Downey_Anne

Anne F. Downey

Partner

Committed to helping her clients succeed, Anne delivers thoughtful and practical legal advice. With more than 30 years of experience, including time as a small business owner, Anne helps businesses and individuals develop, protect and utilize intellectual property rights. She advises clients on the domestic and international protection of trademarks and copyrights, and has significant experience managing global IP portfolios. She also negotiates license agreements, handles trade secrets and e-commerce issues, as well as IP infringement, opposition, and cancellation matters.

Anne represents large multi-national companies to sole proprietors, including a wide range of business and not-for-profit organizations. Regardless of her client’s size or scope, Anne is passionate about serving her client’s immediate and long-term needs in a timely, personable, and strategic manner.

In addition to her IP practice, Anne assists not-for-profit organizations with incorporating and obtaining 501(c)(3) status, counsels entities and individuals on business and operational issues, and drafts and negotiates a wide variety of agreements.

PROFESSIONAL & CIVIC AFFILIATIONS

  • Member and Former Chair, Bar Association of Erie County Intellectual Property Law Committee
  • Adjunct Professor, Hilbert College, 2009-2012

HONORS & AWARDS

  • Recipient, 2022 Empire State Counsel® Outstanding Pro Bono Volunteer Award, New York State Bar Association
  • Named as Best Lawyers® 2023 Nonprofit / Charities Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Buffalo, NY
  • Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for Nonprofit / Charities Law
  • Legal Elite of Western New York, Buffalo Business First/Buffalo Law Journal, 2019

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

  • Handled the international trademark portfolios for U.S. and Canadian clients in a wide range of industries, including food and beverage, automotive, consumer products, retail, and entertainment.
  • Assisted a Fortune 500 public company with software licenses and Statements of Work.
  • Helped professional sports teams with ongoing enforcement of intellectual property rights.
  • Counseled a Grammy-award winning rock band on U.S. trademark protection issues.
  • Registered trademarks for an author of a best-selling book series.
  • Guided a private university on nonprofit, intellectual property and higher educational issues.
  • Worked with a startup brewing company on trademark protection, licenses, and corporate structuring and operational issues.

NEWS

PRESENTATIONS

  • “Attracting Customers and Staying Safe: Intellectual Property and Data Protection,” 45th Annual Interferry Conference, Santander, Spain, October 4, 2021
  • “Campus Conversations: Legal Matters – Hot Topics in US Intellectual Property Law for Institutions of Higher Education” webinar, January 17, 2019

PRACTICE AREAS

ADMISSIONS

  • New York

EDUCATION

  • O.W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University, J.D., summa cum laude
  • University of California at San Diego, B.A., cum laude

Committed to helping her clients succeed, Anne delivers thoughtful and practical legal advice. With more than 30 years of experience, including time as a small business owner, Anne helps businesses and individuals develop, protect and utilize intellectual property rights. She advises clients on the domestic and international protection of trademarks and copyrights, and has significant experience managing global IP portfolios. She also negotiates license agreements, handles trade secrets and e-commerce issues, as well as IP infringement, opposition, and cancellation matters.

Anne represents large multi-national companies to sole proprietors, including a wide range of business and not-for-profit organizations. Regardless of her client’s size or scope, Anne is passionate about serving her client’s immediate and long-term needs in a timely, personable, and strategic manner.

In addition to her IP practice, Anne assists not-for-profit organizations with incorporating and obtaining 501(c)(3) status, counsels entities and individuals on business and operational issues, and drafts and negotiates a wide variety of agreements.

PROFESSIONAL & CIVIC AFFILIATIONS

  • Member and Former Chair, Bar Association of Erie County Intellectual Property Law Committee
  • Adjunct Professor, Hilbert College, 2009-2012

HONORS & AWARDS

  • Recipient, 2022 Empire State Counsel® Outstanding Pro Bono Volunteer Award, New York State Bar Association
  • Named as Best Lawyers® 2023 Nonprofit / Charities Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Buffalo, NY
  • Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for Nonprofit / Charities Law
  • Legal Elite of Western New York, Buffalo Business First/Buffalo Law Journal, 2019

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

  • Handled the international trademark portfolios for U.S. and Canadian clients in a wide range of industries, including food and beverage, automotive, consumer products, retail, and entertainment.
  • Assisted a Fortune 500 public company with software licenses and Statements of Work.
  • Helped professional sports teams with ongoing enforcement of intellectual property rights.
  • Counseled a Grammy-award winning rock band on U.S. trademark protection issues.
  • Registered trademarks for an author of a best-selling book series.
  • Guided a private university on nonprofit, intellectual property and higher educational issues.
  • Worked with a startup brewing company on trademark protection, licenses, and corporate structuring and operational issues.

NEWS

PRESENTATIONS

  • “Attracting Customers and Staying Safe: Intellectual Property and Data Protection,” 45th Annual Interferry Conference, Santander, Spain, October 4, 2021
  • “Campus Conversations: Legal Matters – Hot Topics in US Intellectual Property Law for Institutions of Higher Education” webinar, January 17, 2019

PRACTICE AREAS

ADMISSIONS

  • New York

EDUCATION

  • O.W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University, J.D., summa cum laude
  • University of California at San Diego, B.A., cum laude
Downey_Anne
Anne F. Downey