Catherine Clayton

Catherine M. Clayton is a Director in the Intellectual Property Department, and leads the firm’s Trademark Practice. She has a broad range of experience in trademark and copyright law, and her practice encompasses litigation, licensing and prosecution. Ms. Clayton regularly provides clients with strategic advice regarding the availability, validity and enforceability of trademarks. In addition, she has significant experience preventing the unauthorized use of trademarks and copyrights through litigation, arbitration and negotiation.

Ms. Clayton has worked extensively with clients in the fields of cosmetics, hair care, alcoholic beverages, apparel, entertainment, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, finance and real estate. In addition to representing clients in federal court and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, she regularly assists clients with establishing and maintaining domestic and international trademark portfolios; negotiates and drafts trademark and copyright licenses and assignments; protects clients’ trademarks and copyrights by halting on-line auctions of infringing goods; and resolves domain name disputes through negotiation, litigation in federal court, and arbitration under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Ms. Clayton was born in New Jersey and was raised in London, England, The Hague, Netherlands, Kingwood, Texas and Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. In 1992, she earned a bachelors degree from the University of Texas at Austin, with majors in Political Science and French and a minor in Art History. As an undergraduate, Ms. Clayton also studied law for one year at the Université de Poitiers in France.  She received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1997.

Ms. Clayton began her practice at Pennie & Edmonds LLP and was associated with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP prior to joining Gibbons.