Practice Areas

Margaret Minister O'Keefe

Partner

Drawing from her diverse and versatile experience as an in-house attorney for a lifestyle brand, an international trade lawyer at a large DC law firm, and (currently) an intellectual property attorney at Pierce Atwood LLP, Margaret Minister O'Keefe focuses on a mix of strategic business and legal advice for clients in the creative worlds of design, music, consumer products, software, and biotech industries. Not deterred by complexity or size, Margaret is equally impassioned – and driven – to obtain positive outcomes whether for a start-up or a Fortune 100 company.

Margaret's practice focuses on copyrights and trademarks, brand and product licensing, software and new technology licensing, privacy and data security, intellectual property asset management, and intellectual property protection and enforcement. A significant component of her practice also involves copyright litigation, trademark litigation, and patent litigation.

At the start of her career, Margaret was an attorney in Washington, DC. at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where she counseled clients in the semiconductor and electronics industries on U.S. law and policy affecting international trade and business, including export controls, customs, and the intellectual property provisions of such treaties as NAFTA and the WTO. She joined Pierce Atwood in 1997 as an associate in the litigation department, where she handled a wide variety of business litigation matters, including disputes involving contracts, the Uniform Commercial Code, noncompetition agreements, and intellectual property rights.

From 2007 until March 2010, Margaret served as General Counsel and Chief Licensing Officer of the contemporary lifestyle brand angela adams, where she was responsible for negotiating and drafting multinational licensing agreements, developing and implementing the licensee portfolio and strategy, including brand marketing and consistency, revenue enhancement, and enforcing the company's IP rights.

Recent Experience

Trial counsel for inventor of high performance liquid chromatography technology in the District of Massachusetts (successfully resulting in a verdict for willful patent infringement)
Defense of multinational consumer products company in trademark infringement litigation in the Northern District of California (settled prior to summary judgment)
Lead negotiator and legal counsel for multimillion dollar copyright and trademark licensing agreement
Trial counsel for nationally-recognized home furnishings brand in copyright infringement action against world's leading carpet manufacturer (resulting in jury verdict of willful infringement)
Defense of foreign biotech company accused of infringing patents concerning kits used to track mutations in HIV genome (settled following Markman hearing.)

Honors & Distinctions

Before leaving private practice in 2007, Margaret was recognized for her commercial litigation work in Woodward & White's The Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers. She also has received an AV® rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been named a New England Super Lawyer®. In 2003, for her pro bono work on behalf of Maine children on Medicaid, she received the Maine Children's Alliance Champions for Children Giraffe Award for individuals "making extraordinary efforts on behalf of Maine children."

Professional Activities

Elected Member, American Law Institute, 2006-present

Member, Justice Action Group, 2010-present

Chair, Advisory Committee of Providers (of legal aid), 2010-present

Adjunct Professor, Copyright Litigation, University of Maine School of Law, 2007

Board of Directors, Maine Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, 2008-2010

Publications

Robert H. Stier, Jr. & Margaret Minister O'Keefe, Settlement of Patent Disputes, in Patent Litigation Strategies Handbook, Third Edition 31 (Barry Grossman & Gary Hoffman eds., 3d ed. 2010).