January 9, 2018

IP Partner Angelo Mazza Spoke at IQPC 20th Anti-Counterfeiting & Brand Protection Summit

IP Partner Angelo Mazza spoke at the IQPC 20th Anti-Counterfeiting & Brand Protection Summit from January 29-31, 2018 in San Francisco. The event brought together brand leaders, customs officials, law enforcement and legal counsel to discuss best practices and strategies for fighting counterfeiters. Angelo serves on IQPC’s 2018 Advisory Board.

His first workshop was titled “Connecting the Dots with Law Enforcement: Developing Effective Brand Protection Training Programs to Bolster Anti-Counterfeiting Efforts.”  It focused on how brand owners can engage with law enforcement at all levels as part of developing a comprehensive brand protection program.

Angelo was also a part of a  “Fireside Chat: Implementing Controls to Protect Your Brand from Ongoing & Potential Future Risks.” This discussion focused on the potential for counterfeiting opportunities created by the advent of new products and technologies and new brand protection strategies to deal with them.

He also led “Fireside Chat: The Evolution of CBP in Dealing with the Seismic Shift in Ecommerce Platforms.” Angelo partnered with a U.S. Customs and Border Protection representative to discuss the future of border enforcement and what can brands do to improve the process.

Angelo works extensively with law enforcement on IP related crimes.  He counsels clients in developing and implementing enforcement strategies in a variety of settings. He has organized and conducted training sessions for CBP, ICE and the FBI in the United States and for law enforcement in almost all 50 states.

January 3, 2018

Brian Brokate and Angelo Mazza Spoke at PLI Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement 2018

Brian Brokate served as co-chair of the Practising Law Institute’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement 2018 on January 25, 2018. The program provided developments on recent copyright and trademark cases and anticounterfeiting trends.

Brian spoke on the panel “Anticounterfeiting Update.” Topics included recent updates on direct liability case law, seizures and ex parte remedies, US legislative updates and recent Customs and Border Patrol regulations. Partner Angelo Mazza spoke on the panel “Current Government IP Enforcement Programs.” Topics included federal and criminal IP enforcement, the CHIP program and data security and consumer privacy.

This program can now be viewed on demand on the PLI site.

August 17, 2017

Brian Brokate Spoke on Trade Dress Protection at PLI’s Intellectual Property Law Institute 2017

Partner Brian Brokate spoke at PLI’s Intellectual Property Law Institute 2017 on October 2, 2017. Topics included understanding trade dress enforcement, recent trade dress cases and legal developments and best practices for protection.  Brian and associate Maja Szumarska co-authored a chapter in PLI’s course handbook for the program.

Brian Brokate is head of Gibney’s Intellectual Property Group. He is experienced in trademark and copyright enforcement procedures to combat infringement and counterfeiting. Maja Szumarska concentrates on intellectual property protection and enforcement actions in federal court.

For more information or to register for the event, visit the PLI website.

June 15, 2017

Gibney IP Practice Recognized in Managing Intellectual Property’s IP Stars 2017 Rankings

Gibney Anthony and Flaherty LLP was recognized in Managing Intellectual Property’s 2017 IP Stars. The Intellectual Property Practice was recognized as a top practice in the “Trademark Contentious” area. IP Practice Chair Brian Brokate was also recognized as a leading IP practitioner.

IP stars recognizes leading firms with strong national reputations and brands in the IP space. Research for IP Stars covers over 80 jurisdictions. Firm rankings and individual listings are based on an extensive six-month research period and data is obtained from thousands of practitioners (in-house and private practice).

January 9, 2017

Brian Brokate Co-Chairs PLI’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement 2017

Brian Brokate will serve as Co-Chair of the Practising Law Institute’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement 2017 on January 20, 2017. This program will provide developments on intellectual property rights enforcement. Brian will speak on the panel “Anticounterfeiting Update.” Topics will include recent updates on direct liability case law, Customs and Border Patrol regulations, U.S. legislations and the global effort against anticounterfeiting. Partner Angelo Mazza will also speak on the panel “Current Government IP Enforcement Programs.”

October 27, 2015

Recent Developments in Anticounterfeiting Law

Intellectual Property Group Chair Brian W. Brokate spoke at the Fairfield County Bar Association on Wednesday, October 28, 2015. He discussed investigative and enforcement strategies, remedies and important anticounterfeiting measures to help a brand owner implement and conduct its anticounterfeiting program.

October 5, 2015

Customs Issues Amendments Concerning Disclosure of Information

On September 18, 2015, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) published a Federal Register notice concerning its adoption of certain amendments to the Final Interim Rule regarding the “Disclosure of Information for Certain Intellectual Property Rights Enforced at the Border”.

The amendments allow CBP to disclose information appearing on merchandise or its retail packaging that may be otherwise protected by the Trade Secrets Act to a trademark owner for the purpose of obtaining assistance in determining whether the merchandise bears a counterfeit mark.  The CBP must notify the trademark owner that the disclosure is for the limited purpose of assisting CBP.

The amendments also expand information-sharing procedures by requiring CBP to release to the importer an unredacted sample or image of the suspect merchandise or its retail packaging any time after presentation of the suspect goods for examination.  The purpose of these amendments is to assist the importer to provide a response to the detention notice.  The amendments also require CBP to release limited importation information to the trademark owner no later than the time of issuance of the detention notice to the importer (rather than within 30 business days from the date of detention).

September 22, 2015

Brian Brokate Spoke at PLI’s Intellectual Property Law Institute

On Monday, September 28, 2015, Brian Brokate spoke at PLI’s Intellectual Property Law Institute, which has been named a “must attend” program for IP lawyers. The program provided a complete analysis of key events of all areas of IP, providing updates on cases, legislation and government agency developments that IP lawyers need to know. Prominent IP counsel spoke about the many facets of current interest for dealing with IP and suggesting best practices and strategies.  Brian spoke at a plenary session on trademark law, specifically he will be speaking on updates in anticounterfeiting.

April 17, 2015

Angelo Mazza Lectured on Fighting Counterfeiting at the Italian Embassy

On Monday, April 27, 2015, Intellectual Property Partner, Angelo Mazza addressed participants from the public and private sectors at the  Italian Embassy during a program entitled, “Fighting Counterfeits: Future Challenges and Cooperation between the US and Italy.” The all-day event took place in the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC and discussed joint U.S. and Italian actions for brand protection and anticounterfeiting.

Angelo was the lead speaker on the panel entitled, “The Experience of the Private Sector” and focused his remarks specifically on European companies developing a proactive U.S. intellectual property enforcement policy. Other speakers included industry leaders, government officials and law enforcement.

March 13, 2015

Copyright Holder Sues Former Business Partner for Serving Her Recipes

Copyright protection may extend to a recipe book or cookbook because it is a compilation, but that protection is limited to way the content is presented and how the compilation’s elements are presented. The elements themselves are not necessarily protected by copyright law.

In Tomaydo-Tomahhdo LLC et al. v. Vozary et al., the plaintiff sued the defendant, a former business partner, for copying her recipes and offering the dishes at a competing restaurant. The plaintiff claimed she created the “Tomaydo Tomahhdo Recipe Book” in 2012 and obtained a copyright for her recipe book in 2014. After she learned that the defendant was offering the dishes from her recipe book at his restaurant, she brought a claim for copyright infringement against him and others claiming that the menus, offerings, recipes and presentation of food at his restaurant are nearly identical to her copyrighted “work”. In support of her claim, the plaintiff conducted a “comparison test” of the various recipes and menu items offered. According to the plaintiff, the results of the test were that the defendant copied her recipes.

The defendant argued that copyright protection does not extend to the recipes themselves, but may only be extended to the layout of the recipe and any other artistic elements in the book itself. Further, the defendant claimed that the plaintiff’s comparison test was inadmissible.

The Court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant on the copyright claim. The Court did not have to address the comparison test, because it found that the recipe itself is not protected. However, the Court did state that if it did use the comparison test, then the test shows the food items served by the defendant were different than those offered by the plaintiff. For example, the plaintiff’s chicken salad sandwich used provolone cheese and Defendant’s chicken salad sandwich used mozzarella cheese. The Court stated, “Certainly, plaintiffs cannot be suggesting that somehow copyright protection prevents defendants from serving chicken salad sandwiches.” The Court also dismissed the plaintiff’s supplemental state court claims, thereby dismissing the entire action.

The plaintiffs have filed an appeal to the Sixth Circuit.