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Amanda L. DeFord

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Amanda’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation, with special emphasis on trademarks, copyrights, domain names, and unfair competition. She has represented clients in federal courts across the country as well as before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, WIPO, and the National Arbitration Forum. In addition to her intellectual property litigation practice, Amanda has experience representing clients in post-acquisition indemnification suits in both state and federal court.

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FRENEMIES Podcast logoThere’s tension in this relationship. Marketing and the legal department know they need each other, but that doesn’t mean they always understand each other.

Marketers are out-of-the-box thinkers whose ideas engage customers and drive company revenue. Lawyers help the business stay in business by avoiding unnecessary risk, which sometimes requires them to say “no” to the marketing team’s ideas. It’s no wonder the departments are often frenemies, supporting the same organizational goals, but sometimes pushing back on each other.

In the interests of peace, love and understanding, McGuireWoods’ IP and privacy teams present “Frenemies,” a series of short videos covering legal considerations in advertising. We hope these episodes help marketing and legal departments understand each other, work together, issue-spot, and maybe go from being frenemies to friends. Registration is not required and after release, each season will be available for binge watching from your office or your couch.Continue Reading Frenemies Video Series – Season 1: Marketers and Lawyers Learn to Speak the Same Language

While customer data breaches are garnering a lot of media attention, a subtler but equally problematic cybercrime is slowly on the rise — domain spoofing.

In this context, cybercriminals register domain names that are virtually identical to an entity’s legitimate domain name and/or brand, often with subtle misspellings or the addition of business designations or generic words describing the entity’s business. The false domain names are so similar to a company’s actual domain and/or brand that they appear legitimate.

The cybercriminals then use the deceptively similar domain name to create email addresses and send emails impersonating a company or its employees, sometimes using the names of the entity’s actual employees — a tactic commonly called “email spoofing.” Those emails typically contain malware in links or attachments, which are triggered by clicking the link or opening the attachment. Other email spoofing schemes attempt to trick recipients into providing login credentials, providing payment card information, or routing wire transfers to the cybercriminal’s bank account.Continue Reading *Chime* It’s an Email from Your Favorite Outside Counsel, or Is It?