For more than 30 years, Heidi
Sachs has been practicing domestic and international trademark law, as well as
copyright and other areas of intellectual property law. Heidi chaired or
co-chaired the firm's Trademark & Copyright practice since its inception,
more than 20 years ago, until 2012. She continues to work with companies of all
sizes and industries on trademark, copyright, domain name, right of publicity,
IP due diligence and trade secret issues.
Heidi has extensive experience in all areas of
trademark prosecution and counseling, both domestically and internationally. The
members of the Trademark & Copyright practice take pride in the quality
of their legal services, as well as their responsiveness, efficiency and the
practical focus of their advice.
With clients ranging from emerging
companies to FORTUNE 100 and other public companies, Heidi works with the
software, Internet content, aerospace, telecommunication, energy and power,
consumer products, manufacturing, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals
industries. Several companies with significant trademark portfolios have chosen
to move their trademark work into her care, including The Boeing Company, Getty
Images Inc. and Fluke Corporation.
Heidi is well-known for her practical,
strategic and economical approach to consolidating, streamlining and
strengthening worldwide trademark portfolios.
When AT&T Wireless Services Inc. spun off from its parent company, she was
chosen to handle its international trademark portfolio. Under an extremely tight
timeframe, Heidi spearheaded comprehensive searches for more than 100
marks. Subsequently, the company filed dozens of new marks in more than 60
countries.
The largest airplane manufacturer in the world has worked
with Heidi for many years and recently chose to transfer its entire trademark
portfolio to her care. Assisting in the searching, worldwide registration and
enforcement for such important brands as DREAMLINER and 787 has required
cutting‑edge strategic decisions, as well as constant vigilance.
The
largest Internet content supplier for images and videos also chose Heidi to
manage their portfolio, which has included a myriad of international trademark
issues, including acquisitions in Japan, Canada, France and the United Kingdom.
For several years, Perkins Coie has been ranked first in Seattle, and
one of the top 20 firms in the country, based upon the annual number of U.S.
trademark registrations. In addition, Heidi has been recognized among the top 50
lawyers in the country. Heidi has filed and managed trademark applications and
registrations in more than 80 countries on almost all continents. In addition to
major industrial countries, such filings have included Iceland, Aruba and other
Caribbean Islands, and Kuwait.
Heidi manages trademarks that are more
than 100 years old, as well as helping start-up companies develop their brands.
For example, for the largest, worldwide, online retail company, she helped
develop and implement the strategy for a domain name registration policy and
defense plan that was on the cutting edge of the developing law. Even before
the Uniform Domain Name Protection Act, Heidi helped companies execute a
proactive, and when necessary, aggressive strategy to deal with domain name
cybersquatters, such as when she negotiated the acquisition of a domain name
worth almost $500,000.
Heidi has registered copyrights in software,
databases, Web sites, teaching and training materials, books and logos. She
counsels and assists clients in acquiring copyrights from independent
contractors and third parties, and in enforcing clients' copyrights throughout
the world. Such projects have included registering the copyright for a unique
search engine database containing billions of digital images.
In addition
to counseling in the area of rights of publicity, which can be enforced by
celebrities and non-celebrities alike, Heidi was involved at the drafting stage
of Washington state's Rights of Publicity statute. She counsels clients
regarding the use of photographs or personal information in advertisements,
training manuals, videos, Web sites and other media. Heidi has provided
strategic input on purchase and sale agreements and performed IP due
diligence for acquisitions and sales of domestic and international companies in
a wide variety of industries. She is adept at addressing complex international
trademark assignment and chain of title issues that often arise in the context
of such acquisitions.
As a litigator, Heidi was part of the team that
won the first trade secret case in Washington, for the largest aircraft
manufacturing company. After a six-week trial, the jury found trade secret
infringement, and the judgment was affirmed on appeal. In addition, Heidi has
written a chapter on trade secrets in a Matthew Bender treatise.