An Embarrassment of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Out Riches
Runners-up this week include litigators at Baker & Hostetler; Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Selendy Gay Elsberg and Kirkland & Ellis.
February 10, 2023 at 07:25 AM
7 minute read
First up, Oren Warshavsky, Gerald Ferguson and their team at Baker & Hostetler get runners-up honors for securing a major trademark trial victory for luxury retailer Hermès International in an early test of how intellectual property laws apply to non-fungible tokens. After three days of deliberations, a federal jury in Manhattan this week found artist Mason Rothschild liable for trademark infringement, trademark dilution and cybersquatting for producing MetaBirkins NFTs featuring images of eccentrically decorated versions of Hermès' high-end Birkin handbags. The jury hit Rothschild with $110,000 for profit and resale commissions and $23,000 in statutory damages for cybersquatting. The Baker & Hostetler team also included Jason Oliver, Deborah Wilcox, Heather McDonald, Terry Blaber, Ramon Cabrera, Mario Calabretta, Megan Corrigan, Jessica Fernandez, Lisa Gehman, Francesca Rogo, Len Rowe, Tori Stork and Kevin Wallace.
Our next runners-up are the antitrust litigators at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick and Weil, Gotshal & Manges who scored a knockout win for Meta Platforms Inc. in the Federal Trade Commission's bid to block Meta's acquisition of Within Unlimited Inc., the developer behind the hit virtual reality fitness app Supernatural. After a seven-day evidentiary hearing, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California last week found that the FTC Meta couldn't show that Meta would have entered the market for VR-dedicated fitness apps in competition with Within sans the merger. "First and foremost, although Meta has an abundance of VR personnel on hand, it lacks the capability to create fitness and workout content, a necessity for any fitness product or market," the judge wrote. The Weil team advising Meta is led by Michael Moiseyev and Chantale Fiebig, and includes Bambo Obaro, Liz Ryan, Megan Granger and Eric Hochstadt. The Kellogg Hansen team included Mark Hansen, Aaron Panner, Geoffrey Klineberg and Evan Leo.
A team led by Philippe Selendy of Selendy Gay Elsberg and Judson Brown of Kirkland & Ellis takes home a runner-up spot this week for securing a high nine-digit judgment for client Cerberus Capital Management in a long-running dispute with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. After a 13-day virtual bench trial last spring, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joel Cohen in January embraced Cerberus' reading complex deals dating back to October 2008 aimed at reducing CIBC's exposure to risk in the U.S. residential housing market. Cohen this week entered judgment for Cerberus to the tune of $855,957,709.01. The Kirkland team on the matter also included partner T.J. McCarrick, and associates Kristen Bokhan and Saunders McElroy. The Selendy Gay team also included partners Sean Baldwin and Oscar Shine, and associates Michael Duke and Will Rathgeber.
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Law Firms Mentioned
- Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co
- Arnold & Porter
- Baker & Hostetler LLP
- Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
- Jackson Lewis P.C.
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP
- O'Melveny & Myers
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Warton & Garrison
- Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
- Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
- Shearman & Sterling LLP
- Sidley Austin
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor
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Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
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Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
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Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
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Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
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