As both outside and in-house counsel, Evan Gourvitz has successfully litigated and counseled clients on intellectual property disputes for more than 25 years.

He has handled every type of intellectual property matter, including copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, false advertising, and right of publicity, as well as First Amendment and general commercial litigation matters, for clients in the consumer products, entertainment, alcoholic beverage, pharmaceutical, financial, technology, publishing, and fashion industries, among others.

Evan is especially familiar with Internet and social media issues, having been involved both personally and professionally for almost 30 years. He regularly advises clients on cutting-edge digital issues, including the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and intellectual property rights, cryptocurrency, NFTs, the Metaverse, and Web3; the removal of infringing, libelous, and offensive materials from websites and social media; the use of celebrity and brand names on social media; blockchain domain names, cybersquatting, and UDRP proceedings; social media reputation management; doxing; and how to prevent disputes and demand letters from “going viral.”

Experience

  • Healing on the Fly v. Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. Successfully defended a charity providing rehabilitative services to wounded veterans against a disgruntled former employee who opposed its attempt to register the mark HEALING ON THE FLY for charitable fundraising services.
  • RLP Ventures v. All Hands Instruction. Successfully moved to dismiss trademark infringement action and petition to cancel client’s registration with prejudice on the basis of issue preclusion and lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
  • Michael Grecco Productions v. Netease Information Technology. Successfully moved to dismiss copyright infringement claim brought against client based on improper venue.
  • Bureau National Interprofessionnel Du Cognac v. Prowood Wine & Spirits, Inc. Successfully represented our client in a federal district court case involving the sale of a third-party product, described as “Arman Cognac,” that was not genuine Cognac.
  • Invista North America S.a. R.I. v. Hanwha Corporation. Successfully defended our client in an opposition proceeding, permitting Hanwha
    to register its word-and-design mark for renewable energy services.
  • Regularly represents and advises the Harvard Law Review Association in copyright and trademark disputes relating to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.
  • Hogarth v. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Successfully defended the owner of all existing rights in the Tarzan character, in the trial court and on appeal, against claims that two Tarzan books published in 1972 and 1976 were owned by artist Burne Hogarth, rather than works for hire owned by Burroughs.
  • Creative Arts by Calloway, LLC v. Brooks. Successfully defended Cab Calloway's grandson, in the trial court and on appeal, against multiple attempts by his grandfather’s widow, her family, and their company to prevent him from performing his grandfather's music as "The Cab Calloway Orchestra."
  • Overbeck Corp. v. Overbeck GmbH. After a full trial on trademark infringement and dilution claims, prevailed on motion to strike a jury verdict against German company, its parent, and its U.S. affiliate. 
  • Walker v. DC Comics. Successfully defended comics publisher from claim that its comic “Superman: Last Son of Earth” infringed plaintiff’s purported rights in an unsolicited story idea submitted to DC.
  • Sapon v. DC Comics. Successfully defended comics publisher from claim that its “Batman Beyond” character design infringed plaintiff’s purported rights in an unsolicited design submitted to DC.
  • Brooks v. Creative Arts by Calloway, LLC. Successfully opposed application to register the trademark CAB CALLOWAY based on prior common law use of the mark THE CAB CALLOWAY ORCHESTRA by Cab Calloway's grandson, Christopher Brooks.
  • Lacoste Alligator, S.A. v. Maxoly, Inc. Successfully opposed application to register alligator design mark based on prior registrations for and common law use of Lacoste alligator design marks.
  • PepsiCo, Inc. v. “The Holy See.” In administrative proceeding before the World Intellectual Property Organization, acquired various PEPSI-formative domain names from an anonymous squatter who purportedly registered those domain names as political speech.

Areas of Practice