Areas of Focus
“I focus on finding practical solutions to protect my clients’ intellectual property and their businesses. I know when going to trial is necessary and that not every dispute needs to be fought in court to obtain a favorable outcome.”
Overview
Marc Rachman, a partner in the Litigation + Dispute Resolution and Intellectual Property + Media Practice Groups, focuses on intellectual property (IP) counseling and litigation, advertising disputes and challenges, and complex commercial disputes. Marc’s experience spans the full range of IP, including trademark, copyright, false advertising, rights of publicity, trade secret and patent infringement disputes. He helps clients of all sizes assess, protect and optimize the value of their intellectual property.
Insightful and pragmatic, with a deep knowledge of his clients’ businesses and industries, Marc gets to the root of a matter quickly with strategic insight and practical solutions. His experience as a media planner before pursuing his legal career gives him a unique perspective when advising on advertising and media matters. Marc represents industry-leading advertising and marketing, financial services, digital media and adtech businesses, world-renowned entertainers, small businesses, and technology startups, among others.
Marc works closely with clients to assert and defend IP infringement claims, provides pre-litigation and litigation avoidance counseling, and advises on the use of IP in advertising, marketing and promotions. He has an impressive record in prosecuting and defending cases, and his knowledge of the courts and the alternative dispute resolution process helps him guide clients in deciding when to fight and when to settle. He is exceptionally swift and effective in resolving IP matters in court, before the USPTO and its Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and at the negotiating table.
Marc’s experience extends to copyright disputes concerning music, photo, pictorial, sculptural and literary works. He has also worked on trademark matters relating to word and design marks, trade dress, and nontraditional trademarks — including sounds and product designs — as well as celebrity images and personas. In recent years, he has been a driving force in developing and building the firm’s niche practice in defending graffiti art copyright infringement claims.
Marc has helped several celebrity clients address online reputation management issues. He also has extensive experience handling complex commercial disputes involving the enforcement of advertising agency-client agreements, digital advertising sales agreements, partnership dissolutions, employment terminations, and restrictive covenants and real estate leasing disputes.
Representative Experience
Helped a celebrity client and trademark owner combat online marketing schemes fraudulently claiming that he endorsed certain medical cannabis/CBD oil products. Strategically filed a trademark, right of publicity and false endorsement action against certain marketers we identified after performing an online forensic investigation of the infringing ads. Identified additional involved parties through our forensic findings and information we obtained through subpoenas. Negotiated confidential settlements to ensure that the infringing activity ceased. We were able to protect the client's reputation, collect settlement payments from infringers and also brought to light the harm to unsuspecting consumers who were misled by the infringing and deceptive marketing tactics.
Obtained dismissal of an action against an adtech company specializing in technology that blocks malicious online advertising when a competitor sued for alleged trade secret misappropriation. Court granted our motion to dismiss in its entirety, protecting our client’s reputation and its most important asset, its technology.
Won a trial victory for the maker of a line of fuel additives, against a competitor's false advertising claim concerning a comparison ad. Obtained a jury verdict that the company's ad did not violate the Lanham Act or Florida false advertising statutes or laws after convincing the court to limit the plaintiff’s potential damages to a maximum of $25,000, which allowed the company to continue advertising comparisons of their fuel additive's performance with its competitors.
Represented the estate of a rock icon (Estate) and the company that owns the intellectual property rights globally involving the artist in a matter concerning the unauthorized use of the icon's personas and trademarks in connection with a line of sneakers. Rights to these personas and trademarks are valuable assets of the Estate and the company, which regularly license them in connection with clothing, including sneakers. Resolved this matter on confidential terms with a favorable outcome for our clients, without the matter escalating into major litigation.
Defended a major national specialty retailer that sells designer clothing, accessories and other luxury goods, in a putative consumer class action alleging that consumers were given deceptive pricing on their off-price website. Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their case prior to discovery after we moved to dismiss the action.
Insights + Events
- Alert Can you Wiretap a Website? Decades-Old Privacy Laws Are Being Used to Attack Common Internet Technologies
November 8, 2024
- Alert NY Federal Court Says “Neigh” to Plaintiff’s Copyright Claim Against Megan Thee Stallion
July 17, 2024
- Alert Natural Selection: NY Federal Court Dismisses “Natural” Personal Care Claims, Decertifies Class
February 21, 2024
- Alert Will the Hot Bot Summer Cool Off This Fall?
October 17, 2023
- Alert Is the Legal Test for Expressive Use of a Trademark on The Rocks? Jack Daniel’s Prevails at the Supreme Court
July 25, 2023
- Event Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) | Challenging Misleading Competitor Claims
June 27, 2023
- Alert Sanctions Against Google Show Importance of Litigation Document Preservation
June 5, 2023
- Alert Key Influences on the Cannabis Market in 2023
April 20, 2023
- Alert The Training Wheels are Off: The Copyright Implications of Training Generative AI
March 1, 2023
- Event Massachusetts Continued Learning Education | ADA & Website Accessibility
November 3, 2022
- View More
Credentials
Education
- Boston University (J.D., cum laude, 1993)
- Cornell University (B.S., with honors, 1986)
Distinctions
- The Best Lawyers in America® 2024-2025, Litigation - Intellectual Property
- Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business® 2014-2024, New York Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets
- Legal 500 United States® 2012-2014 and 2016-2024, Intellectual Property: Copyright
- New York Metro Super Lawyers® 2012-2024, Business Litigation
Bar Admissions
- New York
- New Jersey
Court Admissions
- U.S. District CourtSouthern District of New York
- U.S. District CourtEastern District of New York
- U.S. District CourtDistrict of New Jersey
- U.S. District CourtNorthern District of California
Associations
Member, New York City Bar Association
― Member, Technology Committee
― Member, E-Discovery Sub-Committee