Sean C. Fifield

Sean Fifield is a member of the Firm's Board of Directors. His practice focuses on intellectual property matters involving the protection and licensing of copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and related intellectual property rights. Sean is Co-Chair of the Firm's Trademark, Copyright & Advertising Group.

Sean also advises clients on licensing, general business contracts and financing, and merger and acquisition transactions.

Intellectual Property

Sean is experienced in the negotiation and drafting of patent licenses, trademark licenses, software licenses and other agreements governing a wide range of intellectual property rights. Sean also regularly negotiates information technology licenses and agreements, including application service provider arrangements, information management and outsourcing transactions. Sean has prepared forms of licenses for the products of a number of software vendors and custom software licenses with software vendors on behalf of a wide variety of clients.

Sean advises and assists clients with their selection, screening, registration and protection of trademarks in a wide variety of industries, including consumer food products, manufacturing, specialty chemicals, podcasting, banking, insurance and other financial services, hospitality products, restaurant services, specialty apparel, video games and entertainment. Sean also assists clients in the publishing, entertainment, podcasting, financial services, software and other industries in the protection and licensing of their copyrights.

In connection with assisting clients in the protection of their intellectual property, Sean regularly prepares and responds to cease and desist letters involving infringement or allegations of infringement of trademarks, copyrights and patent rights.

Intellectual property matters in which Sean has assisted clients include:

• Represented health insurer in negotiation of master agreement for platform as a service solution
• Represented energy infrastructure company in the disposition and license back of water purifying technology
• Represented an oilfield services company in the negotiation of a development agreement and technology license for drilling rig monitoring systems and software
• Represented a health care benefits company in connection with the negotiation of an alliance agreement involving the development of wellness software apps for wearable personal devices
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in negotiation of multiple license and settlement agreements permitting the launch of generic pharmaceutical products
• Represented a specialty food product manufacturer in negotiation of merchandising license agreement with a major film studio
• Represented a public transit agency in the negotiation of agreements with vendors and other public transit agencies for the development and operation of a mobile application for fares across multiple transit systems
• Represented pharmaceutical and cosmetics specialty manufacturer in negotiations with specialty wholesalers and retailers involving supply agreements for finished OTC pharmaceutical products and cosmetic products
• Represented component manufacturer in the negotiation of a joint development and supply agreement with a Fortune 500 white goods appliance manufacturer
• Represented component manufacturer in the negotiation of a joint development agreement and technology license for the use of biometric identification devices

Merger and Acquisitions; General Corporate

Sean's practice also involves merger and acquisition transactions and financing transactions, particularly transactions focused on the transfer of intellectual property assets or involving technology businesses. Sean also regularly handles matters relating to corporate governance, and the negotiation of a wide range of agreements, including consulting arrangements, sales contracts and distributorship agreements.

Corporate transactional matters in which Sean has assisted clients include:

• Represented a newspaper publisher in the sale of its printing facility and negotiation of printing services agreement with new owner
• Advised family-owned multinational manufacturing company in the overhaul of shareholders buy-sell agreement
• Represented an insurer in the termination of a joint venture and acquisition of 100% of the equity of a Florida property and casualty insurance company and the simultaneous divestiture, through a reinsurance transaction, of its participation in an insurance joint venture in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
• Represented a global pharmaceutical company in the acquisition of a commercial-stage specialty pharmaceutical company
• Represented a generic pharmaceutical company in the acquisition of ANDA portfolios in FTC-mandated divestiture process
• Represented hearing care product manufacturer in acquisition of provider of business and performance management solutions to independent hearing care practices for approximately $150 million
• Represented payment processing services provider in the sale of its business to a private equity purchaser for $225 million
• Represented health insurance company in the $65 million acquisition of a health information technology service company
• Represented specialty minerals producer in the $50 million acquisition of a mine in South Africa
• Represented a manufacturer of component and subsystem devices in the $55 million acquisition of a manufacturer of radio remote controls
• Represented a manufacturer of component and subsystem devices in the $65 million acquisition of a manufacturer of proprietary touch sensitive user interfaces
• Represented a hearing care product manufacturer in connection with the establishment of joint venture and financing arrangements with distributors of its products