Use of Trademarks and Celebrity Images in Movies, TV, Video Games & Other Media

Mitchell Stabbe has over thirty years of experience in virtually all aspects of trademark law. Over the course of his career, Mitch has experienced numerous changes in trademark law and in technology, with the former often several steps behind the latter. Today, his practice focuses on the ever-evolving interplay between trademarks and the Internet. Over the last few years, for example, Mitch has regularly advised clients and provided comments to ICANN concerning the roll-out of hundreds of new generic top level domains (gTLDs) and the protections available to brand owners against cybersquatting and other domain name abuses.

Mitch also counsels clients on the availability and registration of trademarks and service marks and has prosecuted over a thousand applications before the US Patent and Trademark Office. He also is experienced in drafting and negotiating contracts, licenses, assignments and security interests involving intellectual property rights.

Mitch has litigated numerous trademark and copyright infringement and unfair competition civil actions in federal court, including actions against infringers and gray market importers, as well as adversary proceedings in federal court and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). In addition, he has successfully prosecuted over fifty claims under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to compel the transfer of domain names registered in bad faith.

He has represented companies from a wide array of industries, including communications, media, publishing, technology, education, not-for-profit associations, real estate leasing, banking, and premium cigars.