Katherine Staba is a partner in the technology transactions and data protection practice group in the Chicago office. Her practice focuses on complex global transactions and counseling relating to digital media planning and buying, advertising and marketing, claim substantiation, software licensing, and intellectual property issues in mergers, acquisitions and investments, unfair competition and trade secrets and competitive intelligence. Katherine’s recent experience includes assisting businesses with agreements and engagements related to cloud services, mobile applications, and artificial intelligence products.
Katherine’s clients span multiple industries including beauty products, home products, sports organizations, media platforms, cloud computing providers, luxury goods, clothing retailers, consumer electronics, and pharmaceutical products. For these clients, Katherine leverages her in-house experience to offer practical, business sensitive guidance and representation.
Katherine’s recent representations include: (a) advising consumer product brands on influencer engagements; (b) negotiating technology and joint development agreements related to health related products and pharmaceuticals; (c) counseling and negotiating agreements related to the application of artificial intellectual and machine learning to consumer interactions; and (d) drafting transactional consumer documents for a leading fashion retailer.
In addition to her counseling practice, Katherine’s experience includes litigation of cases involving patents, copyright, trademarks, licenses, and trade secrets in both trial courts and appellate courts.
Prior to joining the firm, Katherine served as counsel with Amazon Web Services supporting its global data center engineering legal efforts globally. Katherine also previously served as in-house digital media legal counsel for several business units at Publicis Groupe (Re:Sources USA, a Publicis Groupe company), a French multinational advertising and public relations company. Before that, she was a managing associate in the intellectual property and litigation groups of another global law firm.
Before Katherine became an attorney, she worked at a biotech startup in Boston in business development and patent portfolio management.
- Named among Notable Women in the Law, Crain’s Chicago Business, 2020
- Selected to Rising Stars list, Intellectual Property, 2016
- Faculty, Emory Law, Kessler-Eidson Program for Trial Techniques
- University of Washington School of Law Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Team, Coach
- October 2020, Women in Law & IP, Women in Law Summit Series, Performance & Potential: The Path to Promotion & Growth
- July 2018, Washington State Bar Association, Advancing IP Licensing: State of the Art, Cloud Computing: What We Care About in 2018
- October 2015, International Trademark Association, Trademark Administrators & Practitioners Meeting, Social Media: The Shifting Landscape
- “The GenAI revolution: Law firms will never be the same,” Daily Journal, 24 July 2024
- “‘Beauty From Within’ Trend Poses Regulatory Risks For Cos.,” Law360, 26 April 2024
- “Modern adtech regulated under antiquated law: How video killed the internet star,” Thomson Reuters Westlaw Today, 15 March 2024
- “As Biometric Privacy Laws Grow, Cos. Must Up Transparency,” Law360, 10 July 2023
- “Over a Fortnite: Epic Games to Pay Record US$520 Million to Settle FTC Claims of Children’s Privacy Violations and Digital Dark Patterns That Continued for Years,” The Computer & Internet Lawyer, April 2023
- “Embarking on an Augmented Reality Campaign? Legal Issues for Advertisers to Consider,” Association of National Advertisers ANA, 3 October 2019
- Co-author, “Capitol Records v. ReDigi and the reselling of digital files,” e-commerce law & policy, 2013
- Co-author, “Cheaters never prosper . . . or do they?”, Intellectual Property Magazine, June 2011
- Contributing Author, “AIPLA Quarterly Case Summaries,” Trademark Litigation Committee, 2010
- Co-author, “Courts Clarify Copyright and Trademark Rights in Furniture Cases,” Furniture World, October 2010
- Co-author, “Stand by your Brand,” Intellectual Property Magazine, September 2010
- Co-author, “What You Need to Know About Intellectual Property,” Furniture World Magazine, July 2010
- Co-author, “U.S. Bose Decision - Effects on Madrid System Users,” WIPO Magazine, June 2010
- Co-author, “Common Workplace Activities Can Cause Copyright Problems,” New England In-House, May 2010
- Co-author, “Recent TTAB Decisions Highlight Challenges of Pleading and Proving Fraud after Bose,” IP Strategist, February 2010
- Co-author, “Copyright Protection in the Furniture Industry,” Furniture World Magazine, January 2010
- Co-author, “It Ain't Easy Being Green,” IP Law360, September 19, 2008
