Business Transactions Archives - Page 3 of 4

CASTAYBERT PLLC has experience preparing, negotiating, and enforcing intellectual property licensing and distribution agreements. The firm’s principal attorney has prepared and litigates the scope and enforceability of licensing and distribution agreements in a variety of commercial contexts and sectors including in the fashion, toy, sports, leisure and pharmaceutical industries, among others. He has substantial experience litigating the meaning of various provisions of such agreements, as well as the enforcement of such agreements.

To learn more about how CASTAYBERT PLLC can assist you in preparing, negotiating or enforcing a licensing or distribution agreement, please contact us.

CASTAYBERT PLLC will assist you in ensuring that your advertising and marketing comply with the law. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) oversees and regulates advertising and marketing law, in the U.S. All businesses have a legal responsibility to make sure that their advertising claims are truthful and not deceptive. The laws governing advertising can impact various aspects of your business, including labeling of your products, email and telemarketing campaigns, claims you make regarding health and the environment, and the way you may advertise to children. For example, there are laws about how you can use endorsements in your marketing, when and whether you can use the “made in the USA” label, and claims about how “green” your product or processes are. There are also rules for specific industries, like franchises, real estate, and the manufacture of clothing.

To learn more about how CASTAYBERT PLLC can guide you through the complexities of advertising and marketing law, please contact us.

CASTAYBERT PLLC counsels clients in false advertising and trademark matters. Trademarks are among a company’s most valuable assets. We know how to protect and enforce trademark rights and prevent rivals from falsely advertising competitive products. CASTAYBERT PLLC counsels clients in the creation, maintenance, and enforcement of brands and trademarks. Our practice includes: trademark clearance, counseling and prosecution; challenges before the NAD and NARB; pre-litigation counseling, labeling approvals and advertising-related inquiries by Federal Regulatory Agencies, including the FTC, EPA and FDA.

The firm has the experience to litigate false advertising claims, and has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a range of litigated trademark matters, from temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, seizure orders and recalls, to full trials on the merits.

To learn more about how CASTAYBERT PLLC can assist you with false advertising and trademark issues, please contact us.

Intellectual property is the touchstone for all major aspects of law related to Art Law. CASTAYBERT PLLC combines the experience and expertise in copyright, trademark, business transactions, commercial and intellectual property transactions to provide sophisticated transactional and litigation counsel to art world clients such as galleries, dealers, collectors, artists, and appraisers.

The firm counsels clients in all aspects of Art Law, including the creation, purchase, retention, consignment, sale and lending of art. The firm advises clients regarding authentication, title and provenance, commissions, real estate, auction consignment and insurance. The firm also advises artists and institutions regarding matters of fair use and regarding the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (“VARA”), which protects a work against “distortion, mutilation, or other modification.”

In appropriate cases, the firm will also represent individual artists or institutions on a pro bono basis and will handle matters referred by Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. The firm also offers its services to prepare Amicus Briefs and letters in support or opposition in matters involving free speech, resale rights, moral rights and the Visual Artists Rights Act.

Fashion Law is a diverse practice area that involves different aspects of the fashion industry and intersecting and overlapping areas of the law. Among other areas, fashion law requires a knowledge of intellectual property (trademark, copyright and some knowledge of patent), business and financial law (including fashion financing and factoring), international trade and government regulation, consumer laws, counterfeiting, licensing and distribution, real estate, employment issues involving designers, models and other employees, advertising law and consumer protection, as well as import/export regulations.

With a broad background in all these areas arising from years of litigation and arbitration experience, including on behalf of and against some of the best-known fashion houses of Europe, and on behalf of leaders in licensed home furnishing, bedding, bath, and beach industry, CASTAYBERT PLLC’s principal attorney has the experience and knowledge necessary to counsel a diverse set of clients in the fashion industry such as retailers, merchandisers, licensors and licensees, fashion design companies, modeling agencies, and fashion executives.

The firm has extensive experience dealing with litigation in the IP area, including the drafting of cease and desist letters, trademark related litigation, non-compete and trade secrets litigation, and disputes arising from the breach of licensing, distribution and royalty agreements, as well as litigation arising from fee disputes. The firm’s lawyers are also experienced in representing clients in “emergency” litigation involving requests for temporary and permanent injunctive relief and cases seeking lost profits damages.

CASTAYBERT PLLC assists its clients in preparing and drafting the key commercial contracts and agreements that they need to run and operate their businesses. Whether you need a guaranty, a note, a security agreement, a power of attorney, a commercial lease, an employment agreement, an independent contractor or work-for hire agreement, a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement, an invention ownership agreement, a distribution agreement, a marketing agreement, a licensing or royalty agreement, a sponsorship agreement, an assignment or transfer of ownership agreement, an indemnification agreement, a cease and desist letter, a waiver or release, an affidavit or confession of judgment, CASTAYBERT PLLC can help negotiate, prepare and craft the right agreement to meet your needs promptly and cost effectively.

To learn more about how CASTAYBERT PLLC can help you to draft or negotiate the agreement you need, please contact us.

CASTAYBERT PLLC provides General Counsel Services to start-ups, mid-sized companies, and to those clients who either do not have the need or the budget for a full-time staff to handle routine legal matters. After exploring the client’s business and its goals, the firm will identify and advise the client concerning potential legal ramifications and responsive strategies to achieve optimum and practical legal and business solutions. As part of its General Counsel Services, the firm helps the client with Business Transactions, Employment Law, Intellectual Property and Real Estate matters that affect every company. CASTAYBERT PLLC helps the client determine when outside specialists are needed and, when needed, will bring to bear and supervise the right legal talent drawn from the firm’s extensive network of established lawyers in a variety of practice areas and in different jurisdictions. Mindful of our clients’ need to manage legal costs in connection with its General Counsel Services, the firm will consider alternative billing arrangements including task based billing, special retainers and flat fees, whenever it is in the client and firm’s interest to do so.

To learn more about how CASTAYBERT PLLC can assist you as your General Counsel, please explore the practice area descriptions, and contact us.

CASTAYBERT PLLC assists clients in a wide variety of intellectual property transaction and litigation matters.

TRADEMARK AND COPYRIGHT CLEARANCE

CASTAYBERT PLLC performs and analyzes trademark clearance searches. Trademark searches are tailored to the needs of the client. The firm conducts initial, basic searches, and can obtain and review full trademark “knockout searches” in the U.S.. The firm advises clients about likelihood of confusion, dilution, and distinctiveness of trademark. CASTAYBERT PLLC also counsels on copyright clearance, on both originality and availability.

In the copyright area, the firm’s litigators have advised clients on important questions of ownership and authorship, work for hire, exclusivity, duration, assignment, injunctive relief and damages, as well as defenses based on the statute of limitations, abandonment, estoppel, laches, and fair use, and have advised companies in the publishing and music industries.

FALSE ADVERTISING AND TRADEMARK

CASTAYBERT PLLC understands our clients’ need to protect and enforce their trademark rights and prevent competitors from falsely advertising competitive products. The firm has the experience necessary to litigate false advertising claims including experience with consumer surveys and statistics to try such cases as well as the presentation of and challenge to expert evidence. CASTAYBERT PLLC counsels clients in the creation, maintenance, and enforcement of brands and trademarks and has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a range of litigated trademark matters, from temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, seizure orders and recalls, to full trials on the merits. In the trademark area, the lawyers at CASTAYBERT PLLC have prosecuted and defended against infringement claims under the Lanham Act, under trademark related common law claims of unfair competition and dilution, as well as independent claims brought under consumer protection statutes prohibiting deceptive trade practices and false advertising and defenses to such claims. The practice at CASTAYBERT PLLC also includes challenges before the NAD and NARB; pre-litigation counseling, labeling approvals and advertising-related inquiries by Federal Regulatory Agencies, including the FTC, EPA and FDA.

TRADE SECRETS

The lawyers at CASTAYBERT PLLC have in depth experience advising, prosecuting, and defending against claims of breach of confidentiality and trade secret misappropriation in state and federal courts and in the International Trade Court, both in the context of employee and competitor misappropriation and in import and export cases. The firm’s attorneys also have considerable experience invoking the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The litigators at CASTAYBERT PLLC have been successful in obtaining the injunctive relief, court ordered inspections and seizure and return of misappropriated business and scientific information, and they have successfully negotiated agreements to limit the scope of the activities of former employees.

LICENSING, DISTRIBUTION, AND MARKETING AGREEMENTS

The firm’s lawyers have significant experience advising clients about licensing, distribution, and royalty contracts, assignment of ownership rights, litigating and arbitrating the scope and meaning of different clauses in such licenses, including “best efforts” and satisfaction and approval clauses, for clients in a variety of different industries, including the pharmaceutical, fashion, toy, and computer industries.

EXPERIENCE WITH IP EXPERTS

The litigators at CASTAYBERT PLLC also have considerable knowledge and experience working with a variety of experts used in intellectual property litigation. These include chemists, engineers, physicists, and architects. They also include industry, marketing and other business experts to opine about industry custom and practice, licensing practices, marketing and consumer surveys. The litigators at CASTAYBERT PLLC also work closely with accounting and financial experts to calculate lost profits, royalties, and other damages. In the investigation and discovery phase of litigation, the firm’s litigators are experienced working with experts in e-mail and metadata collection and recovery experts, and, where appropriate, private investigators.

To learn more about how CASTAYBERT PLLC can assist you in intellectual property matters, please explore the related practice areas or contact us.

CASTAYBERT PLLC has extensive experience with non-competes and trade secret protection.

ADVISORY AND EMPLOYMENT

The firm advises companies concerning the best practices to follow to establish, maintain, and enforce trade secret protection. The firm drafts and negotiates and counsels its clients concerning the use of employment agreements, employee handbooks, the use of invention assignment agreements, and non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements. In the employment context, the firm drafts and reviews employment agreements and related confidentiality, non-compete, non-solicit, and other restrictive covenants.

LITIGATION AND ARBITRATION

CASTAYBERT PLLC regularly litigates on behalf of both corporations and executives regarding: the enforceability of restrictive covenants during employment; the fiduciary duties of directors, officers and high-level corporate employees; and the protection of company trade secrets and other confidential, proprietary information. Such matters may require emergency applications for injunctive relief to prevent misappropriation of proprietary information. CASTAYBERT PLLC is experienced in seeking injunctive relief to prevent misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair competition, and in defending officers, directors, and former employees against such claims.

EXPERIENCE

The firm’s founder, André Castaybert, was a longtime member of the Proskauer Non-Compete and Trade Secret Group, has litigated extensively in the area of non-competes and trade secrets for companies of all sizes, including on behalf of, and against, Fortune 500 companies in several different U.S. jurisdictions and in arbitration. He was also the principal drafter of “Employee Non-Competition Obligations during Employment and after Departure” in New York Employment Law, Bender’s New York Practice Series (1992) and he is a member of the New York State Bar Association Committees on Intellectual Property (Co-chair of the Trade Secrets Subcommittee) and Labor and Employment.

To learn more about how CASTAYBERT PLLC can assist you with non-competes and other restrictive covenants, please contact us.

CASTAYBERT PLLC is experienced in real estate litigation. Its lawyers have represented landowners, property managers, developers, corporate tenants and lenders, condominiums and cooperatives. CASTAYBERT PLLC has experience in real estate litigation involving leases, brokerage fee disputes, signage disputes, commercial evictions, foreclosures, insurance coverage, partnership disputes, financing issues, construction litigation, and premises liability defense. CASTAYBERT PLLC represents commercial landlords and tenants in connection with lease and contract enforcement, summary holdover and nonpayment proceedings, and Yellowstone injunctions. The lawyers at CASTAYBERT PLLC also have considerable experience dealing with issues that face cooperatives or condominiums, including issues raised by condominium offering plans and in disputes with shareholders or unit owners.