Susan L. Heller

Heller is the co-chair of her firm’s global trademark & brand management group. It is a legal niche she has been thriving in for over 30 years. By now, clients include Western Digital Corp., Alcoa Corp., TikTok, commercial real estate giant Tishman Speyer and Shein, which is the world’s largest online-only fashion retailer.

Her work involves registering and protecting trademarks in more than 130 foreign countries. She has professional relationships with about 400 law firms and law offices worldwide. But she does far more.

“I help clients build global footprints for their marks or brands,” she said. Heller and her team counsel and advise companies on how best to “build value” in their brands by monetizing them and increasing brand recognition. “Sometimes that’s about global reach, sometimes that’s vertical harmony,” she said.

“Brands are living things,” Heller added. “You don’t put them in a drawer.”

Every day, clients ask her if some proposed action or development might hurt their brands or trademarks. And the advice she gives often addresses business concerns more than legal. “We need to be sure our clients know the law [and] appreciate all the pros and cons of a position,” Heller said. “But at the end of the day, I work with marketing people and C-suite executives as much as lawyers.”

Current events and trends are always part of the calculations. For instance, the pandemic had a tremendous impact on consumer buying, trends and needs, she said, so many of the brands she counsels had to pivot off their established marketing and branding paths.

For clients who shut down temporarily, she made sure they abided by the Patent and Trademark Office’s standards for “excusable nonuse” of trademarks during the pandemic.

Another newer development she helped her clients with was what she called “cancel culture.” “All of a sudden, brands were being attacked, requiring immediate attention and response,” she said. If a client needed to respond, “it had to be handled promptly, strategically, and respectfully.”

More recently, Heller has advised several clients about protecting their intellectual property in Russia, which has responded to sanctions by threatening to no longer enforce trademarks.

Heller is known for her expertise in brand management for high-end real estate. Besides working with Tishman Speyer, which owns Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, she also has represented Aspen Skiing Co. and Pebble Beach Co.

Last year, she helped TikTok build its brand exponentially in the U.S., including dealing with major clearance issues and fending off would-be copycats.

For Shein, also based in China, she has been helping the company increase its visibility in the U.S. and develop “a stronger footprint” here.

Heller has worked with Alcoa for many years, as well as its newer related businesses, Arconic Corp. and Howmet Aerospace Inc.

Working with companies as they grow and change is what makes her practice great, she said. “I love it.”

– Don DeBenedictis