News
ATLANTA—Womble Carlyle played a leading role in the 2016 Corporate Intellectual Property Institute (CIPI), presented by the Georgia State University College of Law.
Julie Hopkins moderated a panel discussion titled “Trademark Clearance: Best Practices.” In addition, attorneys Joshua Davis, Laura Kees, Brendan O’Dea, Aaron Reinhardt and Emily Scheible attended CIPI, which took place Oct. 25th-26th in Atlanta.
Womble Carlyle was a Premier Sponsor of the event. Attorneys Preston Heard, Lou Isaf and Bill Ragland spearheaded the firm’s participation in CIPI. Nearly 200 in-house counsel from local companies attended the event.
The “Trademark Clearance: Best Practices” panel provided an overview of what to do, and what not to do, when conducting trademark clearance searches. The panel answered questions such as: What is a preliminary trademark search? What is a comprehensive trademark search? When should a clearance search be conducted? How should the results best be reported? The panel also discussed issues related to the role of trademark clearance for expanding product lines under existing marks and entry into new geographic markets. In addition, the panel spoke on common issues in-house IP attorneys encounter and need to be aware of, and new tools available to address these issues.
Hopkins was joined in the panel discussion by Jeanene Jobst, Senior Counsel at Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.; Lauren Linder, VP/Associate General Counsel at The Weather Channel; and Edward Kavanagh of the Corporation Service Company.
