John L. Strand

Shareholder | Trademark & Copyright

Education

BA, Dickinson College
JD, Northeastern University School of Law

Key Industries

Consumer Products
Food and Beverage
Medical Devices
Fashion
Cannabis
Web 3.0
Blockchain
Cryptocurrency
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

Practice Groups

Admitted to Practice

Massachusetts
US District Court, District of Massachusetts
US District Court, Northern District of Illinois
US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
US Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit

Location

Boston

Overview

John Strand is a shareholder in Wolf Greenfield’s Trademark & Copyright Practice and focuses on the enforcement and defense of intellectual property rights in trademarks, trade dress, domain names, and patents. He successfully represents clients in tribunals throughout the country and abroad.

Client Testimonials

John is passionate about the subject matter and the less traditional things. He thinks about things outside of the box.

When I refer to John and Allen [Rugg], I think of them in the top tier of capabilities, and they have great client interaction, cut through the noise, and give good, crisp advice. That shows they get us.

John always has the right approach and he executes it flawlessly.

John has a knack for devising successful litigation strategies that ensure his clients’ brands are strongly enforced and defended.

Experience

Successfully represented a national media company in defeating a claim of trademark infringement at summary judgment, which was affirmed on appeal, and obtained an attorneys’ fees award.
Represented C.R. Bard and Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. in litigation brought by Bard’s longtime competitor and litigation adversary W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. in the District of Delaware, alleging the infringement of three patents on stent grafts. With co-counsel, obtained a complete defense verdict for Bard on Gore’s claims of willful infringement. (W.L. Gore v. Bard)
Won multi-million jury verdict for Reverie on breach of contract claim against Reverie’s former supplier, after invalidating supplier’s patent in an inter partes reexamination. (Ascion LLC v. Ruoey Lung)
Succeeded in transfer of numerous domain names under Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, with arbitrations having multiple complainants, respondents, and domain names, and including one arbitration involving over 40 domain names.
Represents Kantar Media Audiences and its related company WPP plc in a case where TRA Global (now owned by TiVo) asserted three patents directed to a method of directing advertisements to particular audiences, and brought claims of trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, and inducing breach of fiduciary duties. Successfully defeated TRA’s patent infringement and trade secret claims at summary judgment. On remand from appeal, succeeded in eliminating TRA’s $200 million compensatory damages claim and achieving stipulated judgment of non-infringement. (TiVo Research & Analytics v. Kantar)
After Consumers Interstate Corporate sued Staples on an on-line shopping method, representing Staples we navigated the case through discovery and then invalidated the asserted patent in an inter partes reexamination. (CIC v. Staples)
Lead associate in six-week long trial on fundamental vascular graft and stent graft technology which resulted in $185 million jury verdict, enhanced damages, and attorneys’ fees award for Bard. Continued to represent Bard in all post-trial motion practice and appeals. Judgment now totals over $1.5 billion after award of on-going royalties. (Bard and Goldfarb v. Gore)

Activities

In 2007-09, John taught trademark law as an adjunct professor at Northeastern University School of Law.
International Trademark Association (INTA)

Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee Member

American Intellectual Property Association (AIPLA)

Recognition

Repeatedly named to The Best Lawyers in America®
Repeatedly named to World Trademark Review 1000 – The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals
Repeatedly named to the list of Massachusetts Super Lawyers in the field of intellectual property litigation; previously named to the list of “Rising Stars”
Finalist in the “Litigator of the Year – Massachusetts” category at the Managing IP Americas Awards 2024, one of only six attorneys recognized in this category