TMA Provides New Shortened Response Times (plus, a word about audits)
The Trademark Modernization Act, enacted in December 2020, provides for shorter response times to respond to examination issues raised by a Trademark Office Examining Attorney
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Ann Dunn Wessberg
PRIMARY SERVICES
Advertising, Marketing & Trademark
Intellectual Property
Anti-Counterfeiting
Sports & Entertainment
“I help busy professionals build strong, protected brands.”
Overview
Articles & Presentations
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Honors & Education
Professional Activities
Overview
Helping clients build strong brands, avoid infringement and protect their brands, Ann has served as a trademark and copyright attorney in private practice and in-house for 25 years.
As former chief trademark counsel for Target, Ann is uniquely familiar with business challenges in-house counsel face in terms of pressures on people, time and money. Ann tailors her solutions to busy executives who need to navigate risk. Ann provides advice and counseling on trademark and copyright matters. She has a Fortune 50-style brand plan she can resize to any company to select, protect, defend and enforce trademarks in order to build strong brands. She searches trademarks to find strong, enforceable marks. She files and prosecutes trademark applications through to registration and maintenance. She actively enforces and defends trademarks and copyrights through correspondence, takedown notices, oppositions, cancellations and litigation. Her practice also includes registration and counseling on copyright matters, including termination of copyright. Although her clients are diverse, she has a strong focus in retail and consumer packaged goods.
Before joining Fredrikson & Byron, Ann served as chief trademark counsel to Target. She advised on clearance, use, prosecution, maintenance, defense, enforcement, and licensing of its trademarks, copyrights and domain names. Ann managed a global trademark portfolio of more than 5,800 applications and registrations and she directed the search and review of up to 15,000 trademarks per year.
Prior to working in-house, Ann was a partner at one of the largest Twin Cities general practice firms. She provided comprehensive brand management and counseling regarding trademark and copyright clearance, use, prosecution, maintenance and related agreements. She managed large domestic and international trademark portfolios, including enforcing and defending trademarks, copyrights and domain names through cease-and-desist letters, UDRP proceedings, and proceedings before the TTAB and federal district court. She has conducted due diligence evaluations for acquisitions and divestitures, reviewed and cleared advertising and provided in-house trademark and copyright training for clients.
Ann is also a frequent speaker on trademark and copyright issues for the International Trademark Association (INTA) and Minnesota CLE.
Articles & Presentations
Fredrikson & Byron Attorneys Ann Dunn Wessberg and Lora Friedemann Named in WTR Global Leaders 2021
August 3, 2021
Fredrikson & Byron shareholders Ann Dunn Wessberg and Lora Friedemann were recognized by World Trademark Review (WTR) in its 2021 Global Leaders list.
You Have a Trademark Registration, Now What?
June 29, 2020
Once you have started using your trademark or received a trademark registration, you should put a watch or monitoring service into place.
Inside High Court Argument on Offensive Trademarks
January 25, 2017
On Jan. 18, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Lee v. Tam to decide whether the Trademark Act’s prohibition on registering “disparaging” marks violates the First Amendment.
PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
- Presenter, “2021 Trademark Law Year in Review,” Midwest Intellectual Property Institute, September 23, 2021
- Presenter, “The Year in Trademark Law: Noteworthy Decisions and Their Impact on Your Practice,” Midwest Intellectual Property Institute, October 1, 2020
- Moderator, “Hot Topics in Retail IP,” Midwest Intellectual Property Institute, September 28, 2018
- “Key IP Legal Trends 2018-2019 in Brief – Retail,” co-authored with Eric J. Snustad, The IP Book, (2018 Minnesota Continuing Legal Education)
- Moderator, “Navigating IP Legal Risks on Social Media,” Managing the Company’s Reputation CLE, Twin Cities Chief Legal Officers Group, November 9, 2017
Honors & Education
EDUCATION
- William Mitchell College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline), J.D., 1995, cum laude
- University of Minnesota, B.A., 1989
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Minnesota, 1995
LANGUAGES
- Spanish
HONORS
- World Trademark Review 300 Global Leaders, Ranked as a leading trademark attorney, 2020-2022
- World Trademark Review 1000, Ranked as a leading trademark attorney, 2019-2022
- The Best Lawyers in America, Advertising Law, 2023
- The Best Lawyers in America, Trademark Law, 2021-present
Professional Activities
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
- Adjunct Professor of Trademark Law, Copyright Law and Business Torts, William Mitchell College of Law, 1999-2005
- Adjunct Professor of Trademark Law, Copyright Law and Arts & Entertainment Law, Hamline University School of Law, 1996-2000
COMMUNITY
- Volunteer Lawyers Network, providing eviction expungement advocacy
- Children’s Law Center of Minnesota, Attorney Advocate