Phillips Nizer Adds Five Attorneys in Patent Litigation, Matrimonial Law, Commercial Litigation
New York, NY (July 6, 2020) –Phillips Nizer LLP has added two partners and three counsel to its premier intellectual property, family law and commercial litigation practices.
Tod M. Melgar will lead the firm’s Patent Litigation and Prosecution practice as a partner in the New York office. Mr. Melgar joins from Sills Cummis & Gross. Gerard Haddad, a patent litigator, joins the New York office as counsel.
Stephanie F. Lehman has joined the firm’s Matrimonial and Family Law practice as a partner, along with counsel Fara K. Rodriguez. Ms. Lehman and Ms. Rodriguez, who maintain an active practice in both New York and New Jersey, were formerly with Arons & Solomon.
Elana T. Henderson will join the firm as counsel in the firm’s Litigation practice.
“We are very pleased to welcome Stephanie, Fara, Tod, Gerry and Elana to Phillips Nizer. All five of them are sophisticated attorneys and effective advocates, and our clients will benefit from the expanding breadth and depth of our services,” said Marc Landis, Phillips Nizer Managing Partner.
The Josh Gibson Foundation and Josh Gibson Enterprises name Ed Schauder, Chairman of the Sports Law Practice Group at Phillips Nizer, LLP, as its licensing agent
Pittsburgh PA, June 30, 2020 – As part of its continued efforts surrounding the Negro Leagues Centennial Anniversary, The Josh Gibson Foundation and Josh Gibson Enterprises announced today that Ed Schauder, the Chairman of the Sports Law Practice Group at Phillips Nizer, LLP has been named authorized legal representative for licensing for both entities.
Alan Behr is quoted in IP Watchdog:The Consumer is King: High Court Sides with Booking.com, Rejecting Per Se Test for Generic.Com Trademarks
“Interestingly, the owner of the mark BOOKING.COM admitted in oral argument before the court that it is a ‘weak mark,’ but the court found it to be a mark just the same. In my experience, marketers are rarely daunted by legal evaluations of the relative strength of marks. If a marketer loves a mark, whether it is as strong as titanium or as weak as tissue paper, he or she will usually go for it and let the law follow along as best it knows how. In this case, the law did just that.
What the case likely means is that there can be no automatic rejection of an application to register a mark that is simply a combination of a generic term such as ‘booking’ and a familiar top-level domain extension such as ‘.com.’ It does not, however, mean that any such combination would necessarily be registered as a trademark. That is, you cannot take any generic term and add “.com” to it and say you definitely have a registrable mark for any goods or services. Each case would still need to be examined on its own merits. The Supreme Court noted, for example, that ART.COM is already registered as a trademark but did not make a new rule that all such combinations are automatically registrable. What the case signifies is that, in the Internet age, top-level domain extensions, when added to generic terms might well create registrable marks. And that is news—an important clarification from the Supreme Court of how old law applies to the new tricks of electronic commerce.”
Alan Behr is quoted in WTR: “A victory for any brand owner that has invested to build a brand”: Booking.com and legal experts react to Supreme Court decision
“You cannot take any generic term and add ‘.com’ to it and say you definitely have a registrable mark”
What the case likely means is that there can be no automatic rejection of an application to register a mark that is simply a combination of a generic term such as ‘booking’ and a familiar TLD extension such as ‘.com’. It does not, however, mean that any such combination would necessarily be registered as a trademark. That is, you cannot take any generic term and add ‘.com’ to it and say you definitely have a registrable mark for any goods or services. Each case would still need to be examined on its own merits. The Supreme Court noted, for example, that ART.COM is already registered as a trademark but did not make a new rule that all such combinations are automatically registrable. What the case signifies is that, in the internet age, TLD extensions, when added to generic terms might well create registrable marks. And that is news – an important clarification from the Supreme Court of how old law applies to the new tricks of electronic commerce.
Monica McCabe is quoted by Bloomberg Law: Rolling Stones Have Clout Over Trump Campaign Song Use
“Either they don’t have experienced people working on it, or they don’t care,” McCabe said. “It’d be interesting to see how often the provisions have been deployed. I’m betting not a lot, but I’m also betting PROs are getting more and more pressure from big artists” to enforce them, she said.
Phillips Nizer Employment and Labor Chair, Regina E. Faul, is quoted in Benefits News, Employers need to embrace, not tolerate, LBGTQ Employees
“It is recommended that employers review their policies and training protocols to ensure that they adequately address the extended protections,” says Regina Faul, labor and employment chair at Phillips Nizer, a law firm specializing in labor issues. “Additionally, further training of managers, supervisors and employees should include best practices for implementing and maintaining a diverse workforce with a culture of inclusion and acceptance.”
