Shelley J. Safer

Shelley J. Safer joined Lathrop & Clark LLP in 1978 and is a member of the Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law Group. Her practice focuses on the development and management of domestic and international trademark portfolios, advising clients on trademark selection, registration and enforcement of trademarks and copyrights, Internet domain name issues, licensing of intellectual property, infringement litigation before the federal courts, and proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Ms. Safer represents a wide spectrum of clients, including software developers, manufacturers of products ranging from toys to dairy equipment, insurance companies, advertising agencies, mail-order catalog companies, financial institutions, authors, publishers, musicians, and artists. Whether large or small, these companies are all interested in obtaining the fullest protection available for their valuable intellectual property.

Ms. Safer has obtained trademark registrations for many notable clients, including a motion picture special effects company. That company’s technology won an Academy Award in 1997 and has been used on many films nominated for best special effects since 1993.

She was active in settling the literary estate of a Wisconsin native who was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in drama. Ms. Safer has prosecuted numerous trademark applications for one of the leading board game and toy companies in the United States. She has helped a company enforce its copyrighted building design against infringement by a competitor. She has also represented a number of website owners that have become victims of cyberpiracy.

Ms. Safer has been awarded an AV®* rating by Martindale-Hubbell for excellence in legal skills and high ethical standards. She is a coauthor of Wisconsin Attorney’s Desk Reference, a publication of the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Ms. Safer graduated in 1975 from Boston University magna cum laude and received her law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1978. She is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Dane County Bar Association (Board of Directors 1985-87; 1990-93), the Wisconsin Intellectual Property Law Association (Board of Directors 1993-95), and the Madison Advertising Federation (Board of Directors 1994-1996 and Legal Counsel to the Board of Directors 1997-1999).

*AV® is registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and the Judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell Ratings fall into two categories - legal ability and general ethical standards.

Areas of Practice

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