Biography
Maria Scungio is a member of the firm's Business Transactions and Intellectual Property + Technology Groups. She has more than 20 years of experience managing worldwide trademark portfolios, including transactional matters as well as protection, and intellectual property litigation.
Strategic Counseling
Maria advises Fortune 500 companies, mid-cap companies and start-up ventures (including well-known apparel, footwear, accessories, table ware, tobacco, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, music and publishing brands) in all phases of intellectual property asset creation, management, exploitation and enforcement in the U.S. and globally. She collaborates with clients to develop comprehensive long-term intellectual property strategies; educate clients on use of intellectual property protection to advance business goals and provides recommendations on best practices to streamline, simplify and enhance in-house daily operations in order to ensure optimal protection of intellectual property assets and to minimize risks to the client's business.
Litigation
Maria handles all aspects of trademark, trade dress, copyright and design patent enforcement, including infringement actions in U.S. federal courts and before administrative tribunals, UDRP proceedings, takedown requests and anti-counterfeiting measures in coordination with U.S. Customs and foreign border protection agencies. She has experience drafting case dispositive motions; preparing pleadings, discovery, motions, affidavits, briefs and protective orders; interviewing and preparing witnesses; advising on court and administrative proceedings in all phases internationally; supervising and strategizing with diverse international counsel; and providing legal analysis of intellectual property issues, factoring in risks and business objectives identified through close collaboration with clients and fully understanding the relevant industries.
Transactions
She has served as the lead IP attorney on acquisitions and divestitures for a wide range of consumer brands, including pharmaceutical and personal care products, nutritional products, apparel and footwear, food, beverage alcohol, and table ware and home decorative items. Maria evaluates and counsels on strategies to optimize asset value and meet client business goals, which often evolve in the diligence and bid process. She is an experienced manager of internal team resources, matching skill sets to help fulfill multiple client objectives, fostering close collaboration with outside corporate counsel to ensure a timely and comprehensive results for the business.
Team Management
Maria manages teams of attorneys and staff, applying a dedicated team model for each client account requiring rapid and continuously updated evaluation of the client’s specific industry, marketplace activity, business objectives and competitive threats, in order to best achieve cost-efficient solutions for clients.
In-House Counselor
Maria manages all aspects of global trademark portfolios, including clearance, prosecution, maintenance and enforcement of rights, working directly with clients to develop strategies to help achieve their business objectives. She has experience overseeing acquisition diligence, advising on trademark clearance and enforcement, review of media advertisements, promotions, proposed packaging and labeling from an IP perspective, partnering with client team members (legal and non-legal) to provide appropriately scalable and clear advice.
Trademark Portfolio Management and Design Protection
Maria has managed diverse portfolios of approximately 30,000 trademarks for clients in various industry sectors, including search, clearance, prosecution and defense of trademarks worldwide. She has served as counsel on the availability of design protection (copyright, trade dress, U.S. design patent, registered designs) and on the scope of asset protection, and advised on global rebranding projects, including drafting and negotiating trademark licenses, consent and settlement agreements; and making recommendations for portfolio maintenance and enforcement.