Marc H. Trachtenberg focuses his practice in domain name, Internet, e-commerce, social media, marketing, advertising, promotions, trademark, copyright and privacy matters.

Marc represents clients in matters involving promotion and protection of their intellectual property online and in the brick-and-mortar world. In this capacity he creates and counsels with respect to client-specific strategies to protect trademarks and copyrights and other intellectual property rights, identifies threats to clients’ online brand presence, including domain name and social media abuse, and aggressively enforces these rights on behalf of clients. He does this both informally through industry channels and site-specific dispute policies, as well as formally via UDRP complaints and litigation in federal and state court.

Marc has helped recover thousands of domain names in his career, both in the United States and internationally, including a portfolio of almost 800 cybersquatted domain names for a professional athlete that were identical to the names of various athletes and celebrities. He also regularly assists clients with the takedown and removal of infringing or otherwise offensive content in social media and online generally.

Marc has actively participated in the development of Internet policy and governance for more than 10 years, focusing on the protection of intellectual property online, and in particular with respect to new gTLDs. He helped obtain additional intellectual property protections for new gTLDs through the Intellectual Property Constituency of ICANN and also actively participated in the drafting and negotiation of Specification 13 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement, which recognizes “.brands” as a category of new gTLD and provides significant benefits to “.brands.” He has also advised numerous clients with regard to gTLD issues and assisted with numerous applications for new gTLDs, as well as filing and responding to objections to new gTLD applications.

Marc also works on high value sponsorship agreements on both the sponsor side and property side, including those involving celebrities, professional sports teams, landmarks and internationally televised events.

In the area of promotions and advertising, Marc represents and advises some of the largest brand owners and advertising agencies in the world. In this capacity he has provided counsel and helped clear numerous national and international advertisements and promotions, including a sweepstakes for a large software manufacturer that was successfully conducted in over 30 countries.

Marc represents and advises clients with respect to the protection and enforcement of their trademarks, including managing the prosecution and maintenance of large trademark portfolios spanning numerous jurisdictions and enforcement of trademark rights through local litigation when necessary.

Marc advises clients with regard to the use of social media in advertising and marketing campaigns and drafts, reviews and advises on social media policies and guidelines, including employment-related social media issues. He has also recovered numerous social media accounts from third parties for celebrities and brand owners and developed an application that monitors social media for the unauthorized use of brand names in social media usernames, account names, blog names and profiles.

Marc also advises clients and reviews, negotiates and drafts agreements relating to the usage, licensing, and development of e-commerce platforms, software, mobile apps, and other related Internet and new media platforms and services.

Marc also represents and advises clients with respect to privacy matters and manages and executes national and international data breach notification plans, including one breach requiring notification to over 60,000 individuals in multiple countries.

As an entrepreneur, Marc is actively involved in several start-up ventures, technology and otherwise, including a software application that he developed that monitors social media for unauthorized use of brands.

At a previous firm, Marc managed a unique law firm-run domain name registrar, which registered domain names on a worldwide basis and managed large domain name portfolios for some of the most well-known brands in the world. As a result of his domain name and Internet experience, Marc was asked to advise the Chinese government with regard to Internet products, phishing and fraudulent domain registrar activity.

Prior to practicing law, Marc was a software consultant and project manager who advised clients regarding enterprise-class software and web-based technology and managed implementations and customization of these applications. He also worked as a software consultant and sales engineer for a firm that designed regulatory compliance software and application development for major pharmaceutical companies.