Steven I. Peretz

“IP litigation is business by other means, but it is still business.   Since dollars spent on litigation are dollars that could otherwise be spent on growing the business, I’m an intellectual property attorney who keeps the client's business objectives in tight focus.”

--Steven I. Peretz, Chair, Intellectual Property Law

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Focusing his practice on trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secret litigation in federal courts, Steve has obtained several multi-million dollar verdicts and judgments for his clients. He has had success obtaining emergency injunctive relief for clients’ whose business and intellectual property was threatened. Steve counts among his clients some of the most widely recognized names in the cruise, package delivery, and hospitality and leisure industries.

 “I am on call 24/7 because in intellectual property law the need for immediate action might require the client to reach me outside of ordinary business hours.  I welcome such calls because the personal satisfaction of practicing law is magnified when the extraordinary happens.”

Steve is a past chair of the Florida Bar's Intellectual Property Law Committee and is frequently invited to educate professional and business groups regarding the establishment, protection, and commercialization of intellectual property rights. When he is not practicing law, Steve has a passion for hanging out in the sky. He pilots personal aircraft, and has also logged many miles as a glider pilot.    

From Steven’s Case Files

Sinking Competing Yacht Brokers:  When certain yacht brokers copied their website yacht listings from our client's website, we established the client's copyright ownership of the listings, which featured a unique format that had also been copied.  After a two-week jury trial in federal court we won a judgment from the competing yacht brokers of more than $1.5 million in damages.

Successfully Petitioning the Court:  When our client, a public-interest group, faced a trademark infringement suit in federal court for adopting a petition allegedly similar in format to one used by an industry-sponsored group, we obtained a dismissal of the suit with prejudice within 10 days.  We successfully claimed lack of subject-matter jurisdiction by establishing that our client's petition was not used "in commerce" within the meaning of trademark statute.

**"CV, BV and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies."

Education

• University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 1981
• Wesleyan University, B.A., magna cum laude, 1978

Bar Admissions & Memberships

• Florida, 1981
• U.S. District Court, Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, 1981
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1981

Noteworthy

• Super Lawyers, Florida Super Lawyers magazine, 2007
• Top Lawyers in South Florida, South Florida Legal Guide 2007
• Top Lawyers by Practice Area - Intellectual Property, South Florida Legal Guide 2007
• "The Best Lawyers in America," Intellectual Property Law, 2007
• "Legal Elite," Florida Trends magazine
• Top Lawyers, South Florida Legal Guide
• The Best Lawyers in America, Intellectual Property Law, 2004-2005, 2008 Edition

Professional Affiliations

• The Florida Bar
• Dade County Bar Association

Community/Civic Involvement

• Angel Flight - Pilots donating their time and aircraft to transport needy persons requiring out-of-town medical care.

Presentations & Publications

"Copyright and Fair Use," Florida International University Law School, December 2004, lecturer

"Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Suits," Florida Bar Intellectual Property Law Committee, October, 1996, Miami, Florida, lecturer

"Rescission Under the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act," 58 Florida Bar Journal 297 May, 1984

"The Competition of Technologies in the Marketplace of Ideas," 5 International Review of Law and Economics 209, December, 1985, co-author