Pirkey Barber

Firm overview:

Pirkey Barber has grown quickly from the Austin, Texas 'trademark central' firm founded by former Fulbright & Jaworski partners, Lou Pirkey and Bill Barber, in 2006. Growing from three to 40-plus attorneys, Pirkey Barber is now one of the largest US firms focused on trademark and copyright law.

Some of the firm’s more prominent work includes registering OpenAI’s trademark ‘ChatGPT’ and helping Taco Bell to prevail in a tussle over the ‘Taco Tuesday’ mark. The firm also recently filed a mark for OpenAI. Peers say: “I have a lot of respect for them, they do terrific work.” Clients are equally pleased: “We highly recommend them,” says a major international company.

Team overview:

Austin-based member Rebecca McCurry (Notable) has substantial experience in trademark policing and enforcement, with an emphasis on US and global oppositions and cancellations, and internet-related violations. Clients rely on McCurry’s sound advice on developing global filing strategies for new marks, as well as resolving scenarios involving email scams, fraudulent websites, and domain name disputes.

Key matters:

• Modulus Financial Engineering v Nvidia
  Jered Matthysse is part of the team representing financial software company Modulus in a trademark infringement complaint against Nvidia, in which Modulus asked a Texas court to force Nvidia to stop using the ‘Modulus’ name which it said would create consumer confusion with its own AI-related software.
• Rebecca McCurry assisted OpenAI with the filing of its mark ‘OpenAI o1’, which is awaiting examination. The ChatGPT owner says its new series of o1 AI models is designed to “spend more time thinking before they respond”.
• The firm represented Taco Bell in two Trademark Trial and Appeal Board cancellation proceedings concerning the phrase ‘Taco Tuesday’. Pirkey Barber successfully filed petitions to cancel registrations for the phrase, arguing it had become generic and was no longer enforceable as a trademark.

Clients:

3M, 7 Eleven, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Amy’s Ice Creams, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Baylor University, Best Buy, Circuit of the Americas, Dryshod Waterproof Footwear, ExxonMobil, Favor, FritoLay, Insperity, Jim Adler Associates, Kendra Scott, KFC, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Phillips 66, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Tiff’s Treats, Valero, Wendy’s, WhataBurger.