Heidi L. Sachs

For more than 30 years, Heidi Sachs has been practicing domestic and international trademark law, as well as copyright and other areas of intellectual property law.  Heidi chaired or co-chaired the firm's Trademark and Copyright group since its inception, more than 20 years ago, until 2012. She continues to work with companies of all sizes and industries on trademark, copyright, domain name, right of publicity, IP due diligence and trade secret issues.

Heidi has extensive experience in all areas of trademark prosecution and counseling, both domestically and internationally. The members of the Trademark and Copyright practice take pride in the quality of their legal services, as well as their responsiveness, efficiency and the practical focus of their advice.

With clients ranging from emerging companies to Fortune 100 and other public companies, Heidi works with the software, Internet content, aerospace, telecommunication, energy and power, consumer products, manufacturing, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals industries. Several companies with significant trademark portfolios have chosen to move their trademark work into her care, including The Boeing Company, Getty Images, Inc. and Fluke Corporation.

Heidi is well-known for her practical, strategic and economical approach to consolidating, streamlining and strengthening worldwide trademark portfolios.  When AT&T Wireless spun off from its parent company, she was chosen to handle its international trademark portfolio. Under an extremely tight timeframe, Heidi spearheaded comprehensive searches for more than 100 marks. Subsequently, the company filed dozens of new marks in more than 60 countries.

The largest airplane manufacturer in the world has worked with Heidi for many years and recently chose to transfer its entire trademark portfolio to her care. Assisting in the searching, worldwide registration and enforcement for such important brands as DREAMLINER and 787 has required cutting‑edge strategic decisions, as well as constant vigilance.

The largest Internet content supplier for images and videos also chose Heidi to manage their portfolio, which has included a myriad of international trademark issues, including acquisitions in Japan, Canada, France and the United Kingdom.

For several years, Perkins Coie has been ranked first in Seattle, and one of the top 20 firms in the country, based upon the annual number of U.S. trademark registrations. In addition, Heidi has been recognized among the top 50 lawyers in the country. Heidi has filed and managed trademark applications and registrations in more than 80 countries on almost all continents. In addition to major industrial countries, such filings have included Iceland, Aruba and other Caribbean Islands, and Kuwait.

Heidi manages trademarks that are more than 100 years old, as well as helping start-up companies develop their brands. For example, for the largest, worldwide, online retail company, she helped develop and implement the strategy for a domain name registration policy and defense plan that was on the cutting edge of the developing law.  Even before the Uniform Domain Name Protection Act, Heidi helped companies execute a proactive, and when necessary, aggressive strategy to deal with domain name cybersquatters, such as when she negotiated the acquisition of a domain name worth almost $500,000.

Heidi has registered copyrights in software, databases, Web sites, teaching and training materials, books and logos.  She counsels and assists clients in acquiring copyrights from independent contractors and third parties, and in enforcing clients' copyrights throughout the world.  Such projects have included registering the copyright for a unique search engine database containing billions of digital images.

In addition to counseling in the area of rights of publicity, which can be enforced by celebrities and non-celebrities alike, Heidi was involved at the drafting stage of Washington state's Rights of Publicity statute. She counsels clients regarding the use of photographs or personal information in advertisements, training manuals, videos, Web sites and other media.

Heidi has provided strategic input on purchase and sale agreements and performed IP due diligence for acquisitions and sales of domestic and international companies in a wide variety of industries. She is adept at addressing complex international trademark assignment and chain of title issues that often arise in the context of such acquisitions.

As a litigator, Heidi was part of the team that won the first trade secret case in Washington, for the largest aircraft manufacturing company. After a six-week trial, the jury found trade secret infringement, and the judgment was affirmed on appeal. In addition, Heidi has written a chapter on trade secrets in a Matthew Bender treatise.

Professional Recognition

• Listed in World Trademark Review (WTR) Magazine, "WTR 1000 2012"
• Listed in "The Best Lawyers in America" for Intellectual Property Law, 2003 - 2007, 2009 - 2012
• Listed in Washington Law & Politics, "Washington's Super Lawyers," 2007 - 2011 
• Listed in Legal Media Group’s Expert Guide, “One of the Country’s Top Trademark Lawyers”
• Listed in Guide to the World’s Leading Trade Mark Law Practitioner, “Leading Practitioner"
• Listed in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine's “Best Lawyers”
• Peer Review Rated AV in Martindale-Hubbell
  (AV®, BV® and CV® are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies.)
• Listed in The International Who's Who of Trademark Lawyers, 2009 - 2012
• Listed in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers, 2009
• Ranked nationally by Trademark Insider, 2009
• Ranked for National Trademark Prosecution by Managing IP  in the 2009 World IP Survey
• Ranked for Regional (West) Trademark Prosecution by Managing IP  in the 2009 World IP Survey
• Ranked as one of the top 10 Trademark Firms nationally by Intellectual Property Today  in 2010
• Intellectual Property practice ranked #1 in Washington by Chambers USA in 2010
• Listed in Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law, Leading Practitioner

• Listed in the 2012 Top Rated Lawyers Guide to Intellectual Property Law 

Clerkships

• Hon. Robert F. Brachtenbach, Washington State Supreme Court, 1982