As the Senior Vice President, Assistant General Counsel of Intellectual Property, Ms. Dienes-Middlen is the Head of the Intellectual Property Group of the Business & Legal Affairs Department of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (“WWE”), a multibillion dollar, international, integrated media and entertainment company, where she has worked for the past 17 years.

At WWE, Ms. Dienes-Middlen is responsible for counseling the business groups regarding the best branding strategy for enhancing and developing strong trademark rights worldwide, including proper selection and use of marks.  She is responsible for all trademark availability analyses as well as the prosecution of trademark applications and registrations in the United States and in more than 80 countries, including managing all trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings worldwide. 

In addition, Ms. Dienes-Middlen is responsible for negotiating and drafting the company’s worldwide Consumer Products license agreements, settlement and co-existence agreements, product placement contracts, location agreements, photographer agreements, model releases and non-disclosure agreements.

 Ms. Dienes-Middlen also manages WWE’s Anti-Piracy Program, overseeing the enforcement of WWE’s rights with respect to online video piracy, counterfeit physical goods, domain name arbitrations, seizures, and litigation worldwide.  In addition to assisting with litigation, she has valuable experience in achieving amicable resolutions of trademark disputes through negotiating coexistence arrangements and settlement agreements.  Ms. Dienes-Middlen is responsible for reviewing and approving all of WWE’s licensed product, venue merchandise, advertisements, books, magazines, home video, pay-per-view key art, photographs, and press releases.  Lastly, she is responsible for procuring and maintaining the company’s domain name portfolio of approximately 2,000 URLs worldwide.

Cathy has been in house counsel at Mastercard since 2006.  She is currently Assistant General Counsel for the US Region, the company’s largest region responsible for 40% of the revenue.  Her responsibilities include end to end support for all legal issues within the US Region, including providing timely, concise and business-focused legal advice on various areas of the law, negotiating various agreements and engagements with financial institutions, merchants, non-traditional and digital partners as well as regulatory and policy issues.  She is a co-lead of the Law and Franchise Integrity Department’s Community Service Volunteer efforts, personally logging over 300 hours in 2017.

 Prior to MasterCard, Cathy was Chief IP Counsel and Senior Associate General Counsel for Instinet Incorporated, an electronic broker dealer in New York which is now a part of Nomura Securities.  Cathy was responsible for all intellectual property, transaction, technology and contractual matters for Instinet as well as responsible for providing legal input on intellectual property and technology strategies across the company.  Prior to moving in house, Cathy began her career as an associate in the Advertising and Marketing group at Hall Dickler Kent Friedman and Wood in New York.

 Cathy is a graduate from Franklin Pierce Law Center (now known as the University of New Hampshire School of Law) where she earned both her Juris Doctorate and LL.M in Intellectual Property.  She received her B.A. in Administration of Criminal Justice in 1991 from the Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania.

 Outside of work, Cathy has been heavily involved with the International Trademark Association since 1995, serving on the Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition Committee, moving up to lead that committee and recently finished a 3 year term on INTA’s Board of Directors. 

Scott Lebson is a Partner in the New York Office of Ladas & Parry LLP. His practice focuses on the clearance, prosecution, registration and enforcement of trademark and domain name rights and also commercial transactions relating to the worldwide acquisition, sale, licensing and securitization of intellectual property rights generally. 

Scott has acted as lead counsel for numerous intellectual property transactions, including trademark, patent, domain and software licenses and major acquisitions and divestitures of IP. Scott has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating new media agreements, including content and data licenses; maintenance/service agreements; outsourcing agreements; software as a service agreements (SaaS); master services and procurement agreements; online privacy policies and terms and conditions and various other web-based agreements.  Scott's practice has expanded to include counseling clients with respect to online advertising and compliance with FTC guidelines surrounding use of social media influencers and data privacy issues. 

Scott also helps lead Ladas & Parry's IP Recordals Group where he counsels multinational clients with respect to the worldwide recordal of assignment and other transfers of intellectual property rights. Mr. Lebson is an accomplished speaker and has lectured extensively on intellectual property matters and is considered one of the foremost authorities in the evolving area of international intellectual property securitization. Scott is the co-author and co-editor of a two-volume book series on intellectual property entitled “Intellectual Property Strategies for the 21st Century Corporation and “Intellectual Property Operations & Implementation in the 21st Century Corporation”.

Scott graduated from Villanova University and Hofstra University School of Law.  

Rebecca Roby is Assistant General Counsel for Hard Rock International based in Orlando, Florida. With a total of 211 venues in 74 countries, Hard Rock International is owner of one of the world's most globally recognized brands.  Since 2008, Ms. Roby has been responsible for oversight of intellectual property law, employment and labor law, franchise law, advertising law, data privacy law and general civil litigation matters for Hard Rock International including support of the individual Hard Rock Café units in their daily contractual needs.

 After graduating from Washington University Law School, Missouri Ms. Roby worked as a law clerk for a judge in a Virginia state court, an intellectual property associate at several national/international law firms in the Washington, DC area and as In-House Trademark Counsel for Red Bull GmbH in Salzburg, Austria.

Peter is a partner in Bird & Bird's Intellectual Property Practice and is based in the London office.

With over 20 years of expertise, Peter has built a market-leading practice in trade mark, copyright, and designs, and has worked on some of the highest profile disputes in this field as well as on non-contentious work, including global rebranding and worldwide IP protection strategies.  

Read more about Peter here. 

As lead trial counsel, David Mayberry has helped clients resolve intellectual property law claims at trial, in arbitration, through mediation and creative settlements outside the courtroom. He has complex litigation experience in trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, franchise and antitrust cases. Mr. Mayberry also counsels clients on trademark and trade dress enforcement and protection issues.

Read more about David here. 

Renowned for his cross-border work, Willem is seen as a leading tax lawyer.

Willem is a partner and heads our Dutch Tax Practice. He is based in The Hague, but also works from our Luxembourg office, and is admitted to the bar in both the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

A qualified tax lawyer, with more than 17 years of experience, Willem has built his practice around both international and domestic clients, with a particular focus on innovative companies. He specialises in international tax and advises, amongst others, European and American multinationals on cross-border transactions, corporate reorganisations, and mergers and acquisitions. He also advises clients on creating European investment and private equity funds, real estate investment funds, financing, licensing and holding structures. He is also a member of our Life Sciences Group.

Willem worked as an international tax lawyer in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and New York.

Willem is a frequent speaker on tax related topics at internal and external seminars and conferences. In addition, he frequently acts as the chairman of a variety of conferences and seminars.

Willem joined us in 2014. He holds Masters degrees in Notarial Civil Law from Leiden University and in Tax Law from the University of Amsterdam. Willem is a member of the Dutch Association of Tax Advisers (NOB), the International Fiscal Association, the Dutch Bar Association (NOvA), the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.

Keith Medansky concentrates his practice in the area of intellectual property, including a full range of transactional and litigation matters pertaining to trademarks, copyrights, software, anti-counterfeiting and technology.

Keith's practice is international in scope. He has handled trademark matters in the United States and in over 100 other countries. Keith has extensive experience managing large intellectual property portfolios for all kinds of businesses, from small start-up companies to large multinationals. He has particular experience in counseling clients in matters involving the protection of Website content and domain names and in developing cyberspace and copyright policies. Keith also has broad experience in assisting clients in addressing complex intellectual property issues relating to licensing, intellectual property holding companies and arising out of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and bankruptcy.

Keith handles litigation matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and various federal and state courts. He litigates on behalf of computer component companies in connection with counterfeiting matters and the protection and enforcement of copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights in software and other products. He also represents manufacturers, retailers, educational institutions, distributors, franchisors and other clients in prosecuting and defending infringement and unfair competition claims pertaining to copyrights, trademarks, domain names and trade secrets.

Mark Jansen’s practice focuses on domestic and international trademark and trade name counseling, and strategies for developing and managing domain name portfolios. He advises clients from start-ups to multinational corporations on brand strategy and the protection of brand assets, including, brand creation, selection, protection, expansion, and enforcement. Mark has extensive experience in the social media and Internet space, both advising platforms in trademark matters and helping brand owners navigate social media.

Mark is active in the International Trademark Association (INTA), the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) and the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Intellectual Property Law Section. In 2017, Super Lawyers honored him among the leading intellectual property lawyers in Northern California.

While in law school, Mark was honored with the ABA/BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property Law, the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence in Intellectual Property and a CALI Excellence for the Future Award. He was also Lead Production Editor for the Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal. Mark served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Terry J. Hatter Jr. of the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California and also worked as a law clerk for Oracle, Quantum, and eBay.

Read more about Mark here. 

Dennis a Partner of Ladas & Parry in the firm’s New York office.  

Mr. Prahl has been consistently recognized as one of the leading trademark practitioners in the world by the World Trademark Review and Euromoney/MIP.  He specializes in the areas of international trademark, copyright, domain name, right of publicity and unfair competition law and has represented and advised a wide range of clients in diverse fields, from multinational corporations to individuals.  

Mr. Prahl received his B.A. from Northwestern College and his J.D. from New York Law School.  In addition, he holds a diploma in Advanced International Legal Studies from the McGeorge School of Law.   Dennis also serves as president of Principium Strategies – Ladas & Parry’s ICANN-accredited domain name registrar and brand monitoring subsidiary.

Tiffany Schwartz is a member of Dentons' Intellectual Property and Technology group with a broad range of professional experience encompassing the strategic management and growth of trademark portfolios; copyright registration and enforcement; the licensing and monetization of intellectual property assets; software licensing; anti-counterfeiting; and IP dispute resolution. Tiffany also counsels clients on Internet and privacy issues; guides clients through domain name acquisitions and disputes; conducts IP due diligence in connection with potential mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; and negotiates and drafts agreements relating to licensing, privacy, website usage, and the settlement of intellectual property disputes.

Read more about TIffany here. 

Inga has 20 years of intellectual property experience.  She is currently a Legal Program Manager at Cisco Systems, managing the global trademark portfolio, the domain name portfolio, and the copyright filing program.

 Prior to joining Cisco, Inga was a Senior Patent Paralegal at Georgia-Pacific and a Senior IP Paralegal at Schlumberger.  She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Clark Atlanta University and Paralegal Certification from The National Center for Paralegal Training.  She is an active member of the International Trademark Association, and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Resources and Tools Subcommittee on the Trademark Administrators (TMA) Committee.

Nicola Benz's practice focuses on technology and IP transactions. She assists companies of all sizes, from start-ups to established players, as well as investors, suppliers and customers across a broad range of industries and sectors.

Ms Benz's expertise — gathered both as an external counsel and through in-house secondments — covers licensing, joint ventures and collaborations, outsourcing, assignments and associated IP issues. She advises on franchising, sponsorship and trademark exploitation, the sale and purchase of trademark portfolios, and the protection and defence of brand rights on the internet and elsewhere. She also has considerable experience advising on all types of commercial contract, competition and regulatory issues and data protection.

Ms Benz is recognised as a leading trademark, patent and technology licensing lawyer in professional publications and listings such as WTR1000 and Chambers Europe, which praises her "intelligence, responsiveness, pragmatism and ability to turn around very detailed comments quickly".

Born in Scotland, Ms Benz obtained her law degree from the University of Edinburgh (LLB Hons) in 1997. She joined Froriep as associate in 2002, became a partner in 2010, and managing partner in 2017.

Her working languages are English and German.

Ms Benz is a member of the Zurich and Swiss Bar Associations, the International Trademark Association, the Licensing Executives Society and the International Technology Law Association.

Read more about Nicola here.

Sara Blotner is a Director and Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property at Citigroup Inc. Since 1998, Sara has handled all aspects of IP for Citigroup and all of its subsidiaries on a global basis.  Her primary practice areas include worldwide trademark counseling, clearance, prosecution and conflicts, right of publicity, corporate transactions, licensing, internet and social media. 

Sara began her career with the trademark group of Fish & Neave and went in-house to NBA Properties Inc. in 1995. Sara graduated cum laude from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Sara has lectured on Intellectual Property issues for the International Trademark Association, Foley and Lardner, Holland and Knight, Kilpatrick Stockton, Lawyer’s Alliance, National Association of Women Lawyers, NYIPLA, Practicing Law Institute, Pro Bono Partnership and ALM.

Peter is Head of our highly regarded Intellectual Property, Technology and Privacy team. He advises clients on all aspects of privacy law in respect of compliance, registration, international transfers, policies and audits including the GDPR.

Peter is Head of our highly regarded Intellectual Property, Technology and Privacy team.

His substantial practice centres on assisting national and international clients in dealing with the Irish and EU aspects of IP protection, strategy, commercialisation and enforcement, domestic and cross-border commercial, IP, tech and tax-related agreements and re-organisations and all aspects of technology agreements from enterprise to SaaS licensing (with a focus on fintech).

Peter advises clients on all aspects of privacy law in respect of compliance, registration, international transfers, policies and audits including the GDPR.

Peter also specialises in media law for Irish and multinational clients.

Peter is an Irish solicitor and an Irish and European Trade Mark and Design Attorney.

Read more about Peter here. 

Larry has been a trademark and copyright attorney for over 25 years.  Since December 2015, he has been Chief Trademark Counsel at Teva Pharmaceuticals, in Horsham, PA.  There, he is responsible for managing Teva’s team of trademark professionals, who handle Teva’s portfolio of almost 35,000 trademarks in dozens of countries worldwide.

Prior to Teva, Larry’s in-house experience included almost 17 years at Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ.  While at J&J, he was the trademark attorney responsible for many of J&J’s well-known brands, including TYLENOL® , MOTRIN®, REACH® toothbrushes, and OneTouch® blood glucose monitors and test strips, as well as significant portions of J&J’s pharmaceutical trademark portfolio, including REMICADE® and STELARA®. He also worked on numerous character license agreements on behalf of the BAND-AID® brand, as well as J&J’s sponsorship of the Olympics and soccer’s World Cup.

Larry has also been an outside counsel, namely, as a Member of the Intellectual Property Group of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, in Philadelphia, PA.  While there, his practice focused on trademark, copyright, and unfair competition law, including trademark portfolio management; trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings; and unfair competition matters, including advertising issues, protection against counterfeit goods and marks, and misappropriation of trade dress.

Larry was an associate at Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, as well as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Nicola Benz's practice focuses on technology and IP transactions. She assists companies of all sizes, from start-ups to established players, as well as investors, suppliers and customers across a broad range of industries and sectors.

Ms Benz's expertise — gathered both as an external counsel and through in-house secondments — covers licensing, joint ventures and collaborations, outsourcing, assignments and associated IP issues. She advises on franchising, sponsorship and trademark exploitation, the sale and purchase of trademark portfolios, and the protection and defence of brand rights on the internet and elsewhere. She also has considerable experience advising on all types of commercial contract, competition and regulatory issues and data protection.

Ms Benz is recognised as a leading trademark, patent and technology licensing lawyer in professional publications and listings such as WTR1000 and Chambers Europe, which praises her "intelligence, responsiveness, pragmatism and ability to turn around very detailed comments quickly".

Born in Scotland, Ms Benz obtained her law degree from the University of Edinburgh (LLB Hons) in 1997. She joined Froriep as associate in 2002, became a partner in 2010, and managing partner in 2017.

Her working languages are English and German.

Ms Benz is a member of the Zurich and Swiss Bar Associations, the International Trademark Association, the Licensing Executives Society and the International Technology Law Association.

Read more about Nicola here.

Rachelle Dubow’s practice focuses on counseling, protection, and licensing of intellectual property rights, with an emphasis on trademark prosecution and global brand management. Rachelle assists domestic and multinational companies in the selection, clearance, registration, and enforcement of trademarks, the licensing of trademark rights, and the related manufacturing and distribution of licensed products and services. She also handles franchise-related matters, including counseling on the acquisition of franchise systems, and negotiating franchisee agreements and area development agreements for both franchisors and franchisees. In addition, Rachelle assists with general IP diligence, including franchise-related issues, in both M&A and investment-related transactions.

Rachelle represents clients in a wide variety of industries that include finance, entertainment, sports, consumer products, medical and pharmaceutical products, life sciences, computer technology, and the Internet. 

Rachelle does a considerable amount of pro bono work for entities including the Family Law Project for Battered Women, the Economic Justice Project, the Center For Women and Enterprise, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, and currently assists many of the firms pro bono clients with IP related matters including Partners in Health, a nonprofit corporation, the Say Yes to Education Foundation and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, among others. Rachelle is also actively involved in her community and serves on multiple committees for Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Chabad of the North Shore, Cohen Hillel Academy and Congregation Shirat Hayam.

Read more about Rachelle here. 

Rob is a Partner in Osborne Clarke’s intellectual property litigation department. He advises clients on all aspects of intellectual property protection, enforcement and dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on brands and copyright.

Rob has worked with a number of high profile clients, in particular in the fashion, entertainment and new media sectors, and regularly acts for those clients before the UK courts and the UK and EU trade mark registries. Recent cases have included the successful defence of Sky’s Now TV from a passing off claim brought by the operators of  a Now TV in Hong Kong, in a case that went all the way to the UK’s Supreme Court.

Rob is described by Legal 500 as a “commercially minded, technical expert” and by WTR 1000 as “a first choice adviser for any brand protection work”. He is an active member of MARQUES, being Chair of its European Trademark Law and Practice Team and a member of the EU Trade Mark Reform Task Force.

Read more about Rob here. 

Astrid Luedtke is a Salaried Partner at the German law firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek. She has far-reaching expertise in all areas of intellectual property as well as media and data protection law. She advises German and foreign companies of all sizes on all areas of IP law. Her expertise covers the development of trademark strategies, trademark prosecution and litigation as well as advising on licensing contracts on all types of intellectual property rights such as patents, design patents, trademarks, know-how and copyrights. As an IP expert she also frequently advises clients on transactions involving IP rights. 

She regularly holds lectures and workshops and serves regularly as a lecturer for Media Law at Hochschule Fresenius, University of Applied Sciences, in Düsseldorf.

 Read more about Astrid here.