Full-Service Law Firm solving complex challenges through bold thinking, precise execution, and shared purpose.

Full Service Law Firm | Michael Best & Friedrich LLP

Specializing in the Intersection of Business &amp; Government

Meet our team of trusted advisors, strategic thinkers, and community builders dedicated to client success.

Learn about our full-service legal and business solutions, designed to address complex challenges for leading organizations across industries.

Access thought leadership, news, and resources to stay informed about the latest trends, legal developments, and industry innovations.

Discover how partnership, bold thinking, and precise execution drive results for clients nationwide.

Explore how our national reach and local expertise support clients across the United States and beyond.

Grow at a firm designed to bring out your best.

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Michael Best’s robust Brand Protection team is entrusted with some of the world’s most iconic brands. We help you safeguard and leverage your valuable brand assets, including trademark, trade dress, and copyright, and advise on the full range of advertising, marketing, and online issues.

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Our team provides practical, end-to-end counsel aligned with your business goals, risk tolerance, and budget. Our attorneys are ranked by Chambers, Best Lawyers, World Trademark Review, and IP Stars. They work closely with our experienced trademark paralegals and docketing specialists to manage large, global portfolios in a strategic, cost-effective manner.

Michael Best's Intellectual Property Practice is ranked by Chambers USA: Band 1 in Wisconsin, Band 3 in North Carolina, and Band 5 in Illinois, and Band 3 for Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright &amp; Trade Secrets in Illinois.

Chambers &amp; Partners

Michael Best is ranked by Best Lawyers in America Patent Law National Tier 1; Trademark Law National Teir 1; Advertising Law National Tier 2.

Best Lawyers in America

9 Lawyers ranked by World Trademark Review. 

World Trademark Review

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Our Approach: Business-Centric Advice Based on Your Goals

We provide tailored, real-world guidance informed by in-house and industry experience. We start by learning about your brand and business – your goals, challenges, risk tolerance, and budget constraints. This enables us to provide customized advice aligned with your priorities.

We serve clients ranging from multinational Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing startups – all of whom rely on a strong brand presence. We work closely with in-house counsel and marketing professionals to protect, maintain, enforce, and defend your brand rights in today’s competitive global marketplace.

Trademark Counseling and Prosecution

Trademark Registration, Maintenance &amp; Renewal

We provide strategic, cost-effective guidance throughout all aspects of the trademark registration process, including prosecution, maintenance, and renewals. We work closely with you to understand your priorities and give you customized advice that furthers your goals. We represent clients in opposition, cancellation, and non-use proceedings. Our sophisticated docketing platform allows us to provide tailored reports and analytics and gives you direct access to information regarding your marks and pending matters.

Our in-house search team has decades of experience determining whether a proposed mark is available for use and registration. When appropriate, our team works closely with other search firms and attorneys in other countries to conduct investigations for clearance outside of the United States.

We’ll work with you to monitor trademark misuse across multiple online platforms and foreign trademark offices, identifying attempts to use or register confusingly similar marks. Our team will help you develop specific strategies and protocols to address and oppose problematic trademark use, applications, and registrations.

We have significant experience with securing registrations for trade dress in the U.S. and internationally. We’ll advise you as to the best form of protection for your product or design, which may involve trademark, copyright, or patent protection, enforcing trade dress rights before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, in federal court, and in international tribunals.

We’ll help you establish licensing and merchandising programs that communicate brand value, increase consumer awareness, promote long-term brand viability, and generate royalties. Our lawyers will help you navigate compliance issues, and can assist with strategic planning, negotiation, due diligence, and hands-on program management.

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Trademark Enforcement and Litigation

Preserve and protect your valuable rights and the goodwill associated with your trademarks. Our trademark attorneys are often able to resolve disputes without the need for litigation through negotiation with the assistance of government entities such as the U.S. and foreign Customs Offices. We’ll help you build a reputation that deters potential infringers. A strong trademark enforcement program helps you preserve and protect your rights and the goodwill associated with your marks. We are often able to resolve disputes without the need for litigation. Through negotiation, with the assistance of the government (for example, the U.S. and foreign Customs Offices), and by helping our clients build a reputation that deters potential infringers, we successfully help brands enforce their trademark rights.

When litigation is necessary, our team offers experience and savvy to address all types of trademark infringement, dilution, and unfair competition cases.

Advertising &amp; Promotions

Launch your marketing campaigns with confidence. We’ll review all aspects of your campaign from securing rights and licenses, validating claims, handling the agreements for successful activations, and helping you to capitalize on consumer engagement and social media opportunities.

Looking to include user-generated content and audience engagement in your next promotion? Our team has helped clients like you structure and execute hundreds of effective and compliant consumer promotions, contests, and sweepstakes as well as charitable co-promotions, rebates, gift-with-purchase offers, and loyalty programs.

We’ll defend your advertisements, promotions, and claims against challenges brought by government regulators, consumers, and competitors. We’ll also help you take action in court and before the National Advertising Division when your competitors are using false advertisements or misleading claims in the marketplace.

Domain Names and Internet Issues

Protect your brand assets online with respect to matters relating to domain names. We’ll help you address new top-level domain names and set priorities for enforcement actions. We have successfully enforced our clients’ rights through litigation as well as dispute resolution policies, including ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS). When possible, we negotiate resolutions without escalation to formal proceedings.

We are also well versed in the legal issues involving the use and misuse of trademarks in domain names, website content, linking, metatags, keyword advertising, blogs, social media, and online retail and auction sites. We’ll help you develop guidelines and strategies to address trademark use and misuse in these arenas.

Copyright

Our copyright attorneys work with clients who own, manage, and use copyrightable content. We represent entertainment and software companies, authors, artists, and others who wish to protect their original work from unauthorized exploitation by other parties. We’ll also help you identify your rights and responsibilities with respect to using copyrighted works, including assessing “fair use.”

We provide counsel on the full range of copyright issues, including filing and prosecution of copyright applications; acquisition, disposition, and licensing of copyrighted works; preparing and negotiating development and work-for-hire agreements; advising on compliance, including with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and fair use issues; and enforcement and defense of your rights.

Handled copyright prosecution for a new Broadway musical created by a well-known entertainment figure.

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Spearheaded a comprehensive counterfeit enforcement initiative for a consumer products client, leading to the removal of nearly 100,000 infringing product listings on various marketplace platforms, websites, and social media platforms.

Provide comprehensive brand protection counsel to a Fortune 500 financial services firm, encompassing prosecution, clearance, and enforcement in the areas of trademark, copyright, advertising, and online matters.

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Successfully enforced trademark rights for a financial services firm against an infringing financial advisor, culminating in a trial victory and permanent injunction against the competitor.

Provide trademark, copyright, and marketing counsel to popular professional sports teams, including prosecution, clearance, enforcement, and licensing.

For an international education content creator, we developed an online copyright intake form streamlined process, and a shared knowledge portal for copyright application filings and maintenance, significantly reducing the client’s administrative burden and legal spend.

Negotiated a worldwide exclusive license to create merchandise based on an internationally acclaimed entertainment property.

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of our IP clients have multi-national operations

Brand Protection lawyers and professionals

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Brand Protection

Key Contact

Trending Conversations for Brand Protection

Nominative Fair Use: The Dos and Don’ts for Using Someone Else’s Trademark

When Brands Enter the Story: Navigating Product Placement and Branding Risks

Font Licensing: A Hidden Risk in Brand Development

Key Contact

Trending Conversations for Brand Protection

Nominative Fair Use: The Dos and Don’ts for Using Someone Else’s Trademark

When Brands Enter the Story: Navigating Product Placement and Branding Risks

Font Licensing: A Hidden Risk in Brand Development

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