Laura L. Chapman

Laura Chapman is a partner in the Los Angeles office and served as co-chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group from 2014 to 2023.

Areas of Practice

Laura develops, protects and defends clients’ trademarks and copyrights. 

Drawing on her experience as a seasoned litigator, Laura advises clients on the legal aspects of brand selection, obtains trademark registrations, manages worldwide trademark portfolios, handles disputes at the USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, coordinates with international counsel on disputes world-wide, and manages pre-litigation disputes over trademark and copyright use and infringement. 

Laura has significant experience bringing and defending lawsuits for trademark infringement, trade dress infringement, false advertising, copyright infringement and design patent infringement in federal courts across the United States, through trial and appeal.

Experience

Trademark

• Won a case after trial at the TTAB, allowing an artist’s trademark registration to be issued. Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. v. Nitashia Johnson, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Opposition No. 91267229 
• After being obtained as new counsel mid-way through a case, successfully vacated a preliminary injunction order prohibiting a client from using its own trademark and a summary judgment order that required the client to pay damages to its competitor; then successfully obtained summary judgment in favor of the client, prohibiting the client’s competitor from using the trademarks. La Michoacana Natural, LLC v. Luis Maestre, et al., United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Case No. 3:17-cv-00727-RJC-DCK
• Won a significant trade dress case at the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) for a large, national retailer. In that case, Converse, Inc. sought unsuccessfully to monopolize the canvas, cap-toe sneaker market and prohibit all imports of a classic style of footwear. Defeated the claims after a one-week trial at the ITC. In the Matter of: Certain Footwear Products, investigation number 337-TA-936.
• Won a trademark case for a California-based, Mexican-style ice cream company after a three week trial, securing an injunction against the defendant-infringers that prohibits them from using works and logos that have been used in Mexico since the 1940s, paving the way for our client to expand its business in the U.S. Paleteria La Michoacana. Inc. v. Productos Lacteos Tocumbo S.A de C.V, S. District Court for the District of Columbia Case No. 1:11-cv-01623-RC.
• Successful defense of an international retailer and twelve suppliers in a case alleging trademark infringement in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that settled on favorable terms several days before trial.
• Successfully made an emergency motion to stay a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California one day after the court granted the injunction pending appeal the day after the submission of the emergency motion, permitting sales of the subject product to continue the week before Christmas. The case settled two weeks later on favorable terms.

False Advertising

• Obtained summary judgment on a false advertising case involving significant sales, permitting the client to continue selling a large line of popular, profitable products.

Copyright

• Successfully obtained summary judgment in favor of our client on issues of copyright validity and infringement. ACT, Inc. v. Worldwide Interactive Network, Inc., et al., United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Case No. 3:18-cv-00186-TRM-HBG
• Successfully obtained a preliminary injunction prohibiting the client’s competitor from selling its infringing, competing product. ACT, Inc. v. Worldwide Interactive Network, Inc., et al., United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Case No. 3:18-cv-00186-TRM-HBG

Honors

Leading Lawyer, Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets – California, Chambers USA, 2022-2024

Leading Trademark Practitioner - Trademark Enforcement and Litigation, California, WTR 1000, 2022-2024

Intellectual Property, Trademark Litigation, Legal 500, 2017-2019

Top Intellectual Property Lawyer, Daily Journal, 2017-2018

Articles

•  "Copyrights on the Gray Market," Law360, August 2, 2012

Art Law Blog Posts

• "NFTs and Intellectual Property: What IP Owners and NFT Creators Need to Know," March 25, 2021

Intellectual Property Law Blog Posts

• "Ninth Circuit Retires Fee-Award Standard, Imports Octane Fitness to Trademark Cases," November 3, 2016

• "B&B Hardware v. Hargis – U.S. Supreme Court Declares TTAB Findings Can Have Preclusive Effect on Subsequent Federal Court Decisions," March 30, 2015

Media Mentions

Events

Memberships

Member, State Bar of California