February 27, 2014 - ET

2014 Brand IP Seminar Series, New York

This event has already occurred.
Venable's New York office
Rockefeller Center 1270 Avenue of the Americas Twenty-Fourth Floor
New York, NY 10020

Update: This event has already occurred. Please click here for a recording of the program, and click here to view presentation materials from the event. 


Throughout 2014, the Venable Brand Protection team will offer four complimentary seminars in our offices around the country to discuss the unique challenges facing businesses seeking to protect, manage and leverage their brands and content in today's lightning-pace global markets.

Counterfeits, diverted products, knockoff designs, pirated music, software and video, and reputational damage cost companies billions of dollars in lost revenue every year. Your company's brand, content and image are valuable intellectual property assets, and protecting them requires an active and diligent strategy.

Brand IP: New York

On February 27, Aaron Sawchuk, General Counsel, Marketing, Sales and Business Services, BlackBerry, LTD, and Marilyn Kelly, Senior Corporate Counsel, Trademarks & Copyrights, Bristol-Myers Squibb, joined Venable attorneys Justin Pierce and Widge Devaney in our New York offices for the first seminar in the Brand IP series. Moderated by Marcella Ballard, the discussion focused on best practices for securing and protecting intellectual property rights and brand value internationally. The speakers discussed their real-world experiences fighting counterfeit and grey market goods, what steps to take to protect valuable IP interests, and important factors to consider when working with international customs officials.

Upcoming seminars will take place in San Francisco (April), Los Angeles (September), and Washington DC (December).

About the Brand IP Seminar Series

Our Brand IP seminar series will help you identify vulnerabilities in your current business model and present innovative solutions that protect the value in your company’s brands, content and corporate reputation. We'll discuss day-to-day operational changes that you can implement immediately to better protect your company, as well as strategies to better leverage and exploit your brand and content.

Alongside Venable attorneys, noteworthy guest panelists with in-house brand and IP experience in a range of industries will discuss successful strategies to maximize brand value and to fight effectively against IP theft, counterfeiting, and product diversion around the world. Topics we'll address throughout the seminar series include:

  • Proactively evaluating and addressing IP threats in corporate transactions, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions;


  • Developing and implementing comprehensive brand protection strategy;


  • How counterfeit goods enter the domestic and international markets;


  • Best practices in maximizing and protecting your brand through licensing;


  • The challenge of "grey market" goods and how to shut down unauthorized distribution channels;


  • Protecting your content and digital media from piracy;


  • What to do about websites trading on your brand name to sell knockoff products;


  • Partnering with government agencies in your brand protection efforts both in the US and abroad; and


  • The latest challenges in brand protection presented by new technologies and new threats.