Tonia A. Sayour

Overview

Tonia Sayour has nearly two decades of experience counseling clients in all areas of intellectual property law, with a focus on patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Her clients span from start-ups to nationally known companies across a multitude of industries including consumer products, food and beverage, and mechanical devices. 

Tonia also focuses her practice on litigation and has litigated over 100 cases in jurisdictions around the US, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. In addition, she is a registered patent attorney and has significant experience preparing and prosecuting patents and trademarks for her clients, who rely on her for her strategic advice and deep understanding of their business.

Tonia is actively involved in the intellectual property community, serving as a member of several organizations and speaks on topics related to IP law.

Prior to joining Wolf Greenfield, Tonia was an attorney at an intellectual property firm in New York for 17 years, where she practiced all aspects of intellectual property law.

Experience

• Parts iD, LLC v. IDParts, LLC, No. 1:20-cv-11253-ADB (D. Mass.). Represented IDParts, LLC in a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Onyx Enterprises Int’l Corp., now known as Parts iD, LLC, in the US District Court of Massachusetts. The trial ended with a unanimous decision in which a Massachusetts federal jury found IDParts did not infringe the plaintiff’s marks. In addition, the jury found that when, in the midst of the lawsuit, Onyx changed its name to Parts iD, that name change resulted in willful infringement of IDParts’ rights in its service mark.
  
• adidas America, Inc. and adidas AG v. Thom Browne, Inc., No. 1:21-cv-05615-JSR-RWL (S.D.N.Y.). Represented Thom Browne, Inc. in a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by adidas in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The trial ended with a unanimous verdict in which a Manhattan federal jury found Thom Browne did not infringe or dilute adidas’s so-called “Three-Stripe Mark.”
  
• Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc., 3:10-cv-01827 (D. Conn.). Represented Romag in patent and trademark infringement action where jury returned verdict in Romag’s favor on its claims. After appeal, the United States Supreme Court unanimously found for Romag and held that a plaintiff in a trademark infringement suit is not required to show that a defendant willfully infringed a trademark as a prerequisite to receiving an award of defendant’s profits as damages. See Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc., 590 U.S. (2020).
• DDR Holdings LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P. et al., 06-cv-0042 (E.D.T.X.). Defended travel agencies against patent infringement claims, where on appeal, the Federal Circuit found that the district court erred in denying clients’ motion for judgment as a matter of law of invalidity as to one of the patents-in-suit.
• Patsy’s Italian Restaurant Inc. v. Banas, Nos. 1:06-cv-00729; 1:06-cv-05857 (E.D.N.Y.). Represented Patsy’s Italian Restaurant in the prosecution of a service mark and unfair competition against a pizzeria chain and its franchisee. The jury found willful infringement by the pizzeria franchisee and fraud by the chain. The judgment was affirmed on appeal by the Second Circuit.
• SEB S.A. v. Montgomery Ward & Co., et al., No. 7:99-cv-09284 (S.D.N.Y.). Represented SEB in connection with patent infringement trial involving deep fryers where the jury returned a verdict of several million dollars in SEB’s favor. Judgment was affirmed on appeal by the Federal Circuit and by the United States Supreme Court. See Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A., 563 U. S. 754 (2011).
• Advanced Magnetic Closures, Inc. v. Rome Fasteners, Inc. et al, 98-cv-07766 (S.D.N.Y.). Represented Romag Fasteners in the defense of an infringement action involving a magnetic fastener patent. The district court granted judgment as a matter of law at the close of plaintiff’s case, discharging the jury. The district court awarded attorneys’ fees against plaintiff and plaintiff’s attorneys for bringing a frivolous case. The judgment was affirmed by the Federal Circuit.

Activities

• Member, New York Intellectual Property Lawyers Association
• Member, International Trademark Association
• Board Member, Syosset Business Advisory Board

Recognition

• Named to World Trademark Review 1000 – The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals (2023-2024)
• Named to the New York Super Lawyers list (2020-2024)
• Named to the New York Super Lawyers Rising Star list for five years (2012-2018)
• Named to Legal Media Group’s Guide to the World’s Leading Trademark Law Practitioners