Laura Talley Geyer

202-599-9019 main (DC)
lgeyer@ndgallilaw.com

Laura Talley Geyer, Of Counsel, is resident in the firm’s Washington, DC office. Laura has over 25 years of experience practicing law across the whole of the intellectual property (IP) spectrum.  Having started her practice with several years of high-stakes IP litigation (including patent litigation), Laura now enjoys a broad, integrated intellectual property practice focusing on trademark (branding strategy, advice, prosecution, and litigation); copyright; internet and social media; counterfeiting and product diversion; rights of publicity and privacy including name, image, and likeness protection; and trade secrets matters. Over the years, colleagues have described Laura as a consummate IP generalist and the one to call with “weird” questions, such as ones that just “feel like IP”, or when “something is wrong on the internet” or the like. Laura joins the Firm after a career in several BigLaw firms, as well as a stint as an author for Bloomberg’s legal research service. 

Laura negotiates, advises on, and drafts IP-related agreements and transactional documents, including non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), licenses, assignments, co-branding and co-existence agreements, content use permissions including “copy-left” licensing rubrics, website privacy policies and terms of use, software agreements including for mobile apps, and other types of IP and technology-related agreements. Over the years, Laura has also developed expertise at the crossroads of corporate and IP needs. She manages due diligence for intellectual property components of corporate transactions, from identifying and assessing any potential legal issues for IP involved in a transaction to drafting and negotiating deal documents for national and international high-stakes transactions. Laura also works with a worldwide network of IP law firms, many of them women-owned or led, in countries around the globe, to achieve clients’ international IP goals and protect their IP rights abroad. She is also knowledgeable regarding various regulatory compliance rubrics that touch on IP such as FDA and FTC labeling restrictions and the COPPA online child protection rubric.

In addition to her broad IP prosecution and transactional practice, Laura participates in and supports IP-related litigation before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (“TTAB”), as well as in federal courts around the United States, and has guided and assisted clients as they work with foreign counsel to litigate in national and transnational forums around the world.

Laura has advised clients across a number of industries, including fashion, hospital and health care services, food and beverage, social media and third-party content on client platforms, finance and investment, banking, real estate development and investment, music, non-profit organizations, travel and leisure, hotels, colleges and universities, computers and other high-technology products, pharmaceuticals, journal and magazine publishing, professional associations, nutritional supplements, manufacturing (including steel, plastics, plumbing, adhesives, paints, automotive), and insurance. 

Laura is a member of the American Bar Association and the District of Columbia and Maryland Bar Associations. Over her years as a member of the International Trademark Lawyers’ Association (INTA), she served on its Internet Committee, the Subcommittee on Geographic Terms and Internationalized Domain Name Issues, and the “Unreal” Subcommittee (the “Unreal Campaign” promotes educating young people on the reality of IP infringement and counterfeiting).

In her spare time, Laura enjoys choral singing, learning new things, reading and listening to podcasts about virtually any subject (however obscure), gardening, watching the Celtics play basketball, playing the bodhrán, and, most of all, spending time with her family and her cats. She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with her husband David and whatever combination of children are present in the house at any given time.

Education

American University Washington College of Law, 1998, J.D., cum laude

• American University Law Review (1996-98)
• American University Law Review, Special Projects Editor (1997-98)
• American University Law School Outstanding Graduate Award, JD Program

 

Oberlin College, B.A., 1990

 

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Maryland
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

 

Professional Associations

• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, District of Columbia Bar Association
• Member, Maryland State Bar Association
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Contact

Laura Geyer
Of Counsel
lgeyer@ndgallilaw.com