Margret Caruso is Chair of the firm's Trademark and Copyright Practice Group.
She devotes a substantial portion of her practice to intellectual property litigation and appellate litigation, including copyright, trademark and patent infringement, as well as unfair competition and false advertising. Her experience is broad based, with a focus on Internet, technology, entertainment, and consumer goods companies in the copyright, trademark, design patent, trade secret, and false advertising contexts. She has also represented plaintiffs and defendants in infringement actions concerning design, biochemical, computer, and mechanical patents.
In addition to her trial experience and litigation of numerous temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction motions, Margret has briefed appeals to the United States Supreme Court and the Second, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits on issues of copyright, trademark, false advertising, patent, and antitrust. World Trademark Review 1000 recognized her as a “go-to lawyer for internet, entertainment, and consumer goods companies” who is “fearless in high-stakes situations.”
Margret is active in the International Trademark Association, where she has served as Chair of the Internet Committee, and is currently a member of the Copyright Committee, as well as in the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, where she serves on the Board for the Northern California chapter.
- Samsung
- Harbor Freight Tools
- The Boy Scouts of America
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- Oracle
- IAC
- Intuit
- Fox
- FremantleMedia
- HBO
- Bluefly.com
- Represent Google in connection with lawsuits filed relating to its AdWords program, other trademark disputes, and IP advice, including right of publicity issues. Obtained numerous decisions in Google’s favor, including multiple dismissals and summary judgments in trademark actions, and affirmation by the Ninth Circuit of denial of preliminary injunction in a copyright action, compelling arbitration under Google’s terms of use, and enforcing the forum selections clauses of Google’s terms of use.
- Represent YouTube in connection with copyright and trademark lawsuits related to user-posted content.
- Represent the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in enforcing its famous trademarks ACADEMY AWARDS, OSCAR, and OSCARS, and protecting its Oscar statuette.
- Represent OpenAI, Inc. in its trademark infringement suit against Guy Ravine and Open Intelligence, Inc.
- Represent Harbor Freight Tools, Inc. in multiple trademark, trade dress, and design patent infringement matters.
- Represented the Boy Scouts of America in a trademark infringement and dilution action brought by Girl Scouts of the USA concerning the BSA’s promotion of its Scouts BSA and Cub Scouts programs, which are now open to girls, which culminated in a complete summary judgment win for the Boy Scouts of America.
- Represented the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in enforcing its famous trademarks ACADEMY AWARDS, OSCAR, and OSCARS, and protecting its Oscar statuette.
- Represented NetEase in connection with copyright and trade dress claims brought by PUBG, maker of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds concerning battle royale video games.
- Represented Block, Inc. (formerly known as Square, Inc.) in defending trademark claims brought by H&R Block, including obtaining an Eight Circuit reversal of preliminary injunction.
- Represented Samsung in federal litigation and ITC proceedings against Apple relating to trademark, trade dress, and design patent issues. Successfully defended Samsung against all trademark and trade dress infringement claims, defeated preliminary injunction on all design-related issues, which the Federal Circuit affirmed, and successfully defended Samsung against all of Apple’s claims of design patent infringement in the ITC.
- Represented HBO and Time Warner in an action relating to the award-winning program “Six Feet Under.” After successfully moving to dismiss plaintiffs’ Lanham Act and state law unfair competition claims at the pleading stage, we obtained summary judgment on the copyright infringement claim. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding that the two works lacked any similarity of protectable expression, even though both involving family-run funeral parlors in which the father died at the beginning, leaving the business to be run by two brothers, one of whom is gay and the other becomes involved in a relationship with an unstable woman.
- Obtained partial summary judgment in a copyright infringement action brought against Fox in connection with the movie Dodgeball.
- Represented Fox and Fremantle Media in an action for copyright infringement and tortious interference concerning a reality television show. After moving for summary judgment on the grounds of lack of substantial similarity of protectable expression (because all common elements were scenes a faire in the genre), we obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims.
- Represented Tufenkian Carpets in a trial on claims of copyright infringement filed against it in a rug design case. After taking the matter over a month before trial, we obtained a defense verdict, including specifically on issues of access and substantial similarity.
- Represented Yandex, Russia’s most popular search engine, in a copyright infringement action brought by adult entertainment publisher Perfect 10 involving allegations of direct and secondary copyright infringement related to Yandex’s Russian internet search and hosting services. After we obtained summary judgment on the entirety of Perfect 10’s direct infringement claims, and the vast majority of its secondary infringement claims, on the basis that the alleged infringements at issue were either a fair use, were extraterritorial, or both, the case settled.
- Represented Tech Style, a seller of clothing and accessories, against TechStyle, Inc., parent company of clothing and accessory sellers, including JustFab, Fabletics, Shoe Dazzle, and FabKids in a trademark infringement action and breach of contract disputes.
- Represented Bluefly.com in a trademark and trade dress infringement relating to Hermès handbags. We were retained following entry of an ex parte TRO, which we obtained dissolution of the following business day, followed by a prompt and favorable resolution of the action, which allowed Bluefly.com to continue its promotion.
- Represented Intuit in a series of simultaneous actions against H&R Block relating to advertising for TurboTax and H&R Block’s tax services and products. The actions involved claims for false advertising and trademark and copyright infringement. Following reversal of TRO against Intuit and a series of favorable discovery rulings, the cases settled favorably to Intuit, and H&R Block’s offending knock-off advertisement was pulled.
- Represented MP3.com in copyright infringement actions brought by a series of plaintiffs and in a royalty rate dispute with ASCAP over then-novel issue of appropriate rate for streaming music over the Internet. In the copyright actions, we successfully moved to dismiss one action in its entirety; we successfully moved to dismiss claims based on allegedly unauthorized distribution of music over the Internet; we obtained summary judgment on claims of vicarious and contributory copyright infringement; we successfully opposed class certification; and we successfully moved to exclude plaintiffs’ expert witnesses on the subject of damages in five other actions, which led to satisfactory settlements in each.
- Represented Lomonosov Porcelain in obtaining a temporary injunction and later a preliminary injunction in a trade dress action involving its distinctive “colbalt net” pattern.
- Represented Barnes & Noble in a trademark dispute concerning the title of one of its books.
- Represented Oracle in international arbitration in which the minority shareholder in Oracle’s former joint venture in Saudi Arabia alleged that Oracle overcharged the joint venture in connection with licensing its software and denied the minority shareholder any meaningful participation in the venture and sought tens of millions of dollars for its claims of breach of contract, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, and tortious interference with contract, and the Saudi Arabia cause of action of ghasb. Following a two week hearing, the arbitration panel issued a 40-page opinion, applying Saudi Arabian law and unanimously ruling in Oracle’s favor. The panel later awarded Oracle substantial costs.
- Represented Scientific Industries in trademark, trade dress and patent suit concerning laboratory mixers. Obtained preliminary injunction.
- Represented Pfizer in connection with trade secret lawsuit in which plaintiff sought almost a billion dollars and was awarded less than $300,000 by the jury.
- Represented Mentor Graphics and Meta Systems before the International Trade Commission. Obtained an advisory opinion approving modified use of hardware emulation systems. The ALJ’s favorable opinion was affirmed by the Commission.
- Counseled a variety of companies in connection with pre-litigation trademark, copyright, and false advertising matters.
- Cornell Law School
(J.D., cum laude, 1997)- Cornell Law Review:
- Articles Editor, 1996-1997
- Cornell Law Review:
- Boston University
(B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1994)
- The State Bar of California
- The State Bar of New York
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Courts of Appeals:
- Fourth Circuit
- Ninth Circuit
- United States District Courts:
- Southern District New York
- Eastern District New York
- Central District of California
- Northern District of California
- Eastern District of California
- Southern District of California
- Eastern District of Wisconsin
- Latham & Watkins, New York:
- Associate
- Associate
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, New York:
- Associate
- Named Leading Litigator in IP Litigation, esp. Trademark, Copyright by Lawdragon 500, 2023, 2024, 2025.
- Ranked by Leaders League Intellectual Property: Trademark Litigation, Highly Recommended, 2024
- Ranked in the area of Intellectual Property: Copyright by Legal 500, 2024.
- Ranked in the area of Intellectual Property: Trademark Litigation by Legal 500, 2024.
- Named by Daily Journal, Top IP Lawyers, 2023.
- Named a California – Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation 2024.
- Named a Trade Mark Star and Copyright Star by Managing IP: IP Stars 2024.
- Named a Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.