Affiliate
Richard B. Verner
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Laytin Verner LLP
www.LaytinVerner.com
New York, NY
Tel: 212-631-8694
Fax: 212-273-4315
As a partner in the law firm of Laytin Verner LLP, Rich assists clients with a broad array of intellectual property matters, focusing his practice on trademark prosecution, enforcement and licensing. He has managed worldwide trademark portfolios for a wide range of companies in the apparel, entertainment and media fields, as well as assisted clients with the full spectrum of brand management, protection, and revenue enhancement.
Rich also has actively participated in a wide variety of litigation outside the intellectual property arena, including asserting claims for breach of non-compete obligations under an employment agreement against a client’s former employees, defending claims of securities fraud and related violations against a director of a publicly-held company, and appealing an order of civil contempt, including daily fines and potential incarceration, to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Representative Matters
Filing strategies for the protection of trademark rights: Advise clients worldwide on efficient and effective research and clearance of proposed trademarks. Additional client work includes worldwide filing of trademark and copyright applications, responding to office actions, and litigating opposition and cancellation proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Licensing/Due Diligence: Negotiating and drafting of licenses, assignments, distribution contracts and other business-development agreements. Conducting due diligence reviews and investigations of intellectual property assets in support of business transactions.
Asserting and defending various intellectual property claims: Successfully represented clients in addressing infringement of trademarks, copyrights and rights of publicity; breaches of license and distribution agreements; and misappropriation of trade secrets. Prevailed in contested UDRP proceeding to prevent use of domain name that infringed client’s primary trademark.
Worldwide anti-counterfeiting programs: Developed and implemented anti-counterfeiting programs for numerous clients in order to protect their valuable intellectual property rights. Successfully removed from the marketplace hundreds of thousands of counterfeit items utilizing both criminal and civil enforcement strategies.
Other litigation: Represented international document management company in efforts to prevent former employee from using proprietary information for competing business. Defended claims against a director of a publicly-held company involving allegations of improper stock option transactions. Successfully appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals an order of civil contempt, including daily fines and potential incarceration imposed as a discovery sanction.
Education
Villanova University School of Law (J.D., 1984)
Law Clerk – Honorable William King. Jr., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Fall 1982, Spring 1983)
University of Virginia (B.A., 1980)
Executive Editor, The Cavalier Daily
Bar Admissions
New York (1985)
U.S. District Court
Southern District of New York (1986)
Eastern District of New York (1986)