Robert D. Litowitz

Partner

Rob Litowitz is a member of the firm's management committee. He has over 30 years' experience in litigating patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights before U.S. district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Mr. Litowitz's legal analyses, sound practical judgment, and unique written and oral advocacy skills benefit the many clients whose claims and defenses he handles.

Mr. Litowitz has had extensive experience leading and managing a range of litigations on such diverse subjects as pharmaceuticals, bio-tech innovations, health-care products, designs, product configurations, words, symbols, golf courses, and books.

Having successfully defended patents covering some of the world’s most important brand-name drugs, Mr. Litowitz has developed vast experience in the area of Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) litigation. In the realm of trademarks, Mr. Litowitz has been involved in numerous precedent-setting litigations, has served as an adjunct professor of trademark law at two leading law schools, and his experience in trademark surveys, gained by working alongside many of the country's leading survey experts, helps ensure that clients' often substantial investment in survey evidence will reap dividends, whether the survey is used as evidence in court, or as often is the case, to help make informed decisions on whether to pursue litigation.

Mr. Litowitz writes a monthly feature column called "Unregistrable" in Finnegan's monthly trademark newsletter Incontestable.

Highlights

• Wyeth v. Sandoz, (E.D.N.C.). Represented Wyeth in asserting three patents for the multibillion dollar antidepressant, Effexor XR^®, against multiple challenges by generic drug manufacturers. Obtained multiple favorable claim construction rulings and summary judgment of direct, induced, and contributory infringement.
• Successfully defended the patent for the world's leading breast cancer treatment, tamoxifen, as an integral member of the trial team in a series of ANDA litigations for AstraZeneca.
• Recot, Inc v. MC Becton, (Fed. Cir.). Argued precedent-setting trademark case establishing broad rights for famous brands (reversing finding of no likelihood of confusion between Frito-Lay and Fido Lay trademarks).
• Roche v. HDI, (S.D. Ind.). Lead courtroom litigator for Home Diagnostics, Inc. for trial resulting in opponent's patent being declared unenforceable due to inequitable conduct before the USPTO.
• Served as a trial attorney for the ITC from where he represented the U.S. in matters ranging from high technology patent disputes involving multinational conglomerates to trademark and copyright cases involving popular toys, 1984-1986.
• Served as adjunct professor of trademark law, at American University Washington College of Law, and the George Washington University School of Law.
• Represent musicians and radio personality in various pro bono trademark matters.

Professional Recognition

• Recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. as one of the leading lawyers in trademark litigation and dispute resolution, particularly with respect to his extensive experience in litigating disputes in federal and state courts, as well as before the ITC, 2007.
• Listed in Music Connection's "50 Innovators, Iconoclasts, Groundbreakers, and Guiding Lights of 2008."
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Omicron Delta Kappa

Professional Activities

• District of Columbia Bar (Section on Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law)
• International Trademark Association
• ITC Trial Lawyers Association

Select Publications

• "Stop, Hey, What's that Sound?" Intellectual Property Magazine, Sept. 2011.
• Coauthor. "Government Seizures of Music Blogs," MusicDish, May 2, 2011.
• Coauthor. "Why You Should Consider Keeping Your Case Out of the Courtroom: A Cautionary Tale from Coppertone vs. Neutrogena," Advertising Age, March 6, 2011.
• "Season's G®eetings," BNA Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal, Dec. 24, 2010.
• "American Needle®: Any Damage to IP Licensors?" LES Insights, Nov. 1, 2010.
• Coauthor. "How to Use (and Attack) Consumer Surveys in Trademark Infringement and False Advertising Cases," Trademark World, March 1999.
• Coauthor. "Trademark Basics: The Rights of Publicity," The IP Strategist, May/June 1995.
• "EEC Regulation 2641/84-A New Challenge to Section 337 Jurisdiction," International Business and Law Reporter, Jan./Feb. 1986.
• Coauthor. "The Song Remains the Same -- But Not Necessarily the Name," The American University Law Review, Summer 1990.