Will Rava helps clients resolve disputes involving trademarks, trade dress, domain names, copyrights, and trade secrets. He has successfully litigated such disputes in federal courts across the country, before arbitration panels under the UDRP and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Will also has extensive experience counseling clients in many industries on intellectual property and brand protection strategies, including securing, policing, investigating and enforcing their rights, investigating and removing from the market counterfeit and other unauthorized goods, and investigating related unlawful internet activities. Often these matters involve requests for temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions, an area in which he has deep experience.
In the last several years, for example, Will has helped an athletic equipment maker defeat a preliminary injunction motion, after which the plaintiff walked away, and prosecuted a preliminary injunction motion for an online financial services company, which settled favorably before a hearing. He also won summary judgment dismissal and an award of attorneys’ fees in a hotly-contested copyright authorship dispute. In addition, Will has successfully represented food and food service, footwear, industrial product, and video game companies in trademark disputes; recovered dozens of domain names for various clients; and enforced trademark and related rights for clients in the food, video game, and online services industries, among others.
Will is named a leading trademark attorney in Washington in the World Trademark Review’s WTR 1000 rankings. Recognized for his success in the trademark enforcement space thanks to “constant vigilance and tech smarts,” he is described as a “dyed-in-the-wool litigator who is remarkably efficient at pursuing and shutting down perpetrators of unlawful internet activities.”
Will is actively involved in professional organizations and his community. He devotes a significant portion of his practice to public law, including election and political law and promoting and participating in pro bono representations on a wide variety of topics. He has represented numerous campaigns and candidates in recalls, recounts, contests, and other election litigation (including the 2004 Washington gubernatorial recount and contest, and the 2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate recount and contest), and Will regularly counsels campaigns, political parties, and political consultants on a variety of compliance issues. He sits on the boards of the Legal Foundation of Washington’s Campaign for Equal Justice and environmental education nonprofit Islandwood; actively volunteers on INTA committee heading a task force on the Enforcement Committee; and serves on the firm’s Seattle offices community service and Foundation committees.
Professional Recognition
- Recognized in the World Trademark Review 1000—The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals, 2018 – 2022, 2024
- Washington (Silver)
- Named Best Lawyers’ Seattle " Litigation - Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year," 2018
- Listed in Best Lawyers in America: Litigation - Intellectual Property, 2014 – 2024
- Recognized as an IP Star by Managing IP, 2013, 2014, 2016 – 2022
- Listed in Super Lawyers Magazine, "Super Lawyers," 2011 – 2021
- Volunteer of the Year, Newcomers Resource Project of the King County Bar Association, October 2007
- Listed in Washington Law & Politics, “Rising Stars of Washington Law,” 2004 – 2008
- Community Legal Services Recognition for Legal Services to the Homeless from the King County Bar Association, May 2001
- Leadership Tomorrow, Class of 2008
Professional Leadership
- Campaign for Equal Justice, Legal Foundation of Washington, Board Member, 2018 – present
- International Trademark Association (INTA)
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Mediation Subcommittee, Member, 2022 - present
- Enforcement Committee, Policy Advocacy Subcommittee, Member, 2018 – 2021
- U.S. Legislation Subcommittee, Member 2014 – 2017; Chair, 2016 – 2017
- King County Bar Association Community Legal Services Committee, Co-Chair, 2004 – 2006, Member, 2007 – 2010
Community Involvement
- IslandWood, Board Member, 2015 – 2023
- Artist Trust, Board Member, 2007 – 2013; President, 2009 – 2011
- Ballard Youth Soccer Club, Coach, 2007 – 2016
Clerkships
- Hon. Richard Cudahy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1998 - 1999