Erik C. Kane

With 20 years of intellectual property experience, Erik advises clients on litigation, licensing, and counseling in trademark, trade dress, copyright, patent, and trade secret matters. World Trademark Review 1000 has noted he is “most at home in the courtroom” (2024) and his litigation experience includes a full range of pre-suit diligence, discovery, depositions, motions practice, oral argument, trial, and appellate work before federal courts, state courts, the US International Trade Commission (ITC), Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and the US Supreme Court. He has served as first or second chair in a number of matters.

• Obtained dismissal of declaratory judgment action against the US Olympic Committee regarding trademarks, social media, and First Amendment issues. HSK LLC v. The United States Olympic Committee (D. Minn.)
• Represented travel website Pintrips in a trademark infringement suit filed by social media and tech giant Pinterest. After a bench trial, the court found the terms “pin,” “pinning,” and a “pin” button were fair use for Pintrips, and not exclusive to Pinterest.
• Represented Home Shopping Network, Daystar Productions, and musician and on-air personality Stephen Paul (aka Esteban) in litigation in which a jury found they did not willfully infringe the FISHMAN mark in a $25 million trademark suit brought by Fishman Transducers in the District of Massachusetts. Convinced the First Circuit to uphold the lower court’s decision. Fishman Transducers, Inc. v. Stephan Paul, et al.
• Represented Maker’s Mark in a high-stakes battle for the red dripping wax seal atop its bottles, in which the Sixth Circuit ruled that Maker’s Mark holds an “extremely strong” and enforceable trademark in the seal. The court affirmed an injunction prohibiting defendant Cuervo and its distributor from using a similar dripping red wax seal on its tequila products. Maker’s Mark Distillery v. Diageo, et al.
• Negotiated NFT license for major children’s book and cartoon character.
• Counseled client on and developed legal framework for professional sports related NFT offering.
• Created NFT legal framework and offering for major charitable organization.
• Represented CVS in a copyright infringement litigation in the Northern District of Alabama. Rob Fleming, a professional photographer, alleged CVS willfully infringed his copyrights by allowing customers to duplicate his work. The court granted our motion for summary judgment and dismissed the case with prejudice. Rob Fleming v. Alabama CVS Pharmacy, L.L.C.
• Represented Datassurant in a trademark infringement litigation in the Northern District of Georgia and TTAB for which we negotiated a favorable settlement. Assurant, Inc. v. Datassurant, Inc.
• Represented defendant Constellation Brands and its subsidiary, Spirits Marque One (Svedka vodka), in a copyright infringement and breach of contract case in the Central District of California. This case involved copyright claims pertaining to a photograph taken by a well-known Hollywood photographer. The court denied plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction. Secured dismissal of the motion, which allowed the client to proceed with a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign. Charles White v. Constellation Brands, Inc., et al.

• Recommended for Trademarks: Litigation (2023-2024), Legal 500 United States
• Recognized as a Leading Trademark Professional in Enforcement & Litigation in Washington, DC (2023-2024), World Trademark Review 1000
• Recognized as a Rising Star in the IP Stars Handbook (2020-2024), Managing Intellectual Property
• Recognized as a Commission Pro Bono Service Honor Roll Member (2023), Virginia Access to Justice Commission, published in Virginia Lawyer magazine
• Recognized as Rising Star for Intellectual Property (2014-2019), Washington, DC Super Lawyers