trade dress, license agreements and disputes, copyrights and misappropriation, artificial intelligence, and advertising and consumer claims. Whether it is winning high-profile multimillion-dollar jury verdicts, obtaining swift dismissals at the pleading stage, or providing practical advice about reducing legal risk in everyday operations, we emphasize a holistic, business-driven approach that considers our clients’ needs both inside and outside the courtroom, including arbitrations.
Copyright
We provide copyright advice to a wide range of clients, particularly in the online, publishing, entertainment and communications industries, such as mobile app developers, internet technology providers, social media companies, software developers, broadcast and cable television networks, television and movie producers, recording artists and authors. Our lawyers also have extensive experience representing content creators, including authors and artists.
Trademark
We assist clients in obtaining, protecting and enforcing trademarks in the United States and worldwide, including:
Patents and Trade Secret Strategy
In connection with transactional matters requiring sophisticated reviews of patent and trade secret assets, we:
Many of our patent attorneys are registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and hold technical or scientific degrees. We evaluate patent transactions based on proprietary statistical research and historical patent disputes; complement traditional legal advice with a range of analytics capabilities; and provide data and insights for specific strategy development and market entry, such as “patent troll” investigations and industry/sector-specific exposure analyses.
Life Sciences
We have considerable knowledge in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device licensing and
collaborations, as well as alternative transactions such as drug royalty purchases. We advise clients on all IP and related aspects of licensing, collaboration, JV and financing agreements and in transactions involving the research, development, manufacture and commercialization of pharmaceutical and biotechnology products and medical devices.
Licensing
We advise across the spectrum of IP and technology licensing arrangements, ranging from traditional license agreements to complex ventures for joint development of products, applications and systems.
Privacy and Cybersecurity
We are well-versed in privacy laws and regulations worldwide and understand the business models and technologies underlying data usage. We also provide clients with the key resources they need to prepare for, and respond to, any type of data security incident.
Artificial Intelligence
We advise clients on various AI-related IP issues, including those regarding AI usage, strategies and deployments. We have advised clients, including leading AI, social media, music, movie and sports entities, on:
Our attorneys draw on their deep knowledge and experience to empower clients with a complete understanding of the legal issues presented by potential IP disputes and deals. Hallmarks of our practice include:
At Fross Zelnick, we secure and defend our clients’ most valuable assets—their brands, designs, and content.
The breadth and depth of our practice has attracted a wide range of clients, from celebrated brands, industry leaders, and renowned content providers to disruptive startups and regional companies, all of whom rely on us to protect their unique properties at home and around the world. Many of the largest corporate law firms rely on our advice for unique or hard-to-handle U.S. and international issues.
Our capabilities include:
Top-Tier IP Litigation
We are a renowned trademark and copyright litigation firm, with a reputation for both aggressive advocacy in court and quick, favorable settlements out of court. We know how to fight and win—whether in our backyard or in the most intractable foreign jurisdictions.
Strategic and Nuanced Registration Strategies
We register trademarks, copyrights, and design patents with our clients’ business goals in mind. Our cross-discipline expertise means we leverage multiple legal strategies to shore up strong protections for the most hard-to-defend assets. We obtain rights that ward off newcomers and stand up in court. We are one of the most prolific filers of U.S. trademark applications, and our expertise in the finer points of U.S. trademark prosecution is second to none.
Global Portfolio Management
With our unparalleled in-house knowledge of international IP law, we provide unrivaled advice for global portfolio management, litigations, and transactions around the globe. Our dynamic, carefully selected network of foreign counsel helps us guide U.S. and foreign clients alike as they identify, protect, and defend their rights under copyright, trademark, trade dress, design patent, domain name, and related laws worldwide. Our international capabilities are just as robust as our local prowess.
Deal Expertise
Whether a client is buying or selling an entire business or a portion of an intellectual property portfolio, we’ve seen it before - and can advise on how to structure the deal to fit the client’s goals. We conduct due diligence reviews for mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate ventures, and formulate efficient worldwide strategies to record the corporate changes against their clients’ IP registrations. Many of the country’s premier M&A attorneys partner with us on the IP components of larger transactions.
Services on the Cutting Edge
Thanks to our more than 50-year legacy, we’ve been witness to the birth and evolution of nearly every technology that’s central to the modern economy. From in-the-trenches Uniform Dispute Resolution Proceeding litigations against cybersquatters, to the rapidly changing intersection of IP rights and blockchain innovations like NFTs, to educating trademark offices around the world on new technological intersections, we’re helping clients successfully steer through uncharted waters and prepare for what’s to come.
Protection of Celebrities and Cherished Characters
From Batman to Harry Potter, we protect famous characters through sophisticated copyright and trademark protection strategies and enforcement against infringers. We’ve also retrieved numerous infringing trademarks and domain names for celebrities and litigate high-profile, right-of-publicity cases involving the unauthorized use of well-known names and likenesses, all within a quickly evolving legal landscape.
Combating Counterfeiting
We’ve developed sophisticated and cost-effective enforcement programs for preventing the importation, sale, and distribution of infringing or counterfeit products. Our experience is capacious, including apparel, footwear, cosmetics, jewelry, and luxury goods products. Included in these programs is the recordal of relevant intellectual property rights with Customs in the United States and abroad.
Sidley is an elite global law firm. Harnessing 158 years of legal heritage, we provide strong representation on behalf of clients in more than 70 countries. Our lawyers apply a Built to WinSM client service model to their legal strategies, ensuring the best possible outcomes in complex transactional, restructuring, regulatory, and litigation matters. With 21 offices strategically situated in key commercial and financial hubs across the world, our perspective and our reach are truly global. Our 2,300 lawyers, fluent in more than 80 languages, possess the cultural awareness and cross-border legal acumen needed to bring clarity to a dynamic business landscape.
Follow Sidley on Twitter @SidleyLaw.
Appellate: Sidley is widely recognized as one of the premier appellate firms in the country, and as a trailblazer — regularly addressing intricate, precedent-setting issues in federal and state law in the Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals, as well as state appellate and supreme courts across the nation. Since the inception of the practice in 1985, the team, including more than 20 former Supreme Court clerks, has briefed over 220 cases on the merits and argued more than 150 cases before the Court.
Bankruptcy: Sidley’s global Restructuring group is regularly involved in the largest restructurings throughout the world. The team represents companies facing in-court or out-of-court restructurings, official and ad hoc committees of creditors, agent lenders, and participants in distressed M&A processes. Sidley prides itself on the group’s ability to use innovative, bespoke approaches to obtain the best results in complex situations.
Commercial: Clients repeatedly turn to Sidley’s Commercial Litigation team when their most important disputes must be tried. Sidley’s track record of successes is unparalleled in high-stakes, mission-critical cases against well-regarded opponents, no matter the forum. The team’s full-service litigation capabilities are relied upon by leading global companies with household names.
Competition/Antitrust: As a part of the firm’s global antitrust offering, Sidley has a strong and well-respected litigation practice. Sidley lawyers represent clients in their most complex cases, including matters involving antitrust enforcement, merger clearances, claims of collusion, and other alleged antitrust violations. The team has represented domestic and international corporations, trade associations, government entities, professional societies, and individuals in the full range of civil and criminal trials.
Insurance: Sidley’s Insurance Disputes practice advises on significant insurance litigation nationwide across a variety of areas, including regulatory compliance, insurance class actions, reinsurance disputes, ERISA litigation, general commercial litigation, securities and shareholder litigation, and Supreme Court and appellate courts, among other areas.
Intellectual Property: Sidley boasts one of the most distinguished and highly regarded Intellectual Property litigation practices in the U.S., with approximately 80 lawyers and a deep bench of trial lawyers. Handling matters for innovation-driven clients ranging from global Fortune 500 companies to groundbreaking startups, the team develops winning strategies for high-stakes IP litigation involving patents, trade secret and unfair competition, false advertising, copyright infringement, and trademarks.
International Arbitration: Sidley’s Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy practice exemplifies a superior depth of knowledge of the law, regulatory challenges, and culture of the jurisdictions in which the team practices. Operating from the U.S., Europe, and Asia, the team works as a tightly integrated team of practitioners with different cultural and legal backgrounds and broad language capabilities.
Labor and Employment: Sidley is at the forefront of representing employers in major high-profile class and collective action litigation against many of the biggest and most aggressive plaintiffs’ firms in the country. The team is known for winning bet-the-company cases and deftly handling high-value discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims, executive disputes, whistle-blower claims, restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation, and investigations involving matters of the utmost importance to companies.
Product Liability and Recall: Sidley’s Product Liability and Mass Torts practice has played key roles in many of the most significant product liability litigations. The team has decades of experience handling claims associated with products, the facilities that manufacture them, and the companies that sell them. We defend clients in state and federal courts and are typically lead counsel in multidistrict litigations and state coordinated proceedings.
Securities: Sidley’s Securities and Shareholder Litigation team stands out for the strength of its work, winning complex securities matters at the trial level and on appeal across a variety of sectors. The team’s deep bench and extensive experience allows Sidley to represent a wide range of clients. This includes major corporations and private companies, boards of directors and board committees, senior executives, financial advisers, investment banks, and auditors.
White Collar Crime: Sidley lawyers have handled investigations in more than 130 countries, collaborating seamlessly across borders and practice groups to offer a cohesive approach to white collar crime and corporate investigations matters. The firm can mobilize teams quickly to swiftly deploy the critical legal support needed to manage sensitive, high-profile investigations and litigation.