Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, announced that Mark I. Peroff and Darren W. Saunders have joined the New York office as partners in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. Both lawyers join from Hiscock & Barclay, where they were partners and Peroff served as co-chair of the Branding, Trademarks & Copyrights Practice.
Peroff and Saunders have extensive experience counseling clients in a wide variety of industries on the protection of their intellectual property rights and representing them in trademark, copyright and patent litigation.
With 30 years of experience, Peroff has earned a reputation for having a deep understanding and appreciation of the inherent value that intellectual property assets possess and the importance of protecting them. Much of his work involves helping high-profile clients develop and implement creative and practical strategies for protecting their intellectual property assets in order to maximize their potential either through establishing, enforcing, and defending underlying rights in these assets. Saunders has more than 20 years of experience in intellectual property litigation and transactions, as well as domestic and international anti-counterfeiting strategy and enforcement.
“With decades of experience and deep knowledge of intellectual property issues affecting companies in a broad range of industries, Mark and Darren significantly expand our litigation and strategic counseling capabilities in the intellectual property area,” said Chad S. Hummel, chair of Manatt’s Litigation Division. “As companies from the entrepreneur stage to large multinational corporations grapple with increasingly sophisticated challenges related to the protection of their brand equity and intellectual property in the United States and abroad, Mark and Darren will provide invaluable counsel to our clients in portfolio management, development, protection, and zealous representation in litigation of trademark and copyright disputes.”
“In addition to strengthening our already outstanding national litigation team,” said William T. Quicksilver, Manatt’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner, “the addition of these two high-profile partners in New York underscores our commitment to growing our national intellectual property practice, to deepening our litigation capabilities on the East Coast and to furthering our strategic expansion in our core markets. We are pleased to welcome Mark and Darren to Manatt.”
Mark I. Peroff counsels clients on identifying, procuring and enforcing/defending intellectual property rights in the United States and abroad, with a focus on trademark, copyright and domain name protection. His highly diversified clientele ranges from entrepreneurs and startups to large multinational companies in virtually every sector of commerce, including cameras, cosmetics, e-commerce, entertainment, fashion, financial, food and beverages, national governments, hospitality, luxury goods, not-for profits and charities, retail, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, publishing, and transportation. In addition to his being acknowledged as one of the top filers of trademark applications in the United States (more than 7,500), Peroff’s practice includes counseling clients in litigation, licensing, opposition and cancellation proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and administrative tribunals under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and Digital Millennium Copyright Act Notice and Take Down Procedure.
A frequent writer and speaker on intellectual property topics in the United States and internationally, Peroff earned a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati and a J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
Darren W. Saunders focuses his practice on litigation involving trademarks, copyrights, patents, unfair competition and false advertising, including representation at the trial and appellate levels and in administrative proceedings before the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He has extensive experience in domestic and international anti-counterfeiting enforcement and has served as counsel in intellectual property transactions for companies and individuals in the motion picture, publishing, transportation and communications industries. Saunders has also represented companies and individuals in such fields as food and beverage, cosmetics and fragrance, fashion and luxury goods, pharmaceuticals, advertising, publishing, and entertainment.
Saunders publishes regularly on intellectual property matters and earned a B.S. from Union College and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.
