About Karen Artz Ash

From Paris runways to retail outlets across the US, Karen Artz Ash protects the intellectual property of major names in fashion. She provides comprehensive IP counsel to designers and clothing manufacturers as well as clients in other industries in which IP assets figure prominently. The institutional memory that she and her team have established with long-time clients and within the fashion industry as a whole allow her to provide practical and deeply informed advice across a wide range of issues.

Strategic IP counsel

Karen has a talent for helping clients make strategic decisions about IP assets that support their overall business goals. That includes, but goes beyond, basic issues like selecting, defending and enforcing IP rights. Karen often assists with corporate structuring issues, often rooted in tax analysis, for entities with IP assets that represent a large portion of their overall value. She also strategizes on re-brandings, negotiates commercial agreements involving IP rights and helps clients to incorporate protections for their IP into their business operations.

With the many international relationships in the fashion industry, Karen has developed significant experience in cross-border issues. Her team is known for its creative approach to those matters. Karen brings a background in economics and finance to her practice, and gained experience as a clerk in New York bankruptcy court that continues to benefit clients that have either gone through reorganizations or acquired assets from third parties in bankruptcy.

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Practice Focus

  • Trademark licensing and strategy
  • IP licensing and other transactions
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Securitizations and financings
  • IP due diligence
  • Bankruptcies and reorganizations
  • Enforcement and defense

News

Publications

Quick Reads

Presentations and Events

Practices
Industries
Education
  • New York Law School, JD, magna cum laude
  • Georgetown University, AB
Bar Admissions
  • New York
Community Involvements
  • American Bar Association, Sections on Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law and Trial Law
  • American Bar Foundation, Fellow
  • Anti-Defamation League, New York Regional Board, the Lawyer's Committee, National Commission
  • International Trademark Association, Mediation/ADR Subcommittee
  • Licensing Journal, Editorial Board
  • National Association of Mediators
  • New York County Lawyers' Association
  • New York State Bar Association, Sections on Trial Law and Intellectual Property
  • New York Women's Bar Association
  • Southern District Court of New York, Mediator Advisory Committee
  • Mediation Program, US District Court, Southern District of New York, Panel
  • United States International Trademark Association
  • Volunteers of Legal Service, President, Board of Directors
  • Second Circuit Court of Appeals, CAMP Mediation Program
  • New York Law School Advisory Council
Recognitions
Recognized or listed in the following:
  • ACQ Magazine
    Best Trademark Lawyer of the Year, 2013
  • AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell
  • Best Lawyers in America
    Trademark Law, 2015–2023
  • BTI Client Service All-Stars
    2019
  • Corporate INTL-US Legal Review
    2010
  • Crain's New York Business
    Leading Women Lawyers in New York City, 2018
    Notable Women in Law, 2020
  • Elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
  • Empire State Counsel®
    Pro Bono Honoree, 2014, 2016–2018
  • Euromoney
    Women in Business Law Expert Guide
  • Forbes
    Best Lawyers in America, 2005
  • Global IP Star
    2018
  • Lawyer Monthly
    Women in Law Award, 2014
  • Managing Intellectual Property
    IP Star – Trademark, 2014–2022
    Global Lifetime Achievement Award, 2019
    Top 250 Women in IP, 2013–2014, 2018–2022
    Top 10, 2013
  • National Law Journal
    Intellectual Property Trailblazer, 2016
    Top Rated Lawyer, 2012–2015
  • New York Law School Gala
    2018 Honoree
  • New York Magazine
    New York's Leading Lawyers, 2012–2018
    Women Leaders in the Law, 2012–2019
  • Practical Law Company, Cross-Border IP in Business Transactions Handbook
    2010–2011
  • Super Lawyers
    New York, 2010–2022
    Top Women Lawyers – Intellectual Property, 2013–2018
  • The Legal 500 United States
    Recommended Attorney, 2013, 2015–2022
  • Thomson Reuters
    Stand-out Lawyer, 2023
  • World Trademark Review 1000
    New York, 2010, 2012–2023
  • WTR Global Leaders
    United States: New York, 2020
Award Methodologies