Business Litigation

Berthold v. FKPT, United States District Court Northern District of Illinois, Judge Andersen. 1999. Represented plaintiff who terminated its German licensee of trademarked typeface fonts for use in computer software. The fonts were part of a large German font library that was over 140 years old. Claims and counter-claims included claims under German and American law, and international discovery issues. Settlement permitted plaintiff to terminate German licensee and licensee waived all claims to rights in fonts. Opposing Counsel: Caroline Clark (Pennie & Edmonds); Chuck McGirdy (DLA Piper).

Virtual Realty Group v. Virtual Realty Network, United States District Court Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Judge Nordberg, 1995. Represented owner of “Virtual Realty” mark in trademark infringement action. Defendant and its partner Intel had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising and promoting the “Virtual Realty” mark that did not belong to them. They claimed there was no possibility of consumer confusion between their computerized home loan mortgage brokerage services, and plaintiff’s Internet based real-estate brokerage services. Case settled before injunction hearing. Defendant agreed to immediately discontinue using the mark, and to pay money damages and plaintiff’s attorneys fees. Opposing Counsel: Russell Pelton (Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly).

DevTech v. Rolfes, Circuit Court of DuPage County, Judge Wheaton. 1992. Claim that computer software designer/former employee stole trade secrets and acted in a manner that damaged plaintiff and defendant's joint copyright in certain software. Represented defendant (software designer/former employee). Plaintiff dismissed all claims on the verge of a preliminary injunction trial when judge indicated that she intended to rule in defendant’s favor on a motion to exclude key witnesses for plaintiff. Plaintiff agreed to divide equally with defendant all profits from jointly owned software. Opposing counsel: Edward Ruberry (Bolinger Ruberry & Garvey).

Berthold v. Linotype, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. 2002. Represented plaintiff. Claim that font software company violated copyright laws in illegally copying software code for its own font software. Case settled. Opposing Counsel: Jim McGurk, Paul Stack and Robert Filpi (Stack & Filpi).

Berthhold v. FKPT, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Judges Lindberg and Gettleman. 2001. Represented Plaintiff. Obtained default judge and injunctive relief against German Company for trademark infringement and breach of settlement agreement and then enforced such judgment against third-party German corporations and nationals living and doing business here. Case settled with third parties agreeing to injunctive relief protecting plaintiff’s trademarks and discontinuing sale of infringing products here and in Germany. Opposing Counsel: Robert Filpi and Paul Stack (Stack & Filpi) and Robert Joseph (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal).