Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Intellectual Property

Jill Pietrini is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's Century City office.

Jill's practice encompasses the full breadth of intellectual property law, with focus on:

• Trademark, dilution, trade name, trade dress, copyright, right of publicity, violation of persona rights, unfair competition, and patent litigation and appellate practice;
• Registration and maintenance of trademarks before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and copyrights before the United States Copyright Office;
• Prosecution and defense of more than 700 Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings in the U.S.;
• Opposition and invalidation proceedings outside the U.S.;
• International registration and maintenance of trademarks;
• Registration and enforcement of Internet domain names, including ICANN arbitrations;
• Procurement and negotiation of licenses and intellectual property transfer and securitization agreements;
• Management of 7,500+ portfolios and trademarks; and
• Strategic counseling in the intellectual property area.

Jill is a sought-after expert source for the media, including major print publications and national broadcast outlets, and has testified as an expert witness on trademark law in federal court. A powerhouse litigator, portfolio manager and trademark attorney, she would appear on any short list of the top intellectual property lawyers in the state. The cutting-edge nature and impact of Jill’s work crosses many industries for a diverse client roster in the entertainment, insurance, music, apparel, farming, promotion, and e-commerce industries.

Representative Trials

• Tried a celebrity persona claim under the Lanham Act for the Estate of Bob Marley in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, based on the use of Bob Marley's image and song and album titles, but not his name, winning a jury verdict, monetary award, and permanent injunction.
• Obtained a preliminary injunction enjoining the use of TWILIGHT for magazines relating to Summit Entertainment's successful Twilight motion pictures.
• Obtained another preliminary injunction enjoining a documentary about Summit Entertainment's blockbuster Twilight motion pictures.
• Successfully tried a copyright infringement action relating to the use of photographs of Marilyn Monroe for the first auction of Marilyn Monroe personal items since her death.
• Obtained summary judgment against a clothing manufacturer using a key art image of Bella from the Twilight motion pictures together with the trademarks BELLA and TWILIGHT.
• Successfully defended a summary judgment motion directed to the use of a trademark in plant patents.
• Tried a trademark infringement and dilution case for Mattel's iconic SEE N' SAY product to a jury verdict resulting in a finding of willful dilution, trademark infringement and unfair competition, an award of profits, attorneys' fees, and increased damages.

J.D., Santa Clara University School of Law, 1988

B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1983