Wendi E. Sloane

Wendi concentrates her practice on intellectual property law and complex commercial litigation.

Wendi heads the Firm's intellectual property practice group. She has extensive experience in all areas of non-patent intellectual property, including trademark and copyright counseling, trademark prosecution, licensing, intellectual property litigation and the intellectual property aspects of corporate transactions. Wendi combines her skill and experience as a trial attorney with her knowledge of copyright, trademark and trade secret law in servicing the firm's diverse clientele. She actively assists clients in identifying, protecting and preserving their intellectual property assets, including seeking registration in the United States as well as internationally and taking action against infringement of copyrights, trademarks, trade dress and trade secrets.  Wendi manages the worldwide trademark portfolios for number of firm clients.

Wendi's commercial litigation practice includes a variety of commercial disputes, including professional liability, breach of contract and fraud disputes. She has acted as lead counsel in state and federal actions across the country, as well as in arbitrations and mediations. Wendi has served as an arbitrator for the National Futures Association as well as a speaker at a variety of seminars.

Wendi was recently honored as a 2009 Corporate Woman of Achievement by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO Chicago Chapter) for her contributions to advancing the success of women in the field of law.

Representative Clients

• Automobili Lamborghini America
• Christian Dior
• First Industrial Realty Trust
• GoSmile
• Kmart Corporation
• LVMH
• Safecor Health
• Volkswagen Group of America

Representative Matters

• Cintas Corp. v. America West Airlines, Inc.
  

  Defended America West Airlines in a case alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and secured a favorable settlement of the case.

• Intellectual Property Acquisition & Counseling: Luxury Goods
  

  Represented various divisions of LVMH in the intellectual property aspects of their acquisitions of Bliss, Fresh, Benefit, Urban Decay, Hard Candy, Donna Karan, Belvedere Vodka and other luxury goods manufacturers and distributors, including overseeing all intellectual property-related due diligence activity and negotiating all intellectual property-related provisions of the transaction documents.

• Smith as Plan Trustee for and on behalf of the Estates of Boston Chicken v. Arthur Andersen LLP; Beck v. Bank of America
  

  Represented Bank of America in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in connection with third-party action seeking recovery of more than $1 billion in damages allegedly arising out of national restaurant chain's insolvency.

• Trademark Infringement: Appellate
  

  Represented Louis Vuitton Malletier, a division of LVMH, in successful appeal to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from denial of Louis Vuitton Malletier’s motion for preliminary injunction against Dooney & Bourke in trademark infringement action.

• Trademark Infringement: Counterfeiting
  

  Represented Fendi, a division of LVMH, in a trademark infringement action against a major discount retailer, arising out of the defendant retailer’s alleged sale of counterfeit Fendi handbags, wallets, and other accessories in its warehouse stores and alleged failure to take necessary and appropriate steps to ascertain the legitimacy of trademarked products it purchased from third-party suppliers. The lawsuit was settled on favorable, but confidential, terms.

• Trademark Infringement: Luxury Goods
  

  Represented a division of LVMH in a trademark infringement action, obtaining not only a consent injunction against the infringing party, but also an agreement from the infringer to permanently cease and desist all infringing activity and to pay all legal fees incurred by our client in bringing the action.

Professional Activities and Honors

• American Bar Association
• International Trademark Association (INTA)
• American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)

Publications

• Client Action Alert - Trademark Owners: Prepare for Launch of New Generic Top-Level Domain Program
• Client Action Alert - Protect Your Trademark from Registration as a .XXX Domain

Events & Speaking Engagements

• Ethics in IP Enforcement
• Lecturer, Chicago Kent School of Law, Graduate Program in Financial Services, on Director and Officer Liability Issues
• Speaker and author, Chicago Bar Association seminar on Commercial Litigation Discovery Techniques
• Speaker and author, Illinois Bar Association seminar on Contract Damage Issues
• Speaker and Author, Illinois Bar Association seminar on UCC Damage Issues