Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP advises clients on trademark portfolio management, licensing, and brand protection strategies across domestic and international markets. The firm assists with trademark searches, prosecution, enforcement, and related intellectual property transactions, and also advises on matters involving false and misleading advertising claims before bodies such as the Better Business Bureau National Advertising Division and the Federal Trade Commission. Based in California Charlene Azema, co-chair of the trademark and brand protection group, advises clients on domestic and international trademark and copyright portfolio management, including searches, prosecution, licensing, enforcement, and intellectual property due diligence. Gregory Phillips, also co-chair of the group from California, represents clients in opposition and cancellation proceedings before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and advises on copyright registration, enforcement, licensing, and intellectual property due diligence in transactions.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Accolades

Client satisfaction: Lawyer & team quality

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Strong team with excellent IP experience.’

  • ‘Greg Phillips and Charlene Azema are all excellent.’

  • ‘As Deputy General Counsel at a publicly traded company, I’m very happy with our decision to switch to Knobbe Martens for our trademark work over 3 years ago. We already had good experience with Knobbe’s efficient and cost-conscious approach on the patent prosecution side, and consolidating trademark and patent matters at one firm has given us even further tangible efficiencies. ’

  • ‘We receive much more personalized and thoughtful counsel from our lead partner, Rosaleen Chou, compared with the experience with our prior AmLaw firm partner. Knobbe is much clearer, business-practical, and aligned to our risk tolerances.'

  • 'For a lean in house team, Knobbe translates complex landscapes into portfolio level strategy we can quickly make decisions on, with executive ready updates and trackers.'

Key clients

  • First American
  • SoftBank Group Corp.
  • National Resilience
  • AECOM
  • Veracyte
  • Mana Up Hawaii
  • Golden State Foods
  • Paragonix
  • Home Instead Inc. / Honor Inc.
  • Passy-Muir

Work highlights

Advised First American on strategic trademark and copyright filings, due diligence, devising enforcement strategies and programs, new oppositions and cancellations, and licensing agreements, among many other areas.
Assisted in the initial trademark clearance and in filing applications to register the STARGATE trademark for SoftBank Group Corp.
Serves as lead outside IP counsel for AECOM’s global brand protection, representing the company in all aspects of its global branding and domain name strategy including clearance, protection, enforcement, and licensing of its global portfolio of hundreds of trademarks for its AECOM house mark.
Practice head

Charlene Azema; Gregory Phillips

Other key lawyers

Rosaleen Chou; Catherine Holland; Steven Nataupsky; Jonathan Hyman