Karen A. Butcher Partner

Karen A. Butcher is a partner and a practice group leader in Morgan Lewis's Intellectual Property Practice. Ms. Butcher's practice focuses on transactions and strategic counseling regarding brands and related intellectual property.

Relevant experience:

• Handling intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, financing transactions, and related corporate arrangements on behalf of major multinational corporations, as well as private equity and venture capital firms.
• Advising clients regarding managing trademark risk in connection with brand ownership and licensing structures, whether in the context of acquisitions, financing arrangements, or tax planning.
• Developing and implementing cost-effective strategies for evaluating IP assets to be acquired or divested to maximize value and minimize deficiencies.
• Advising clients regarding transition and integration of acquired assets.
• Counseling clients regarding all facets of international trademark strategy, including developing and implementing strategic approaches to ownership, clearance, protection, and enforcement of global brands in view of applicable business objectives.
• Drafting and negotiating innovative arrangements for brand development, marketing and promotion, including licensing, sponsorship, product placement, brand integration, celebrity spokesperson, and cross-promotional agreements.
• Drafting and negotiating creative service agreements with advertising, branding, promotions, and ideation agencies.

Ms. Butcher is active in the International Trademark Association, currently as vice chair of the Information Resources Committee. She was awarded INTA's 2005 Volunteer Service Award for the Advancement of Committee Objectives for her leadership in the development of a library of key trade dress cases from around the world.

Ms. Butcher regularly presents on intellectual property topics and has most recently spoken on IP issues in transactions at the Practising Law Institute's "Acquiring or Selling the Privately Held Company" and "Joint Ventures: Essential Business and Legal Trends" before the Westchester/Fairfield Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (WESFACCA).

Recent publications include an article on "Optimising Brand Value Through Strategic Tax Planning" in Brands in the Boardroom 2007 (supplement to IAM Magazine) and a chapter on cost-effective strategies for addressing IP issues in global advertising/marketing clearance in Inside the Minds: Settlements and Negotiations for Advertising and Marketing Law (Aspatore Books, 2006).

Ms. Butcher received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1993 and her B.S. in marketing from the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce in 1988.

Ms. Butcher is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and New York.