Jennifer Van Kirk

Practice Areas

Intellectual Property

Copyright

Trademark

Intellectual Property Litigation

Sweepstakes and Promotions

Licensing and Transactions

Career

Jennifer Van Kirk counsels clients on a wide variety of intellectual property matters, including all aspects of ‎trademark and brand protection: trademark clearance, prosecution, licensing, portfolio ‎management, and litigation guidance. Her experience includes traditional marks as well as three-‎dimensional marks, motion marks, service trade dress, and packaging trade dress. She also assists clients with identifying, protecting, and licensing copyrights and rights of publicity for use in products and advertising and protecting and licensing clients' copyrights and rights of publicity.

Trademark Prosecution and Brand Protection

With a network of trademark agents in nearly every country, Jennifer has particular experience ‎helping clients secure and protect trademark rights around the world. She assists in securing ‎worldwide portfolios for new brands and streamlining portfolios for long-established brands. Additionally, her ‎international trademark experience includes advising clients on what global registrations to pursue, ‎filing strategies to maximize coverage, what form the mark should take, cost-containment options, and ‎which trademarks to secure.

Copyrights and Rights of Publicity

Jennifer has extensive multimedia clearance experience, which includes tracing the chain of title (including probate analyses) to works of art, photographs, and rights of publicity and then securing licenses to use those third party rights on products and in advertising. She helps clients protect their copyrights through formal ‎registrations, licensing agreements, and enforcement actions. She has negotiated licenses between her ‎clients and major motion picture studios, merchandising firms, and rights organizations, including BMI, ‎MPLC, and the CCC. When necessary, she represents clients whose copyrights have been infringed by ‎third parties.‎

Trademark Enforcement

On the trademark enforcement side, Jennifer has experience managing the policing ‎programs of several prominent clients, including one of the world’s top spas, a federal government ‎agency, a multibillion-dollar tool manufacturer, the leading e-cigarette company, and an international ‎bakery and restaurant franchise with over 200 stores globally.

Jennifer has also coordinated anti-counterfeiting programs in the Far East and has extensive experience ‎litigating before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. When necessary, she defends her clients ‎against infringement allegations made by other companies. ‎

Internet IP

Jennifer regularly counsels clients on Internet-related intellectual ‎property issues. She has considerable experience with domain name disputes, having represented ‎clients in dozens of successful arbitration proceedings under the Uniform Domain Dispute Resolution ‎Policy (UDRP). She also counsels clients about recording with ‎ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse and other rights protection mechanisms.