by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmAFF Group Honored with Export Achievement Award
The Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm congratulates the AFF Group, formerly known as the American Foam & Fabric Company, for being honored with the Export Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of Commerce. This prestigious award recognizes the outstanding achievements of U.S. companies in the international market and their contributions to expanding U.S. exports.
The announcement was made in April during the International Trade Administration U.S. Commercial Service’s Building Bridges to Global Markets event in Greer, SC. This regional event included included the South Carolina District Export Council and special guest Arun Venkataraman, who is the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets, and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service.
Kim Lahey & Killough’s founding attorney Doug Kim serves on the SC District Export Council. He remarked, “It’s a pleasure to see clients recognized for their success. This well-deserved recognition is a testament to AFF’s efforts to expand their market and business reach internationally.”
The AFF Group has been a leading provider of high-quality foam and fabric products for over 60 years. The company operates several manufacturing facilities in the United States, including its headquarters in Lyman. Over the years, the company has developed a reputation for excellence in product quality and customer service.
In recent years, AFF Group has expanded its business into international markets, exporting its products to countries all over the world. The company’s success in the international market is a testament to its commitment to innovation, quality, and customer satisfaction.
AFF Group CEO Ben Leinster commented, “We are incredibly honored to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce for the Export Achievement Award. Whether deciding which foreign markets to pursue or coordinating logistics of a trip, we are grateful for the assistance of the partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the SC District Export Council.”
In addition to AFF, Greenville-based IT company Blue Eye Soft was also recognized with an Export Achievement Award. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) presents the Export Achievement Award to companies that have demonstrated a commitment to exporting and increasing their international sales. The award recognizes companies that have shown exceptional progress in expanding their exports or penetrating new markets.
The ITA plays an important role in promoting U.S. exports and supporting U.S. companies in the international market. The agency works with U.S. businesses to identify new export opportunities, provide market intelligence, and develop export strategies. The ITA also provides technical assistance and funding to help companies expand their international sales.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmPatent Attorney Robert Merting joins Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm
Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm is pleased to announce the addition of Robert Merting as an attorney in the firm’s Greenville, SC, office. Mr. Merting’s primary focus will be the firm’s intellectual property practice, corporate law, and regulatory compliance. He will also provide legal services directed to patent application preparation, contract and licenses, trademarks, non-disclosure agreements, and litigation.
A native of South Carolina, Mr. Merting worked in the research lab at Milliken and Company while attending Wofford College. It was at Milliken and Company that he gained a deep understanding of the creation process while working in research and development, following strict corporate guidelines for developing and documenting intellectual property. “Today, I leverage the lessons from those R&D challenges while helping clients document and protect their own intellectual property. It is always a joy telling a client their patent will issue,” says Merting.
In addition to his intellectual property practice, Mr. Merting brings more than ten years of legal experience in the areas of corporate law, wills and trusts, estate planning, and firearms law. “We welcome Robert and are delighted to have him at Kim, Lahey & Killough,” commented founding attorney Doug Kim. “Our firm has doubled in size this past year as we grow to meet the legal needs of South Carolina businesses. Robert brings a unique skillset to our firm by combining his business experience while working at a major Upstate manufacturing company, his in-house counsel experience with a Department of Defense contractor, and his private practice experience to assist us in continuing to provide excellent legal services to our clients and meet their growing needs.”
Robert Merting earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science, a Bachelor of Arts in business economics from Wofford College, and his Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University. He is admitted to practice before all South Carolina Courts, the South Carolina Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
With offices in Greenville and Charleston, SC, and Brevard, NC, the Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm is devoted to helping clients establish, enforce, and leverage their intellectual property rights from the Upstate to the Lowcountry and across the globe.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmKim, Lahey & Killough Listed in 2023 Best Law Firms
Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm has been named in the 2023 U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” list in Greenville for the fourth consecutive year. Firms included in the 2023 “Best Law Firms” list are recognized for professional excellence with consistently impressive ratings from clients and peers.
Ranked firms, presented in three tiers, are listed on a national and regional-based scale. Firms that received a tier designation reflect the highest level of respect a firm can earn among other leading lawyers and clients in the same communities and practice areas.
Kim, Lahey & Killough is recognized as a Tier 1 law firm in the area of Patent Law and a Tier 3 law firm in the area of Trademark Law in Greenville.
With offices in Greenville and Charleston, SC and Brevard, NC, Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm is devoted to helping clients establish, enforce, and leverage their intellectual property rights from the Upstate, to the Lowcountry to across the globe. The firm serves the manufacturing, software, energy, finance, hospitality, tourism, and technology industries. Key practice areas include intellectual property, business and commercial litigation, mediation, employment, corporate and business matters, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and cybersecurity.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmKim, Lahey & Killough attorneys recognized by Best Lawyers®
The Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm is pleased to announce several of its attorneys are recognized by Best Lawyers® for 2023.
Founding member, Doug Kim, is recognized in the 29th edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the practice areas of patent law and trademark law. He has been recognized in both areas previously as Greenville’s Trademark Lawyer of the Year, 2022, and Patent Lawyer of the Year, 2019. This is the eighth time he has been recognized by Best Lawyers.
In our Charleston office, B.C. Killough is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of patent law and trademark law, as well as corporate law and intellectual property litigation. Killough has been recognized annually in Best Lawyers since 2010 for his work in these areas. In 2015, he was listed as The Corporate Law Lawyer of the Year for the Charleston metro.
Attorney Casey Martin is named in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America™ in the practice areas of employment law for employees, employment law for managers, and employment law litigation. This recognition highlights the legal talent of lawyers who have been in practice for less than 10 years.
The Best Lawyers in America recognizes only the top 5.3% of elite lawyers in the nation across 150 practice areas. More than 12 million evaluations were considered in this purely peer-review to identify this year’s exclusive group of Best Lawyers honorees.
With offices in Greenville and Charleston, SC, and Brevard, NC, the Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm is devoted to helping clients establish, enforce, and leverage their intellectual property rights from the Upstate, to the Lowcountry to across the globe.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmGreenville Law Firm expands to Charleston and NC
Kim and Lahey Greenville Law Firm welcomes attorneys Casey Martens to our new North Carolina office, as well as B.C. Killough and Ernest B. Lipscomb, III in our newly established Charleston office. Moving forward, the firm will operate under the tradename Kim, Lahey & Killough.
These additions expand the firm’s geographical reach, enhancing its capabilities in providing legal services to companies ranging from start-ups and early ventures to established international markets throughout the Carolinas. Additionally, these combinations broaden the industries the firm can serve, including manufacturing, software, energy, finance, hospitality, tourism, and technology. Key practice areas will include intellectual property, business and commercial litigation, mediation, employment, corporate and business matters, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and cybersecurity. Each individual firm brings unique benefits along with them.
North Carolina
Kim, Lahey & Killough is committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Adding Casey to the team continues the active promotion of their passionate commitment to improve diversity in this field. The expansion into North Carolina has been secured by a new office location in Brevard, NC.
The practice areas of the firms are complementary and will heighten our presence in the South and North Carolina economies. “The practice strengths, collaborative culture and focus on providing exceptional client-centric service will help us to deliver even greater value to our clients. We’re confident that this combination will accelerate our growth and lead to long-term, sustained success,” says Doug Kim.
Casey Martens
Casey Martens brings a unique mix of interests and experience in public service and small-business restaurant management to her litigation contact and employment law practice.
Some of Casey’s highlights are her work with the South Carolina ACLU on prison reform, the League of Women Voters Voting Rights Act presentations and voter registration to South Carolina high schools, and the Young Lawyers Association’s initiative for educating students about the intersection and impact of social media, technology, and the law. For these and her other efforts, Casey was awarded the “William Bennett Regan Award for Outstanding Public Service” by the Charleston School of Law.
Experience has its advantages. With a decade of small-business management to draw on, Casey recognizes the realities and challenges that employers and employees face in small business settings. Her tenure in the food, beverage and hospitality industries gives her a uniquely informed view of how-to best structure and implement preventative measures such as policies, procedures, and employee manuals. Casey is adept at how to approach social issues like sexual harassment and racial discrimination, as well as financial issues such as non-payment of wages and overtime.
Previously, Casey served as an intern and a paralegal in a wide variety of legal areas, including product liability, probate, the SC Department of Health and Environment, and the US District Court for the District of South Carolina.
The South Carolina Lowcountry
The inclusion of B.C. Killough and Ernest B. Lipscomb, III in Charleston brings two legal powerhouses.
B.C. Killough
For over thirty years, Bill has provided legal services in the areas of patents, trademarks, copyrights, commercial transactions, litigation, and mediation to his clients. He is a Senior Fellow with the Litigation Counsel of America, is rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale Hubbell®, and listed in The Best Lawyers in America (2015 Charleston, SC Corporate Lawyer of the Year), South Carolina Super Lawyers and Charleston Business Magazine as one of its Legal Elite. Killough and his co counsel Lip Lipscomb both previously served as adjunct professors of the patent law course at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Ernest B. Lipscomb, III
Ernest B. Lipscomb, III is the author of the seminal eleven-volume treatise in the patent field, Lipscomb’s Walker on Patents, and Lipscomb’s Patent Claims. He has also testified as an expert witness in numerous patent cases. Lipscomb is rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale Hubbell® and recognized by both The Best Lawyers of America and Super Lawyers for his work in trademarks, patents, and intellectual property law. In 2015, the South Carolina Bar Foundation honored him as a member of the Nifty Fifty Class.
“We are excited to bring the comprehensive knowledge of both Bill and Lip to the firm and look forward to further enhancing the legal services we offer to our existing and future clients”, says Doug Kim. “With this new expansive presence in both Carolinas, Kim Lahey & Killough not only gains a larger geographical footprint, we increase our resources network, enabling us to provide an expended legal service offering to our clients.”
Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm is devoted to helping clients establish, enforce, and leverage their intellectual property rights. With our client-centric focus, we seek to understand your needs and customize legal solutions that best achieve your goals and budgets.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmUpcoming Webinar – Protecting IP Overseas: USPTO Trade Attaché Program
Did you know the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) offers services and information to U.S. companies entering foreign markets or conducting business abroad?
Join Upstate SC Alliance and Kim & Lahey Law Firm to hear from USPTO representatives Elizabeth Dougherty, Cynthia Henderson, and Dominic Keating. Dominic will provide an overview of the USPTO IP Attaché Program including the history of the program, locations, and services provided. Cynthia will discuss her work in Mexico City and the issues she encounters in the region, including how she assists U.S. companies on specific intellectual property issues, her training and outreach programs to raise awareness, and her experience raising issues with foreign government officials throughout the region.
Following their presentations, attendees can participate in a discussion moderated by Kim & Lahey Law Firm Founder & Attorney Doug Kim.
When: Wednesday, November 10, 2021 | 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Where: Anywhere you’d like! Check your confirmation email for the Zoom link.
Register Here
Please RSVP by Monday, November 8th to save your spot.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmEuropean Man Sentenced for Impersonating USPTO
Last week, the United States Department of Justice announced that Viktors Suhorukovs, a citizen of Latvia, was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison and ordered to pay over $4.5 million in restitution after pleading guilty to mail fraud in a multi-million-dollar scheme to defraud owners of U.S. trademark registrations. Suhorukovs established and operated Patent and Trademark Office, LLC, and Patent and Trademark Bureau, LLC. These entities gave the false impression that they were, in fact, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), scamming more than 2,900 U.S. trademark registrants out of millions of dollars for inflated, and often fake, renewal fees.
According to the DOJ, Suhorukovs’ renewal notices misrepresented the trademark registration’s expiration date. The renewal notices also contained a QR Code which linked the trademark holder directly to the official government USPTO website. The notices directed the victim to sign and return the notice. Once the victim signed and returned the renewal notice, Suhorukovs sent the victim an invoice for the renewal service and charged inflated prices for the renewal of the trademark. Victims would then, unknowingly, send renewal fees to Suhorukovs’ businesses, believing they were dealing with the USPTO.
In the notices and invoices, Suhorukovs represented he would renew the trademark registration, when in fact, he did not or could not renew the registration at the time he represented to the victims that he would because, under applicable law, those trademarks were not yet eligible for renewal. In addition, under the USPTO’s rules, Suhorukovs could not lawfully file renewal documents on behalf of registrants because he was not a licensed U.S. attorney.
This is one of many schemes that confuse and defraud owners of U.S. registrations with solicitations that are intended to look like official USPTO correspondence. These schemes often falsely promise to take required maintenance actions on behalf of the registration owner, or they scam registrants into paying for services they don’t need.
The USPTO says it works hard to fight these solicitations and assist law enforcement in cases like Suhorukovs’. Learn more about their ongoing efforts to combat scams on the USPTO website, including nine things you can do to protect your trademark application or registration.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmDoug Kim named Best Lawyers® 2022 Trademark “Lawyer of The Year” in Greenville
Greenville, S.C. — August 19, 2021— A founding member of the Kim & Lahey Law Firm is named Best Lawyers® 2022 Trademark “Lawyer of The Year” in Greenville. This is the seventh time Douglas Kim has been recognized by Best Lawyers. The long-time intellectual property attorney says, “I am honored to have been selected for this ‘Lawyer of the Year’ award especially since it’s determined by peer reviews.”
The 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America recognizes the professional excellence of more than 66,000 lawyers in 147 practice areas. “Lawyer of the Year” honors are awarded to only one lawyer per practice area in each region with extremely high overall feedback from their peers, making it an exceptional distinguishment. Of all the attorneys in private practice in the United States, only 5% are recognized by Best Lawyers of America.
This is the second time Doug has received this top honor. In 2019, Doug was named Best Lawyers® Patent “Lawyer of The Year” in Greenville.
Doug is an innovation enthusiast, entrepreneur and long-time business advocate who enjoys providing legal solutions and strategies tailored to each client’s goals, from start-ups to multinational corporations. Doug helps clients match their intellectual property goals with their business goals by providing legal strategies to protect inventions (patents), brands (trademarks), websites, software, apps, music, photos, and websites (copyright, licenses and Internet law), and trade secrets. Doug also chairs the South Carolina Bar Intellectual Property and Innovation Committee.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmTrademark Renewal Scams: A Growing Problem. Don’t be Fooled.
Anyone who has registered or applied for a trademark knows it eventually must be renewed. Unfortunately, bad actors know this too and are trying to rip you off. According to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), trademark renewal scams are on the rise. They’re becoming so sophisticated that the USPTO has filed several trademark applications to increase protection for its own brand.
Being on a national trademark register is one of the many benefits of have a federally registered trademark. It allows others to search and find your registration. When other companies are trying to determine if a name is “available,” one of the first places they look is the USPTO database of trademark registrations and pending applications. To keep a trademark registration enforceable, it must be renewed periodically. Generally, the first renewal is five years from registration. The next one in five more years and then every 10 years after that. Unfortunately, bad actors are also looking at the public database. The USPTO says they’re seeing an increasing number of misleading solicitations and trademark filing scams.
The USPTO has also stated that it is “seeing more sophisticated enterprises entering the space” with some scams even impersonating the US Patent and Trademark Office. I know first hand. I received a fraudulent text regarding my trademark just last year. The USPTO has taken steps in the past to curb this misleading and sometimes illegal behavior, including providing scam alerts, working with law enforcement and sanctioning filers who violate the US Patent and Trademark Office rules.
On August 4, 2021, the Department of Commerce (the agency under which the USPTO sits), filed several applications for the federal registration of USPTO marks. The USPTO hopes with a federal registration, it can improve its ability to stop these scams and protect the USPTO brand from improper use by those trying to impersonate or falsely claim affiliation with the USPTO. In appreciation of the potential conflict of filing an application in its own office (because the application would be examined by the USPTO) the Department of Commerce is the actual applicant.
As we see more and more activity online and with more and more access to information, we can expect these scams to continue. If you receive a notification from a party you do not know (for example, not your law firm) take caution. Some of the known violators call themselves names like:
“Patent and Trademark Office”
“Patent & Trademark Office”
“Patent and Trademark Agency”
“Patent and Trademark Bureau”
“Trademark Compliance Center”
“Trademark Compliance Office”
“Trademark Office LTD”
“United States Trademark Registration Office”
One company in Belize went so far as to attempt to register the mark PATENT & TRADEMARK AGENCY. In response, the USPTO stated, “Registration is refused because the applied-for mark PATENT & TRADEMARK AGENCY consists of or includes matter which may falsely suggest a connection with a US government agency, specifically, the US Patent and Trademark Office.”
If you have any doubt as to the authenticity, truthfulness or honesty of any communication you receive concerning your trademark registration or application, contact an experienced trademark attorney for assistance.
by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law FirmKim & Lahey Attorneys Honored in 2021 Legal Elite
The Kim & Lahey Law Firm is proud to announce that our attorneys are being honored by Greenville Business Magazine as part of South Carolina’s 2021 Legal Elite. This is the second year in a row that all Kim & Lahey attorneys have made the list.
Greenville Business Magazine’s Legal Elite is the only regional awards program that allows every active attorney to nominate and vote for their peers across 26 categories. The following are the Kim & Lahey attorneys selected for inclusion, as well as the practice areas in which their work is recognized:
Douglas Kim: Intellectual Property and Innovation – Business Litigation
Seann Lahey: Intellectual Property and Innovation – Business Litigation
Jason Rosen: Tax and Estate Planning – Corporate Law, Mergers, and Acquisitions
Casey Martens: Labor and Employment
Thank you to all of our peers who voted and congratulations to all of the South Carolina attorneys who are being recognized this year.