Related Practices

Education

J.D., Columbia University School of Law, 1992
B.A., with Distinction, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1989, Phi Beta Kappa

Bar Admissions

Arizona, 1992

Sean Garrison

Partner

vCard

Phoenix

40 North Central Avenue
Suite 1900
Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Phone 602.239.7434

Fax 602.734.3939

About Sean Garrison

Mr. Garrison is a partner of the firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group. His practice focuses on these major areas:

Counseling clients in the identification, selection, clearing, registration, protection and licensing of their intellectual property rights;
Prosecuting and defending clients in intellectual property litigation in both federal and state courts, including claims for trademark infringement and counterfeiting, copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, patent infringement, domain name infringement and cybersquatting, trade dress infringement, infringement of rights of publicity, unfair competition and false advertising;
Counseling clients in connection with software licensing compliance and responding to software audit requests;
Conducting website reviews for compliance with state, federal and international laws and regulations;
Counseling clients in assessing, preventing and responding to threats and liabilities relating to their computer systems and data;
Negotiating and drafting contracts, license agreements, website policies and terms of use;
IP Due Diligence for Corporate Transactions.

Mr. Garrison counsels his clients in ways to strengthen their intellectual property assets so as to help avoid litigation, or at least put themselves in the best posture, by properly developing, documenting, registering and licensing their intellectual property rights. Mr. Garrison has drafted numerous technology licenses, computer software licenses and escrow agreements, website policies and agreements and independent contractor agreements.

Mr. Garrison has represented large multinational businesses as well as individual owners of intellectual property rights. In helping his clients enforce their rights, Mr. Garrison has successfully obtained multimillion-dollar judgments and settlements and numerous preliminary and permanent injunctions on their behalf against third party infringers.

Representative Cases/Matters

H-D Michigan, Inc. and Harley Davidson Motor Company v. Bikers Dream, Inc. et al., 48 U.S.P.Q.2d 1108 (C.D. Cal. 1998)
Syntek Semiconductor Co. Ltd v. Microchip Technology, Inc., 307 F.3d 775 (9th Cir. 2002)
Superior Edge, Inc. v. Maricopa County Community College Dist., 2007 WL 1101185 (D. Minn. 2007)
Defended retailer in trademark, trade dress and patent lawsuits involving motorized scooters and ATVs
Master Services Agreement and Reseller Agreement for software company handling distribution of rich media files
Joint Development Agreement for systems incorporating laser optics used to detect air and liquid borne microbes
Assist various clients in responding to software audits conducted by Business Software Alliance

Memberships and Affiliations

Intellectual Property Section of the American Bar Association, Trademark Litigation Committee, Member
Science and Technology Law Section of the American Bar Association, E-Privacy Law Committee, Member
Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of Arizona, Member
Intellectual Property Section of the Maricopa County Bar Association, Member
Monetary Remedies Committee for the International Trademark Association, Member
Lecturer on trademark and Internet domain name strategies, copyrights, trade secrets and software licensing
Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, Airpark Committee Member
E-Commerce, Internet and Technology Law Section of the State Bar of Arizona, Past Chair

Publications

Quoted in "Emerging Markets Mean More Work for IP Experts, " Phoenix Business Journal, July 2008

Speaking Engagements

“The Do’s and Don’ts of Responding to Software Compliance Audits”, seminar for the MCBA Corporate Counsel division, April 2007
Arizona State Bar Convention Speaker for E-Commerce Section seminars (2005-2006)

Court Admissions

U.S. District Court, Colorado, 2000
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1995
U.S. District Court, Arizona, 1992

Other Distinctions

Mr. Garrison has an "AV/Preeminent Attorney" rating with Martindale Hubbell. He is listed in the 2007-2012 editions of The Best Lawyers in America, by Woodward/White, Aiken, S.C in the category of Intellectual Property Law and in the 2012 edition for Copyright Law, Patent Litigation and Trademark Law. Mr. Garrison has been named Best Lawyers' Lawyer of the Year in 2012 in Patent Litigation. He is also listed in "Top Lawyers in Arizona 2008" in Arizona Business Magazine.

Mr. Garrison is listed in the 2007-2012 editions of Southwest Super Lawyers in the category of Intellectual Property, and in the 2009 and 2010 Corporate Counsel editions in the category of Intellectual Property. He was also included in the 2010 edition of AZ Business' Top Lawyers, in the categories of Intellectual Property Law and Information Technology Law.

While attending The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Mr. Garrison was a James M. Johnston Scholar.