Gina Durham's practice focuses on enforcement and portfolio management in domestic and foreign intellectual property matters.

She has a diverse range of clients, for whom she litigates unfair competition, trademark, copyright, trade-dress, anti-counterfeiting/unauthorized distribution and domain name cases in multiple districts throughout the country.

Ms. Durham has led brand protection efforts for some of the most well-known companies in the world, from trying one of the first cases to go to trial under the amended Federal Trademark Dilution Act, to successfully pursuing multiple lawsuits against spammers infringing on the famous brand of a Fortune 500 company. During her time at DLA Piper, Ms. Durham spent an extended amount of time working "on loan" within a major software corporation advising on matters related to large scale anti-counterfeiting efforts and license compliance.

Ms. Durham has unique experience in connection with the protection of proprietary rights on the internet, having successfully litigated the enforceability of online terms of use, civil claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, state anti-spam laws and domestic and foreign domain name disputes. She is also a founding member of DLA Piper's Social Media practice and counsels regularly on mitigating risks associated with user-generated content through a combination of well-crafted terms of use, privacy policies and compliance for purposes of Communications Decency Act immunity and Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbor.

Ms. Durham also counsels clients on IP prosecution matters, brand clearance, pre-litigation policing programs and intellectual property portfolio management. She is regularly consulted by her pharmaceutical, financial services and consumer goods clients on the adoption and strategic international protection of high-profile brand names and other intangible assets.

World Trademark Review recently ranked Ms. Durham in its listing of top practitioners, noting that "[she] is complimented for her 'fantastic ability' in trademark litigation and transactional work; she manages global trademark portfolios for numerous household-name brands."

Recent Representative Cases

• Pfizer Inc. v. All USA et. al.1:11-cv-05422 (N.D. IL 2011/pending); Lead counsel for plaintiff in a trademark infringement action involving alleged unauthorized distribution of pharmaceutical products
• Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation v. Medasys Incorporated 2:11-cv-03386 (D. New Jersey); Lead counsel for plaintiff in trademark infringement action
• Pactiv Corporation v. The Glad Products Company, 1:10-cv-05013 (N.D. IL 2010): Lead counsel for The Glad Products Company in defending a trademark infringement action
• Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. v. Globex Foreign Exchange, 1:10-cv-02238 (N.D. IL 2010): Lead counsel for defendant in a trademark infringement action
• Southwest Airlines Co. v. CheckinSooner.com LLC, 3:10-cv-01512 (N.D. TX 2010): Lead counsel for airline in case alleging breach of online terms of use and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claims against a company alleged to have designed and sold access to a flight check-in tool which, through an automated process, circumvented Southwest's authorized check-in procedures
• United Air Lines, Inc. v. Allen et. al., 716 F.Supp.2d 79 (D.Mass. 2010); 645 F.Supp.2d 34 (D. Mass. 2009): Lead counsel for airline in case involving alleged misappropriation of denied boarding compensation vouchers and dispute over application of Airline Deregulation Act preemption relating thereto
• Truco Enterprises, L.P. v. N.F.B.Foods, 1:10-cv-07338 (S.D.N.Y. 2010): Counsel for plaintiff in preliminary injunction proceeding involving alleged trade dress infringement of food packaging
• Craig R. Bell d/b/a Destinee Eploriums v. Harley-Davidson Motor Company et. al., 539 F.Supp.2d 1249 (S.D. Cal. 2007): Represented Harley-Davidson in a successful summary judgment motion to dispose of trademark infringement claims based on fair use defense
• Nike, Inc. v. Nikepal International, Inc., 84 USPQ2d 1820 (E.D. Cal. 2007): Successfully represented Nike in a trial for claims of trademark infringement and dilution. The case involved the famous NIKE mark and a rare appeal of a Trademark Office opposition to a district court and claims involving injunctive relief
• Southwest Airlines Co. v. BoardFirst, LLC, 2007 U.S. Dist LEXIS 96230 (N.D. TX): Represented Southwest Airlines in successful enforcement of terms and conditions of airline's website under breach of contract theory
• Microsoft Corporation v. V3 Solutions, Inc., 2003 U.S. Dist LEXIS 15008 (N.D. IL): Obtained summary judgment for Microsoft on counts of copyright and trademark infringement against a distributor of counterfeit software and components
• Osho Friends International v. Osho International Foundation (TTAB 2009): Represented the plaintiff in a full administrative trial on the merits, in which the plaintiff successfully petitioned to cancel and opposed 13 trademark registrations and applications, with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board finding that "OSHO" is a generic term that cannot be exclusively appropriated by anyone
• The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey v. Blueher, (TTAB 2009): Successfully represented The Port Authority in a trademark dispute involving the name of the centerpiece building at Ground Zero