Focus Areas
Intellectual Property
- Worldwide prosecution and protection of trademark registrations, including applications to register nontraditional trademark formats in shapes, colors and a fragrance for a personal care product, one of three fragrance registrations on the U.S. Principal Register.
- Prosecution and defense of numerous trademark infringement actions resolved successfully by pretrial procedures including preliminary injunctions against competing trademarks and trade dress and in one matter summary judgment cancelling the plaintiff’s trademark registration.
- Resolution of numerous copyright infringement actions by summary judgment on issues of access, substantial similarity, fraudulent registration, and damages.
- Lead counsel in over 20 acquisitions of product lines and attendant assets including worldwide intellectual property portfolios.
Insurance
- Advise businesses on necessary insurance coverages for operations.
- Successful resolution of countless coverage actions in construction, consumer products professional and commercial service industries, including:
- Recovery of $2 million in legal fees and payments in three underlying suits from multiple insurers of large personal care products by summary judgment for coverage of intellectual property and employment liability.
- Summary adjudication of duty to defend on accountant’s malpractice policy exposing carrier to liability for $40 million judgment.
- Member of team that secured an arbitration award of $1.5 million for a large garment manufacturer from its liability carrier for damages from failure to pay defense costs in a patent infringement action.
Litigation
- Secured $8.4 million judgment for construction defect causing mold and subsequent action settlement with contractor’s insurer despite mold exclusion.
- Led successful defense of contract manufacturer in suit by Home Shopping Network over malfunctioning home safety equipment. Secured summary judgment against claims for damages of over $10 million using regulatory illegality defense.
- Obtained $4.2 million judgment for lost profits from defective products.
Transaction and Operations Counseling
- Negotiation and preparation of domestic and international agreements concerning product development, manufacturing, distribution, sales, shipping, fulfillment, and licensing for consumer products industry clients.
- Counsel and resolve claims over compliance with consumer protection and business practices laws.
- Instructor/Consultant, Intellectual Property, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) Los Angeles, 2021 to present
- Instructor, Intellectual Property, Polk Institute Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Los Angeles, 2021 to present
- Beauty Industry Market Access Subject Matter Expert in Domestic and International Intellectual Property, Center for International Trade Development, Long Beach, CA, October 2013 to present
- Speaker, “Certification Matters, Regulatory Compliance,” Cosmoprof North America, 2017
Professional Associations
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
- International Trademark Association
Education
- University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, J.D., 1980
- University of California, San Diego, B.A., 1975
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California