Jessica Bromall Sparkman Image

Jessica Bromall Sparkman

Partner

Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell, LLP

Jessica Bromall Sparkman ia a partner with Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell, LLP. She represents clients in a variety of industries in all facets of trademark, copyright, and trade secret law, including selection and acquisition, protection, federal trademark application and registration, opinions, portfolio management, enforcement, co-existence and settlement agreements, domain names, and litigation. She has experience managing portfolios of more than two thousand trademark registrations, has applied for or maintained trademark registrations in more than 150 countries, and has managed a global trademark monitoring and enforcement program involving hundreds of proceedings and negotiations in more than 50 countries.

Jessica counsels clients about agreements to acquire, sell, and protect intellectual property, including assignments, acquisitions, licenses, and non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, and has performed due diligence for clients in numerous large transactions. She also litigates trademark, unfair competition, copyright, patent, trade secret, and privacy rights cases in state and federal court, and has extensive experience practicing before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the USPTO.

Jessica has experience working in a variety of industries, including alcoholic beverages, apparel, footwear, cigars, toys, sports and fishing equipment, restaurants, jewelry, packaging, retail, entertainment, and international educational organizations.

Recent Articles by Jessica Bromall Sparkman

Is It Time to Ditch the Requirement that Counterfeits be ‘Stitch-for-Stitch’ Copies?

The Lanham Act provides for special remedies in cases of trademark infringement “involving” the use of a “counterfeit” mark. 15 U.S.C. § 1117(b), (c); 15 U.S.C. § 1127. Absent “extenuating circumstances,” if the use of a counterfeit mark is intentional and knowing, the Act requires entry of judgment of three times the amount of actual damages or profits found, as well as an award of attorney’s fees. 15 U.S.C. § 1117(b). Alternatively, in any case of infringement “involving” a counterfeit mark, the Act provides for awards of statutory damages of up to $200,000; it provides for statutory damages of up to $2,000,000 if the use of the counterfeit mark was willful. 15 U.S.C. § 1117(c)…. In our view, a straightforward interpretation of the Act allows access to the special remedies in cases that involve knock-off products, as well as cases where an identical logo or word mark is used on the same type of product that is in the plaintiff’s trademark registration, even if the defendant’s products and/or their packaging do not resemble the plaintiff’s products.