David Stewart is head of the firm’s Trademark & Copyright Group. He concentrates his practice on trademark, copyright, trade secret and advertising litigation and counseling.
Mr. Stewart is featured in the International Edition of Who’s Who Trademarks and Super Lawyers magazine. He is also listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and The Best Lawyers in America.
David received an A.B. degree in English literature from Wabash College in 1985, graduating summa cum laude. He received his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1990, where he served as associate managing editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. Prior to law school, Mr. Stewart worked as a computer systems engineer for the Allison Gas Turbine division of General Motors Corporation in Indianapolis.
- Successfully represented a large health care facility in a three week jury trial of a trademark, copyright and Digital Millennium Copyright Act case in federal court in Tampa resulting in permanent injunctive relief, six-figure damages and recovery of $550,000 in attorneys’ fees.
- Successfully defended a film production company in a copyright and trademark lawsuit involving the motion picture Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in which the Eleventh Circuit became the first federal circuit court to rule that an artist cannot acquire trademark rights in an artistic style.
- Secured summary judgment for a large restaurant chain in a trademark infringement lawsuit in federal court in Portland, Oregon, in which the plaintiff sought a nationwide injunction against use of the company's mark.
- Served as trial counsel for the trial of novel trademark infringement claims in a case involving a self-storage chain. The case is currently on appeal to the Second Circuit.
- Represented a major national automotive parts retailer in the defense of copyright infringement claims filed in federal court in Las Vegas related to Linux, an open source operating system.
- Served as lead trial counsel for a worldwide sports apparel company in a cyberpiracy case filed in South Carolina that was the first case cited by the U.S. Senate as support for its passage of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).
- Represented a cable network in connection with several precedent-setting domain name cases in the Eastern District of Virginia, including a case in which the court ruled that jurisdiction is proper in the district over a domain name registered in China by a Chinese citizen on the grounds that the registry for the domain name is located in the forum.
- Represented a hotel and casino operator in a case affirmed by the Ninth Circuit that was the first case in which a federal appellate court affirmed service of process by email.
- Represented numerous Fortune 100 companies in connection with search engine keyword hacking, spam email, denial of service, phishing and other Internet-related cases.
- Represented a major international hotel chain in litigation challenging the legality of Internet pop-up and pop-under advertising campaigns served by The Gator Corporation.
- Represented the advertising agency responsible for the creation of the famous Simmons “bowling ball” broadcast advertising campaign, and assisted it and Simmons in keeping the advertisements on air despite challenges from a leading competitor.
- In addition to federal and state court litigation, successfully prosecuted more than 100 cases under ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).
-
One hundred and forty-seven Alston & Bird attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. The publication is universally regarded as among the few definitive guides to legal excellence, and its rankings are based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 36,000 leading attorneys cast almost 4.4 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas.
September 18, 2012
In the Press
-
June 7, 2012
In the Press
-
September 12, 2011
In the Press
-
July 5, 2011
In the Press
-
October 19, 2010
In the Press
-
August 30, 2010
In the Press
-
June 11, 2010
In the Press
-
This advisory discusses new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidance for advertising online. Entitled “.com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising,” the new guidance comes in response to consumers’ growing use of mobile devices and social media applications, and advertisers’ efforts to reach consumers via these new devices and media. The FTC’s guidance emphasizes that the same consumer protection laws that apply to traditional advertising also apply to online advertising. The FTC issued the guidance, however, to address some of the unique advertising issues that arise in advertising on mobile devices and in social media.
March 26, 2013
Advisories
-
"Trademark Dilution Revison Act of 2006 Broadens Reach of U.S. Law Which Has Been Narrowed by Supreme Court," Global Intellectual Property Asset Management Report, November 2006.
November 2006
Past Events
-
March 27, 2013
Seminar
-
January 6-10, 2009
Seminar
- International Trademark Association (INTA)
- Georgia Bar Intellectual Property Section