Trademark
Your brand is one of a kind — we will keep it that way
Capabilities at a glance
- A strategic, big-picture approach to supporting your marks and your brand, working with your marketing department and in-house counsel.
- From trademark selection and registration through enforcement and litigation, our lawyers cover the full spectrum of trademark and intellectual property (IP) law.
- International reach and experience, with more than 3,500 foreign trademark applications submitted in over 100 jurisdictions in the last five years.
- Sophisticated legal knowledge, paired with practical insights into the impact of your trademark-related decisions on distributor relationships, budget constraints and other business realities.
Global support for your trademarks and your brand
Whether you require guidance in establishing proper trademark use, negotiating licensing opportunities, clearing advertising, ensuring regulatory compliance for your loyalty programs or litigating infringement actions, we have the experience to guide you. We always look at your trademark needs in the round, assisting our clients with brand counseling and licensing. Leveraging the most up-to-date software tools available and an international network of affiliated attorneys, we are able to seamlessly protect your brand around the world. We have considerable experience in searching marks throughout and outside the U.S.; for example, we have extensive knowledge of the intricate China Trademark classification system. Our extensive experience practicing outside of the U.S. enables us to provide preliminary advice followed by further guidance from local counsel in that country.
Diverse, deep experience across trademark and copyright law
At Quarles, we advise national and multinational consumer product companies, and our trademark attorneys frequently manage portfolios of hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of marks. Our clients include household names such as Molson Coors Beverage Company and Specialized Bicycle Components. We are proud to represent clients across a broad range of industries and sizes, such as:
- Brand owners, including manufacturers, consumer product companies, retailers and service providers.
- Marketers working on developing advertising and marketing programs.
- Authors and publishers looking for support on publishing agreements, licensing rights to works and copyright infringement and enforcement.
- Individuals and organizations from the world of sports, entertainment and the media.
Experience
- Brand counseling and portfolio management
- Advertising and promotions
- Enforcement and litigation
- Licensing and due diligence
- China-related services
News & Insights
Trademark Focus Areas
Trade Dress Protection
Trade dress protection is a strategic tool for safeguarding brand identity and product differentiation. Our team delivers global, market-focused support across the full lifecycle, from prosecution to enforcement, anchored by deep jurisdiction-specific expertise.
We identify the strongest pathways to registration by analyzing registrability standards, acquired distinctiveness thresholds and the scope of protection across key markets. Our goal is to secure meaningful rights that align with commercial objectives and withstand enforcement challenges.
Enforcement is approached with precision. We assess the strength and value of trade dress rights across jurisdictions and act where legal protection is strongest and brand impact is highest. Whether through civil litigation or administrative actions, we focus on results rather than volume.
Effective strategies can be devised short of litigation when appropriate. We partner with and train customs authorities worldwide to block the cross-border movement of infringing goods, disrupting counterfeit supply chains and protecting high-value markets.
To further enhance protection, we develop layered IP strategies that combine trade dress with copyright and design patent rights. This multidimensional approach creates overlapping enforcement tools tailored to each product and market, increasing legal leverage and long-term brand security.
We do not just protect how products look. We help clients preserve the commercial power of their brand identity in every market that matters.
Anti-Counterfeiting Services
Counterfeiting enforcement is not a game of “whack-a-mole.” Our approach is deliberate, data-informed and results-oriented. Through our proprietary IMPACT framework, we help clients regain control and drive meaningful disruption of illicit supply chains.
- Identify vulnerabilities by detecting critical loopholes in enforcement systems that counterfeiters routinely exploit.
- Map jurisdictional priorities and legal tools to ensure resources are deployed where they yield the greatest return.
- Protect the most profitable markets and high-value products through focused, high-impact actions.
- Attack the most significant offenders with precision, targeting the sources rather than just the symptoms of counterfeit trade.
- Cleanse the marketplace by reducing the visibility and accessibility of fake goods through sustained enforcement.
- Threaten future infringement by building a strong deterrent through consistent legal and commercial consequences.
We do not chase infringers. We neutralize them. Our goal is to build resilient brand protection systems that eliminate counterfeit goods and shift the risk calculus for bad actors.
China-Related Services
China remains central to any global IP strategy. It is both the world’s largest consumer market and the primary source of counterfeit goods worldwide. This dual reality makes effective IP protection in China not only essential for revenue growth, but also critical to supply chain integrity and global brand defense.
Led by Li Zhu — a partner based in our Washington, D.C., office and a dual-qualified attorney with nearly 20 years of China IP experience, including 10 years of first-hand, on-the-ground practice — our team delivers strategic, business-driven brand protection across Greater China.
We understand that protecting IP in China requires more than legal knowledge. It demands a practical understanding of how enforcement works on the ground, how infringers adapt and scale, and how to drive measurable outcomes that align with business priorities.
We identify key risks across China’s IP ecosystem, including trademark squatting, unauthorized resellers, counterfeit manufacturing and online infringement, and we develop tailored brand protection strategies grounded in real-world experience. Our team executes targeted enforcement actions using administrative, civil and criminal tools to dismantle core infringer networks and disrupt illicit trade at its source. We work closely with Chinese customs, market regulators, public security bureaus and major e-commerce platforms to intercept counterfeit goods and reduce their visibility across physical and digital marketplaces. To enhance enforcement effectiveness, we integrate trade dress, trademark, copyright and design rights into coordinated, layered IP strategies aligned with China’s evolving legal and regulatory framework.
Together, we help clients deliver real market impact in China through locally informed strategies that protect brand value, secure market share and strengthen global IP enforcement.
E-commerce Brand Protection
The rapid rise of global e-commerce has created both unprecedented opportunities and new forms of brand vulnerability. Today’s digital marketplaces are flooded with counterfeit goods, unauthorized sellers, copycat products and IP misuse - often happening across multiple platforms, jurisdictions and languages. Monitoring tools alone are not enough. Brands need a coordinated legal strategy that keeps pace with the speed and scale of online threats while aligning with business goals.
Our team helps clients take control of their e-commerce presence through a fully integrated brand protection program. We start by helping clients identify the right third-party monitoring technologies based on platform coverage, detection capabilities and enforcement reporting. But we don’t stop at vendor selection. We partner with those providers to analyze trends, uncover repeat offenders and escalate cases that require legal intervention.
When takedown tools reach their limits, we step in. Our team bridges the gap between platform enforcement and real-world legal action — using IP rights, contracts and litigation where necessary to stop repeat violators, counterfeit networks and unauthorized sellers. We connect online evidence to offline actors and pursue high-impact enforcement through civil, administrative, customs and criminal channels.
We also work to future-proof enforcement by identifying IP coverage gaps. Whether it’s missing trade dress protection, unregistered copyrights or the need for design patents, we help clients build layered rights that increase leverage across marketplaces and jurisdictions.
Ultimately, we help clients move beyond the endless “whack-a-mole” of individual takedowns. Our focus is on systemic disruption: identifying the root of infringement, eliminating key threats and restoring control over digital channels. With deep platform knowledge, legal insight and global reach, we turn e-commerce enforcement into a scalable, strategic advantage.
