Heather A. Antoine

Antoine often tells clients they might not like her very much by the time she's finished getting them to comply with privacy laws.

That's because she asks them to do so much. "But at least I know we're doing it appropriately," she said.

Besides California's tough privacy laws statutes, there are new laws in Colorado, Virginia, Utah and around the world, said Antoine, who co-chairs her firm's privacy and data security practice. Following them all is challenging for clients.

"Companies have to know where all of your data lives, who has access to it... how long each piece is being stored and why," she said. "Companies can't just say they are storing it indefinitely because privacy laws don't allow for that anymore."

To that end, she and her group hold biweekly or monthly meetings with her clients to design and implement global privacy programs.

Antoine also heads her firm's trademark and brand protection practice. That group prosecutes and registers trademarks around the world. It also is charged with protecting the nearly 2,000 separate trademarks the firm's clients own.

One trademark client that keeps her busy is Naked Nutrition, which sells whey protein powders and supplements. "We've had to undergo a lot of effort to protect and enforce that brand over the years."

Antoine does not litigate matters in court. But she does handle cases at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. In early 2020, she successfully won approval of client Outstanding Foods Inc.'s "Full of Flavor, Free of Guilt" mark over a challenge brought by an ice cream company with the mark "Guilt Free."

Currently, she is appealing the trademark office's rejection of "Saturdazed" as a mark for her apparel client Sellout L.A.

Antoine said trademark is her favorite area of the law. "It's the first type of law you recognize as a child. When your mom or dad walks in the door... [with] a Target bag, or when you see the Disney ears, you recognize brand before you recognize any other legal concept in the law."

- Don DeBenedictis