Jami A. Gekas

• Advises on advertising/marketing clearance, substantiation, and compliance with trademark, copyright, defamation, disparagement, telemarketing, internet and anti spam laws
• Assists clients with trademark selection, prosecution, maintenance, licensing and policing
• Counsels clients on compliance with NAD and CARU guidelines and findings and assists in NAD proceedings
• Advises clients on all aspects of legal compliance for national and local sweepstakes, skill contests, trade, charitable, reality television, user-generated content and other promotions (including drafting official rules, reviewing ad copy, attending to applicable state registrations, and drafting affidavits and participant releases)
• Represents clients in connection with co-promotion arrangements and strategic alliances
• Drafts and negotiates work-for-hire agreements, e-commerce agreements, video production agreements, agency agreements and content distribution and licensing agreements (character, trademark, music, software, photo and images)
• Reviews new media campaigns and advises clients on branded social networking and text message campaigns
• Represents clients in trademark prosecution matters and inter partes Cancellation and Opposition proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Trademark Trial & Appeal Board
• Litigates intellectual property disputes involving trademarks, trade dress, false advertising, unfair competition, and copyrights in a variety of federal district and appellate courts

Representative Cases:

• Dish Network LLC v. Fun Dish, Inc., et al. (N.D. Oh. 2008). Represent defendant/counter-claimant in an action involving trademark and antitrust claims; raised successful opposition to a motion for preliminary injunctive relief, forcing the plaintiff to voluntarily withdraw that motion in February, 2009.
• Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, LLC v. URS Corporation, et al. (C.D. Cal. 2008). Represent plaintiff in copyright infringement and Lanham Act false designation of origin case; defeated motion to dismiss by all defendants in December, 2008.
• Ultrasonic Power Corporation v. Crest Ultrasonics Corp. (N.D. Ill. 2007). Represent defendant/counter-claimant in trademark infringement and unfair competition action between competing manufacturers of ultrasonic cleaning equipment.
• Top Tobacco v. North Atlantic Operating Co. (N.D. Ill. 2006). Represented defendant in trademark infringement case; client won summary judgment on all counts of the complaint (see 2007 WL 118527) and the case was deemed “exceptional,” entitling client to recover its attorney fees (see 2007 WL 1149220).
• ShopLocal v. Cairo (N.D. Ill. 2006). Represented plaintiff in Computer Fraud and Abuse Act case; obtained a favorable settlement after defeating a motion to dismiss brought by the defendant (see 2006 WL 495942).
• Shuffle Master Inc. v. Awada (D. Nev. 2005). Represented plaintiff casino game manufacturer in trade dress action; obtained both a preliminary injunction (see 2006 WL 2547091) and summary judgment of trade dress infringement in favor of client.
• Nonin Medical, Inc. v. Konica Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A. (D. Minn. 2005). Represented defendant in patent infringement case; summary judgment in favor of defendant (see 381 F. Supp. 2d 1069) was affirmed by the Federal Circuit (see 197 Fed. Appx. 940 (Fed. Cir. 2006)).
  

Publications And Presentations:

• Author, “Natural Ingredients Do Not Necessarily Make a “Natural” Product: Notes From the NAD” (working title), ABA Annual Review of Intellectual Property Law Developments, 2010 (forthcoming)
• Speaker, “Hot and Emerging Legal Issues,” Mattel, Inc., in-house clinical for Legal Department, El Segundo, California, August 21, 2008
• Co-Author, "The FTC’s E-mail Marketing Rules Are Changing: Here’s How to Stay in the Game," Privacy & Data Security Law Journal, June 2008
• Co-author, “An Update on Marketing to Children,” Promotion Marketing Association’s Law and Forms Guidebook, 2007
• Speaker, “Dilution Law Today: U.S. Versus Europe,” Advertising & Trademark Law Seminar, Chicago, IL, July 2007
• Speaker, "Children Are People Too: Advertising To Kids," Advertising & Trademark Law Seminar, Palo Alto, CA, October 2006
• Speaker, "Trademark Dilution," Advertising & Trademark Law Seminar, Chicago, IL, July 2005
• Speaker, "What Did the Superbowl Reveal… About Decency?" Advertising & Trademark Law Seminar, Chicago, IL, June 2004
• Speaker, “Commercial Email Best Practices," Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Law Seminar, Chicago, IL, June 2003
• Speaker, "The Telephone Consumer Protection Act," Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Law Seminar, Chicago, IL, June 2002