From Acquisition International
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Katz Group LLC caters for the global intellectual property and enforcement needs for a variety of corporations, including advertising agencies, toy companies, pharmaceuticals/chemicals, banks and food companies. They also serve as a US resource to numerous foreign-based law firms interested in securing intellectual property protection in the US and coordinating global strategies for their non-US clients. We spoke to Julie Katz, founder of the firm, to get her insight into why the protection of intellectual property is paramount.
There is nothing worse than to have launched a successful product or service line with a catchy brand name and then receive a “cease and desist” order from another company, which is claiming you are infringing one or more of their trademarks or copyrights. To ensure that this risk is significantly diminished, we help established companies and start-ups secure trademark and copyright protection so they can confidently enter markets with their goods and services.
We understand that the level of investment that goes into advertising products and services is tremendous. Copyrights protect these business investments, and what good is it to spend on the development of creative ad campaigns just to have them stolen by competitors? For example, just look at the investment that is put into television ads during the U.S. Super Bowl championship game. From our perspective, it is critical to protect the expression of that creativity.
As a global IP law firm, one of the key areas we look into involves reviewing websites. We investigate issues such as whether their website is targeting the audience they want and if they own all the images and text on the site. Furthermore, many companies have visited competitors’ websites only to be surprised to find how eerily similar their text and images are to their own. With all of these aspects in mind, we help business owners to protect their online presence.
Furthermore, protecting client mailing lists and other sensitive company information is also of paramount importance. Sometimes business partners go their separate ways, or key employees leave, and only later do you discover they launched a competing business and have taken several of your top clients or customers. At our firm, we have helped businesses protect their most valuable assets from “walking out the door” when employees leave or business partners split up.
Alongside this expertise, we also help businesses strengthen their business contracts. We work with businesses to ensure that their purchase order and supply agreements protect their logos, trademarks and artwork from being used by vendors and suppliers.
Despite the often complex world of intellectual property, our business approach is simple. We listen, we ask good questions and we work with you to formulate a plan. Moreover, we negotiate a cost to implement the plan, and execute against that plan to accomplish your business objectives.
As a small business owner myself, I fully understand the challenges that businesses face in nurturing and maintaining solid operations, while at the same time keeping sales humming along, employees engaged, and customers and clients satisfied. At our firm, we listen to what you have to say and don’t begin charging you for legal services as soon as we have answered the phone.
Over the years, we have received many favorable settlements or final court adjudication in the industries of plush toys, pharmaceuticals, casino gaming machines, software and many more. We negotiate settlements of litigation before hundreds of thousands of dollars are wasted on extensive discovery when a business solution saves both parties their rights and their business investment.
Looking further into 2016 and beyond, perhaps the biggest issue in the IP world is the protection of digitally protectable works and technology. Despite the many challenges facing us in this sector, we are confident that we will continue to protect business and provide the best possible service.
