Kelly IP

1300 19th Street NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036, United States

Firm's Overview

Kelly IP is an innovative boutique law firm focused on all aspects of trademark, trade dress, copyright, design, domain name and unfair competition law. The founding partners of Kelly IP – Dave Kelly, Rob Litowitz, Linda McLeod, Lynn Jordan and Stephanie Bald – are all recognised leaders in the trademark field and are known for their creative, practical, responsive and cost-effective advice. They believe that brand owners deserve lawyers who are as passionate as they are about nurturing and protecting brands and creative works. The partners brought this vision to fruition by opening Kelly IP in May 2013. They leveraged their 110 combined years of ‘Big Law’ IP experience – including leading hundreds of civil litigations and thousands of oppositions and cancellations, sending thousands of demand letters, filing hundreds of UDRP complaints, clearing thousands of marks and filing, prosecuting and maintaining tens of thousands of trademark applications and registrations – and created a firm with a collaborative, team-oriented approach. Kelly IP immediately established an international reputation by scoring significant litigation victories in trademark cases before the courts and the TTAB, counselling on cutting-edge issues for many of the world’s most famous brands and being recognised as a leading firm in various areas, including civil and TTAB litigation, online enforcement, portfolio management and trademark clearance and counselling in the entertainment industry. Kelly IP has been consistently recognised as a top firm for both contentious and non-contentious trademark work, including:
  • WTR 1000 (2018) — one of the top six trademark firms in the country and one of the top three firms in the Washington DC area for both trademark litigation and non-contentious work;
  • IP Stars (2018) — one of the top three firms in the country for trademark litigation and one of the top five for trademark prosecution and counselling;
  • Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) (2017 and 2018) — national award for the top firm in the United States for non-contentious trademark work;
  • The Legal 500 (2018) — one of the top nine firms in the country for trademark litigation and one of the top 12 for non-contentious work;
  • MIP (2016) — award for the top trademark litigation firm in the United States, Northeast region;
  • The Legal 500 (2015) — winner of The Legal 500’s 2015 US award for trademark litigation firm;
  • Law 360 (2015) — recognised as one of the top 10 boutique law firms in the country with “established brands on par with the biggest firms”, and commenting that “[t]he [Kelly IP] founders’ reputations as big players at a big firm allowed the new boutique to become an instant power”; and
  • MIP (2014) — winner of US Trademark — Firm to Watch award.
The following client feedback from these publications best sums up Kelly IP:
  • “despite coming into existence just a few years ago, Kelly IP has already cemented its position as one of the pre-eminent names in the trademark world”;
  • “Kelly IP is a top-shelf trademark counselling and litigation practice";
  • “[Kelly IP’s] high-quality work inspires confidence time after time”;
  • “every single one of its lawyers is really incredible”;
  • “what makes its group of all-stars super-competitive is that you receive a world-class service at a significantly reduced rate – you get so much for your money”;
  • “it is fantastic at clearing marks and is especially adept in the entertainment sphere”;
  • “an amazing firm that does impeccable work at a fraction of the cost that you would expect given its quality”;
  • “excels in prosecution, clearance and opposition proceedings for high-profile clients”;
  • “Kelly IP's trademark-focused professionals have decades of experience advising on IP issues and handling disputes”; and
  • the firm’s “insight is really sharp when it comes to filing and strategy”, but it also houses “a talented litigation team” and is “superb in contentious mandates”.
All of Kelly IP’s partners have similarly received numerous individual recognitions and honours from these same organisations and others. Now in its sixth year, Kelly IP continues evolving to meet the demands of the changing IP landscape disrupted by such new technologies as print-on-demand online t-shirt retailing and 3D printing of auto parts. Most of all, Kelly IP remains true to its founding principle of partnering with clients to provide exceptional work and exceptional value.