Leveraging its vast experience before a diverse array of courts across the country including the Unified Patent and Trademark Office and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, tour-de-force Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP enjoys an esteemed reputation across pharma, consumer products, entertainment and financial services sectors, acting for a consortium of high-profile clients such as IBM, Nestlé and Caterpillar. The ‘top-notch’ and ’highly competent’ practice draws on the support of its offices across Europe and Asia. The practice is jointly led by Naresh Kilaru, who routinely handles trademark, copyright and unfair competition litigation before an extensive range of US district and appellate courts, managing partner Erika Harmon Arner and firm chair Anand Sharma. Key contact Danny Awdeh fields a strong practice that comprises assisting with global brand launches, high-value transactions, and strategic counselling, while B. Brett Heavner substantially bolsters the practice with his strengths in domestic and international trademark litigation. Sports sector specialist Douglas Rettew and Mark Sommers, whose wide-ranging experience representing clients before the USPTO and TTAB alongside federal district and appellate courts. Morgan E. Smith is well positioned to manage mandates arising from sports equipment, electronics and telecoms sectors, and Laura Johnson, who operates from the firm’s Boston office, is noted for her strong presence across automotive, medical products and music sectors, among others. All other listed attorneys are based in Washington DC.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The team is very strong and covers all aspects of intellectual property law.’
‘Danny Awdeh has excellent knowledge and is able to communicate the legal position clearly and concisely.’
‘The support from Finnegan in our litigation, advice and legal opinions is of high quality. My contact persons are pleasant to work with and they provide clear opinions, with deep understanding of the commercial environment our company is in. Big compliment!’
‘The Finnegan Trademark team (non-contentious) is top notch! They are amongst our organization's top firms, and we engage Finnegan for a wide range of matters, including the toughest, most complex legal situations.'
'They are highly respected in the legal community and have highly competent and experienced attorneys. Finnegan clearly values teams with diverse backgrounds (gender, race, age, etc) and perspectives. ’
‘On the Trademark (non-contentious) side, we have worked with Mark Sommers and his associates, including Lisa London. Significantly, they have in-depth knowledge of and experience with the online marketplaces of today. They have adapted their legal strategies and support in a way that allows us to best enforce our existing IP rights and create new IP rights so as to achieve significant business impact, given these new online realities.'
'We appreciate their creative solutions that have had a significant, positive impact on the bottom line. We also appreciate that Finnegan has increased their copyright capabilities, which is line with our prioritization of online IP enforcement.’
Key clients
- Bridgestone
- Callaway Golf Company
- Caterpillar
- Head
- IBM Corp.
- InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG)
- LG Electronics Inc.
- Marriott International, Inc.
- Nestlé
- The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (Formerly PNC Bank Corp)
- Sony Group Corporation
- Subaru of America, Inc.
- Under Armour
Work highlights
- Counselling Assurant in connection with numerous important brands and handles domestic and international clearance work for new brands.
- Providing strategic counselling and management of Subaru’s trademark matters and portfolio, including trademark clearance, filing applications, maintaining existing registrations, and enforcement work.
- Handling Welspun's global trademark portfolio which spans 30+ countries.
Lawyers
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Naresh Kilaru, Erika Arner, Anand Sharma