Kate McMorrow represents a wide range of clients in all aspects of protecting and enforcing their intellectual property. Her practice focuses on brand protection and enforcement, from domestic and international trademark selection and searches, prosecution, and procurement to advising clients on intellectual property issues associated with branding guidelines, press releases, and social media marketing. She also regularly handles intellectual property due diligence associated with mergers and acquisitions and advises clients on intellectual property licenses, assignments, and development, distribution, promotion, and marketing agreements.
Kate also has extensive experience litigating trademark, trade dress, domain name, advertising, trade secret, patent, copyright, unfair competition, and contract cases in both federal and state courts and at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. Kate regularly performs pre-suit investigations and assessments, leads pre-suit enforcement and negotiation efforts, drafts and argues motions, handles all phases of both fact and expert discovery, including depositions, and represents clients through both mediations and settlements. She has drafted numerous case-ending pre-trial motions and was also on a team that obtained a change in law at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Prior to joining Knobbe Martens, Kate was a managing associate at one of the largest international law firms as well as an associate at a Chicago-based intellectual property law firm. Kate earned her JD at Boston University School of Law where she was vice president of the IP Law Society and a staff member of the American Journal of Law & Medicine. During law school Kate also interned at one of the leading food testing companies working on domestic and international acquisitions, as well as Boston University’s Office of Technology Development researching licensing metrics to optimize IP portfolio management.
- Named a Southern California "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers magazine in 2020 and 2022
Speeches & Seminars
Co-Presenter, “Artificial Intelligence for Lawyers: Separating Facts from Science Fiction,” Beyond Illusions 7 CLE, Dentons in partnership with the Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter, August 27, 2020
Co-Presenter, “Using IP to Protect Your Brand & Generate Revenue,” Beyond Illusions 6 CLE, Dentons in partnership with the Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter, August 15, 2019
Co-Presenter, “Strategies at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board,” Dentons CLE, June 19, 2019
Presenter, “The Implications of Highmark and Octane,” McAndrews, Held & Malloy CLE, July 2014
Presenter, “Preserving the Attorney-Client Privilege in Digital Corporate Communications,” McAndrews, Held & Malloy CLE, July 2013