Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

Todd Anten is Co-Chair of the firm’s Trademark, Copyright, and Trade Secret practices. His practice focuses on high-stakes complex commercial litigation and intellectual property disputes, including copyright infringement, trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, false advertising, cybersquatting, “hot news” misappropriation, defamation, and rights of publicity, as well as general contract, antitrust, and Alien Tort Statute disputes.

Todd has tried and argued cases in state and federal courts, as well as before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. He recently secured a complete victory for Vimeo in actions brought by music labels—which asserted hundreds of claims of copyright infringement based on the presence of music in user-generated videos—on safe-harbor grounds under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He also represented the Boy Scouts of America in a trademark dispute with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America over the use of the term “scout,” securing a complete victory for the Boy Scouts on summary judgment. He has represented major brands in connection with copyright and trademark litigation across the country, including Gucci, Marriot, OpenAI, Wise Payments, Charter Communications, and U.S. Soccer Foundation.

As a member of the firm’s Appellate Group, Todd represented Frederick Allen and Nautilus Productions in the U.S. Supreme Court in Allen v. Cooper, arguing that Congress’s passage of an act allowing copyright holders to sue States for infringement does not violate the Eleventh Amendment. Todd helped achieve a 9-0 victory before the U.S. Supreme Court in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 569 U.S. 108 (2013), which restricted the extraterritorial scope of the Alien Tort Statute. He has also represented multiple clients before the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals on a variety of other matters, including First Amendment, copyright and trademark issues.

Todd is active in the firm’s pro bono practice. He represented over 200 major companies on a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief filed in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 590 U.S. 644 (2020), arguing that sexual-orientation and gender-identity workplace discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. He also represented professors of constitutional law the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 29 other organizations on a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief filed in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, 593 U.S. 522 (2021), arguing that the application of anti-discrimination provisions in public government contracts with private entities does not violate the First Amendment. He previously represented a client in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging a discriminatory federal statute that imposes different, sex-discriminatory restrictions on the children of unmarried fathers than it does on the children of unmarried mothers, which resulted in a decision finding that the statute violated the 14th Amendment, Sessions v. Morales-Santana, 582 U.S. 47 (2017). He also represented a transgender client in New Jersey federal court, challenging the denial of health-related services based on sex and gender-identity discrimination.

Todd has provided testimony before the U.S. Copyright Office, and is a frequent public speaker on copyright, trademark, and Title VII matters. Todd has been named by The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Copyright Law in 2023-2025, and named a “recommended lawyer” by Legal 500 in the fields of copyright, trademark and trade secret litigation in 2023-2025. In 2025 Todd was recognized by the World Trademark Review 1000 as a Recommended Individual who is part of a “formidable team known for securing highly contentious wins for their clients.”