- 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 that resulted in awards of permanent injunctive relief, substantial damages and recovery of attorneys’ fees.
- Defended a national beauty retailer in a three-week jury trial involving claims of trademark infringement related to the trade dress and trademark of a private label beauty product.
- Secured summary judgment for a national 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 lead counsel for a unit of a major international pharmaceutical company in defense of claims of false advertising asserted by its largest competitor. Successfully defeated four motions for preliminary injunction after an extensive evidentiary hearing. The case settled favorably to our client after a successful motion for protective order that significantly limited the scope of the plaintiff’s discovery efforts.
- Served as trial counsel in federal court in Connecticut in the trial of novel trademark ownership and first use issues involving the mark for a successful self-storage chain.
- Secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary injunction on behalf of one of the world’s largest hospitality companies against a former franchisee who refused to de-identify following the expiration of his franchise agreement.
- Successfully defended a major tire manufacturer in defense of false advertising claims asserted by its most significant competitor before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus related to claims of comparative product superiority in national broadcast advertisements.
- Successfully 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.
- Successfully prosecuted a motion for a TRO against a candidate for U.S. Senate who was using a character in his broadcast advertising that closely resembled a character used by a major international insurance company in its own advertising.
- Successfully defended a major 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.
- 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 news 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.
- Succeeded in keeping on air a highly successful comparative broadcast advertisement for a national mattress manufacturer despite network and NAD challenges from its leading competitor.
- Successfully prosecuted more than 150 cases under ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).
- Serves as outside trademark enforcement counsel to numerous Fortune 500 companies, successfully resolving more than a thousand contested matters without the need for litigation.
Partner,
- Phone: 404.881.7952
- Email: david.stewart@alston.com
As the head of the firm's trademark and copyright practice, David leads by example when acting in the client's best interest. Doing so has enabled him to serve as counsel for numerous Fortune 100 companies in a variety of high-profile matters.