Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has been named to the 2016 National Law Journal’s Intellectual Property (“IP”) Hot List. According to The National Law Journal, the IP Hot List “recognizes 15 law firms that set the bar in intellectual property law in 2015, scoring big wins for clients. They range from major firms with 1,000 or more lawyers to smaller shops with an IP focus.”
Debevoise & Plimpton’s Intellectual Property practice handles a wide variety of cases, including trademark, trade dress and advertising disputes; copyright matters in media and entertainment; domain name disputes; right of publicity issues; and unfair competition and trade secret cases. Many of its cases have cross-border components, and it has deep experience across a wide range of industries, as well as in the prosecution and defense of preliminary injunctions.
The National Law Journal highlighted Debevoise’s role in helping snack maker Snyder’s-Lance secure a significant, precedential win for its Pretzel Crisps brand. The Debevoise team, led by partner David H. Bernstein, successfully overturned a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that had cancelled the Pretzel Crisps trademark registration on the purported ground that it was a generic term for pretzel crackers. In a decision clarifying the standard to be used when evaluating multi-word trademarks, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed with Debevoise that the Board had improperly ruled the mark was generic because it focused on the meaning of the separate words in the mark rather than considering how the public understands the Pretzel Crisps mark, as a whole. The court therefore reversed and remanded the case to the Board with instructions to consider the public’s perception of the Pretzel Crisps mark as a whole, including the consumer perception survey evidence that had been presented at trial.
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a premier law firm with market-leading practices, a global perspective and strong New York roots. We deliver effective solutions to our clients’ most important legal challenges, applying clear commercial judgment and a distinctively collaborative approach.