Elizabeth Seltzer

Elizabeth has over 30 years of experience handling intellectual property and commercial matters.  Her experience includes working in both the US government and the private law sector addressing a range of transactional, regulatory and litigation scenarios for commercial and organizational clients including: business formation and startup; local and national regulatory compliance; brand and image selection, clearance, protection and enforcement; creation of trade secret practices and enforcement; establishing and/or transferring ownership of intellectual property rights, including copyrights and trademarks; creation of various commercial transactional documents to protect client interests in dealings with third parties; licensing and assignments of intellectual property rights; trademark clearance and registration before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO);  trademark litigation before the USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and civil courts; creation of noncompetition and nondisclosure documents; creation of sales representation, distribution, and client vendor and sales agreements; creation of agreements relating to online sales, privacy policies and terms of use; Copyright registration before the United States Copyright Office and related copyright litigation; recording intellectual property rights with the U.S. Customs to prevent entry of infringing imports; creation of quality control policies and Operations Manuals for franchisors; trademark and copyright portfolio management; domain name dispute resolution; and management and regulatory compliance for restaurants.

Prior to moving to private practice, Elizabeth served as Director of the Trade Remedy Assistance Office within the United States International Trade Commission for 4 years.  In such role, Elizabeth assisted small US-based businesses navigate and avail themselves of an array of US trade laws designed to address imports that present unfair competition and intellectual property rights infringements to US industries.  Elizabeth also served for two years as a Trademark Examining Attorney with the United states Patent and Trademark Office where she prosecuted trademark applications in the fields of computer and technological devices, as well as online goods and services.  Elizabeth also completed a one-year fellowship with the Max Planck Institute for Patent, Copyright and Unfair Competition in Munich, Germany from October 1990 to October 1991. 

Elizabeth is proficient in German. 

Bar Admissions

  • Virginia 2001

  • Pennsylvania 1992

Education

American University, Doctor of Law (J.D.) 1990

  • Focus on International Trade and Intellectual Property

  • Copyright Deans Fellow

  • Member of the International Law Journal

 

Rutgers University, Douglass College 1987

  • Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English Literature and Art History; Minor in German Studies

  • President of the German Honor Society; Resident of the German Cultural House

Languages

  • English

  • German