Ronald D. Coleman

Ron Coleman has shaped the law relating to the use and abuse of intellectual property as a tool of competition. A leader in social media for lawyers, his blog about copyright, trademark and free speech, LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®, has since its inception in 2005 become one of the most influential publications in IP law.

Recent representations include:

• vindicating the rights of review websites threatened with IP infringement claims to intimidate them into removing legally protected information or commentary;
• coordinating the investigation of and legal response to fraudulent websites impersonating the website of a commercial client;
• defending a national figure against IP claims arising out of her brief use of a famous photograph on Facebook; and
• leading the appellate effort to overturn the PTO’s refusal to register trademarks that the PTO finds “may disparage” ethnic or racial constituencies.Ron has represented clients of every size in state and federal courts, bench and jury trials, the TTAB and in arbitrations and mediations throughout the country.

Author of the first article on Internet law in the ABA Journal (1995), Ron was co-author of the chapter on “Responses to Complaints” in Business and Commercial Litigation in the Federal Courts (ABA / West Group 1998). More recently, his chapter on the interplay of rights of publicity and trademark was included in In the Arena: A Sports Law Handbook.  Other publications include the Computer and Internet Law Journal, the NYSBA Journal and the NJ Law Journal. Ron has been a featured speaker at a host of legal conferences. These include the International Trademark Association (INTA), the New Jersey, New York City and New York County Bar Associations, the Copyright Society of the USA, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Intellectual Property Owners Association, the Ohio Intellectual Property Law Society, Minnesota CLE and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. He was recently reappointed to the Internet Committee of INTA.

Ron has represented clients of every size in state and federal courts, bench and jury trials, the TTAB and in arbitrations and mediations throughout the country. He has also been retained as an expert on trademark law and practice in professional liability litigation. A graduate of Princeton University, he received his JD from Northwestern University School of Law.

• J.D., Northwestern University School of Law
• A.B., Princeton University