James Faris

James W. Faris began his legal career and developed his expertise in trademark law at a top international law firm in Atlanta, where he practiced for over eight years on one of the largest trademark and copyright practice teams in the country.

Jimmy concentrates his practice in the areas of trademark litigation and prosecution, as well as advertising, copyright, and unfair competition. Jimmy has significant experience representing clients in intellectual property disputes in federal courts throughout the country, before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and in arbitration.

Jimmy also counsels clients in a variety of industries—including franchising, food and restaurant, retail, healthcare, social media, consumer products, and telecommunications—concerning the protection and enforcement of their intellectual property rights and advertising issues.

Jimmy is actively involved with the International Trademark Association, where he has served as a member of the Unreal Campaign Committee since 2016. Jimmy also serves as Liaison to the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising from the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law, and he is a member of the Franchise and Distribution Law and Intellectual Property Law Sections of the State Bar of Georgia.

Prior to entering private practice, Jimmy interned with Judge William S. Duffey of the Northern District of Georgia. During law school, he was on the editorial board of the Case Western Law Review, and he worked as a judicial extern for Judge Kathleen O’Malley of the Northern District of Ohio. Before law school, Jimmy served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria.

In addition to his legal practice, Jimmy is an active parishioner at St. Thomas More Church in Decatur. Jimmy is also a volunteer soccer coach with Inter Atlanta FC.

Experience:

• Nationwide trademark enforcement for several large franchise systems.
• Trademark clearance and prosecution for a variety of clients.
• Representation of a wide variety of clients in domestic opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
• Nationwide enforcement of de-identification and post-termination noncompete clauses on behalf of large franchise systems.
• Year-long secondment with the in-house legal advertising team of a large, multinational telecommunications company, providing counsel on a wide spectrum of advertising issues.
• Successful enforcement of right of first refusal to purchase trademark rights, eliminating geographic concurrent restriction on franchise company’s service mark registrations and creating national trademark rights.
• Successful enforcement of trademark and trade dress rights, through trial and final judgment, against a knock-off fragrance company.

Education:

• Case Western Reserve University School of Law, J.D. (2009)
• University of Missouri, B.A., History (2000)