Experience

Intellectual Property Litigation

• Iowa Paint Mfg. vs. Hirshfield Paint Mfg., Inc., No. 03-CV-40451 (S.D. Iowa 2003). Trial court denied adverse party's motion for preliminary injunction, allowing fMaslon client to continue operations in the state of Iowa without the need to change the allegedly infringing trademark.
  
  
• Bonzel v. Pfizer Inc, No. C9-03-47, 2002 WL 21743768 (Minn. Ct. App. 2003) Represented Pfizer Inc in a license dispute in which the licensor sought a share of proceeds from the sale of a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc which held the licensed asset. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of the claim, and the Minnesota Supreme Court denied plaintiff's petition for review.
  
  
• Graham Webb Internffational v. Helene Curtiss, Inc., 17 F.Supp.2d 919 (D. Minn. 1998). Represented Graham Webb International, which successfully sought to launch a new hair care product after defendant attempted to enjoin the marketing effort on grounds of trademark infringement.
  
  
• Schneider (Europe) AG and Schneider (USA), Inc. v. Scimed Life Systems Inc., 852 F.Supp. 813 (D. Minn. 1994). Represented plaintiffs in a significant patent infringement action relating to a balloon dilatation catheter commonly used in angioplasty procedures. The Federal District Court found that the patent was valid and infringed, and that injunctive relief was warranted.
  
  
• Hubbard Feeds, Inc. v. Animal Feed Supplement, Inc., 182 F.3d 598 (8th Cir. 1999). Represented Hubbard Manufacturing, a manufacturer of animal feed products, against a competitor for violating its trade dress registered with the Patent and Trademark Office.
  
  
• Represented Medtronic in several actions involving trade secret and noncompetition issues:

  Hilliard v. Medtronic, Inc., 910 F. Supp. 173 (M.D.Pa., 1995)
  Kallok v. Medtronic, Inc., 1997 Minn. App. LEXIS 81 (Minn. Ct. App., January 21, 1997)
  Kallok v. Medtronic, Inc., 573 N.W. 2d 356 (Minn., 1998)
  Medtronic, Inc. v. Sun, 1997 Minn. App. LEXIS 1286 (Minn. Ct. App., November 13, 1997)
  Medtronic, Inc. v. Shope, 135 F. Supp. 2d 988 (D. Minn. 2001)
  Bennett v. Medtronic, Inc., 285 F. 3d 801 (9^th Cir. 2002)

• Handled a major trade secret appeal involving Seagate Corporation and IBM. The decision in the case is a leading precedent in the Eighth Circuit. IBM Corp v. Seagate Technology, 941 F. Supp. 98 (D. Minn. 1992)
  
  
• Represented Nortstan, Inc. in the Patent and Trademark Office with respect to Norstan's use of and trademark application for the OPTIMA card and other related OPTIMA marks.
  
  
• Represented the University of Minnesota in an action involving a dispute concerning title and control of an art collection.
  
  
• Represented Café Odyssey, Inc. in a trademark dispute with Discovery Communications (Discovery Channel) over our client's use of the name Hotel Discovery in its Cincinnati, Ohio, location.
  
  
• Represented Liberty Check Printers in a trademark dispute with Mutual of Omaha regarding the "Wild Kingdom" trademark and our client's use of that term for one of its series of checks.
  
  
• Represented the Minneapolis Institute of Arts against the Art Institute of Minnesota for infringing on its trade name and causing undue confusion in the market.
  
  
• Represented Grand Casinos, which was sued by Market Barbeque, in a trademark infringement matter relating to Grand Casinos' use of the term "Marketplace" in its restaurants, alleging that it violated Market Barbeque's trademark, "Market."
  
  
• Represented publisher Wilson Learning in a copyright infringement matter brought against it by authors of a book, who claimed that parts of their book were usurped by Wilson Learning and used in Wilson Learning's training materials.
  
  
• Represented a retailer against Louis Vuitton with respect to the sale of purported knock-off items.
  
  
• Represented IncNET against Internet 2000 regarding the copying of our client's homepage.
  
  
• Represented Brown & Bigelow, a manufacturer of business calendars, against a competitor for trademark and trade dress infringement.
  
  
• Represented Famous Dave's, formerly known as Diamond Dave's, in a trademark infringement matter brought against it by a restaurant chain with a similar name.
  
  
• Represented Famous Dave's in a copyright dispute relating to the use of various art and design work in the client's restaurants.
  
  
• Represented Quality Video, a producer of children's home videos, in disputes with other video producers relating to infringement of their respective intellectual property.
  
  
• Represented NordicTrack, a manufacturer of exercise equipment, in an insurance coverage dispute in which the underlying action involved allegations of false advertising and other unfair competition issues.
  
  
• Represented SIMS Deltec in actions involving patent infringement, trade secret, and trade disparagement issues regarding medical pump communication process.
  
  
• Represented Respiratory Support Products in action by Augustine Medical alleging infringement of patent for patient warming blankets.
  
  
• Represented Triple Crown Nutrition, a registered trademark holder in Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, successfully obtaining a preliminary injunction and favorable result.
  
  
• Represented K-Mart against Target in a Section 43(a) Lanham Act false advertising case.
  
  
• Represented Professional Partners, Ltd. in a patent infringement case over the alleged infringement of a "method" patent for an acoustic enclosure for audio equipment.
  
  
• Represented Osmonics, Inc., in a patent infringement case and patent licensing dispute regarding a unique cell growth system.
  
  
• Represented G&K Services, Inc. against SanMar Corporation in a trademark infringement matter relating to G&K's registered trademark "TEAM WEAR."