Aaron M. McKown - Newport Beach, CA

Overview

Aaron is the Firm's Managing Partner and Chair of the Intellectual Property and Business Litigation practice groups. Aaron is licensed to practice law in California, Texas, and Florida and focuses his multi-state practice on complex commercial and intellectual property litigation with an emphasis on partnership, technology, and trademark disputes.

For the past two decades, Aaron has represented technology leaders, publicly traded Fortune 100 companies, private enterprises, and high net worth individuals, celebrities, professional athletes, and musicians throughout the United States, including as lead counsel for GoDaddy.com in what was labeled the "trademark case of the year."

Not only is Aaron impassioned advocate for his clients, Aaron himself is an entrepreneur so he understands the business needs of his clients. In that role, Aaron often works closely with companies in formulating corporate strategies, negotiating agreements, and protecting intellectual property.

Experience

• Lead counsel for GoDaddy.com in seminal cybersquatting case filed by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences related to its OSCAR and ACADEMY AWARDS marks that resulted in a trial verdict in favor of GoDaddy on all counts. Considered one of the top IP verdicts of 2015.
• Lead counsel for GoDaddy.com in defeating multiple class certification in consumer fraud litigation.
• Represented Amazon.com, Inc. in a class action lawsuit for unfair competition related to the provision of services in the Amazon Marketplace.
• Represented Microsoft Corporation in its successful pursuit of copyright and trademark infringement claims against counterfeiters.
• Lead counsel for private equity fund in breach of contract dispute resulting in favorable settlement for client.
• Lead trial counsel for factoring company in successfully recovering interplead funds.
• Lead counsel for operators of real estate investment group defeating an attempt by other investors to take over the partnership, which resulted in removal of opposing investors and recovery of attorneys' fees for client.
• Lead counsel for both licensors and licensees in numerous software licensing disputes.
• In-house counsel for Bank of America, N.A. managing 600+ cases nationwide related complex commercial and consumer direct and class actions.