Cindy A. Villanueva

Ms. Villanueva is an attorney in the firm’s Intellectual Property Department.  She practices in the areas of domestic and international trademark and copyright prosecution, licensing and enforcement. Ms. Villanueva assists clients with brand development and with identifying various protectable aspects of the clients’ products, services and concepts. She also helps clients with clearing all aspects of advertising, promotional and marketing materials and products, including trademark, copyright and right of publicity clearances.

In addition to her prosecution practice, Ms. Villanueva drafts and negotiates a variety of intellectual property agreements such as assignments, licenses, rights of publicity agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and work for hire agreements.  As part of her practice, she also represents clients in a wide variety of disputes involving trademarks, copyrights, rights of publicity, and domain names, including the resolution of disputes over contested trademarks before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and enforcing clients’ intellectual property rights in court.

Brand Development:

• Assisting clients with launching new brands and product lines by drafting work for hire agreements for contractors, branding of new product lines domestically and internationally, and reviewing marketing materials to ensure proper use of all intellectual property.

Copyrights:

• Assisting authors and other artists in obtaining copyright registration for their works, licensing their works to others, and enforcing their rights against unauthorized users. Assisting clients in licensing copyrighted works for use on websites, marketing materials, and other media.

Securing, Enforcing and Licensing IP:

• Assisting various companies, including, hotel, casino, restaurant and bar owners and operators, in clearing title for property names, securing the rights associated with the names, licensing their intellectual property to others, and enforcing their rights against unauthorized users.

Domain Names:

• Successfully obtained the transfer of dozens of domain names, including under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Trademark Litigation:

• Successfully represented a leading producer of rolling papers and smoking accessories before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which ruled in their favor and denied the petition for a rehearing by the full 11-judge panel.
• Successfully represented a major snack products company in a precedential trademark decision issued by the TTAB. The Board sustained the client’s opposition finding a likelihood of confusion.
• Served as Counsel of Record to secure a significant victory after a full trial in a successful opposition before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) on behalf of a leading tobacco company.
• Part of the legal team that successfully opposed and cancelled multiple marks that infringed the rights of a client in a multi-year litigation before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).

• Co-Presenter, “Top Trends in Trade Dress: Down with the Dupes!,” 12th Annual CLE in the Garden, State Bar of Arizona, March 2026
• Co-Presenter, “Globinar Six Things to Know About Intellectual Property When You Are Expanding Overseas,” Global Chamber, April 2022
• Co-Author, “Jury Pools Drowning in Unfairness,” Arizona Attorney Magazine, Volume 58, Number 5, January 2022
• Presenter, “Recent Developments in Intellectual Property Litigation,” The Federal Bar Association Phoenix Chapter, May 2021
• Co-Author, “What You Need To Know: Intellectual Property and Non-Fungible Tokens,” Dickinson Wright Client Alert, May 2021
• Panelist, “The Future of IP Law,” 24th Annual National Latina/o Law Student Virtual Conference and Moot Court Competition, March 2021
• Presenter, “How to Protect Your Intellectual Property on Social Media and E-commerce Platforms”, Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, August 2020
• Co-Author, “When Will I Be Famous?: Protecting Well-Known Foreign Marks in the United States”, World Trademark Review Issue 83, April 2020
• Presenter, “Hot Topics for Tribes in Intellectual Property for Tribes Enforcement:Executing Takedowns of Unauthorized Goods on Amazon, eBay and Facebook” Western Indian Gaming Conference, February 13, 2020
• Presenter “Protecting Tribal Intellectual Property: Trademarks, Copyrights and Licensing” State Bar of Arizona CLE, September 26, 2018
• Presenter, “Hot Topics in Intellectual Property for Tribes: Navajo v. Urban Outfitters,” Western Indian Gaming Conference, February 6-8, 2018
• Presenter, “The Year in Review in Copyright Law 2015-2016,” Kraemer Copyright Conference in Colorado Springs, CO, June 6-7th, 2016
• Speaker, “IP issues that small businesses may encounter,” NAWBO University, March 2, 2016
• Co-Author, “The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: ‘Authorization’ in Flux and the Ninth Circuit Dilemma,” The Bureau of National Affairs, March 6, 2012