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Geri L. Haight

(she/her/hers)

Member

[email protected]

+1.617.348.1705

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Geri has a multifaceted practice focusing on employment litigation, counseling, and compliance, as well as intellectual property and trade secret matters. In addition, she chairs the steering committee of the Mintz Women’s Initiative, an affinity group dedicated to supporting and enriching the lives and careers of the firm’s female attorneys.

Geri leverages extensive experience as an in-house attorney and trial lawyer and with a broad range of business and employment issues to advise clients across a variety of industries, including food & beverage, consumer products, retail, and technology. Her work primarily involves both litigation and counseling on a broad spectrum of employment issues, including trade secret and intellectual property protection, the enforcement of noncompetition and nondisclosure agreements, independent contractor and employee classification, internal investigations, as well as compliance matters. 

Geri returned to Mintz after more than seven years as in-house counsel with a national fast-casual restaurant chain, most recently as vice president and deputy general counsel. In that role, she managed employment, litigation, intellectual property, contract, marketing and advertising, and data security and privacy matters and provided guidance on a broad spectrum of workplace issues and employment-related compliance matters. 

During her prior tenure with Mintz, Geri was a Member and Associate, practicing in the firm’s litigation and intellectual property practices for 14 years. She handled litigation, arbitration, and mediation of trademark, trade secret, copyright, false advertising, domain name, and patent disputes in courts throughout the country, as well as matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Her practice also involved counseling clients on intellectual property matters and negotiating settlement and licensing agreements. 

Geri is also actively involved in pro bono work on behalf of the firm, including representation of the Human Rights Campaign. She has also served as an adjunct professor of trademark law at the Northeastern University School of Law.

viewpoints

Webinar Recording: Mandatory or Voluntary Workplace Vaccination – Guidance for Employers

January 15, 2021 | Webinar | By Geri Haight, Joanne Hawana, Jennifer Rubin

Watch this webinar in which Mintz’s Employment, Labor & Benefits and Health Law attorneys and noted immunologist Dr. Darryl Carter discussed key takeaways from the EEOC’s recently updated vaccination guidance and other COVID-19–related workplace questions.
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WEBINAR REMINDER: Mandatory or Voluntary Workplace Vaccination — Guidance for Employers

January 13, 2021 | Blog | By Geri Haight, Jennifer Rubin, Joanne Hawana

Please join Mintz’s Employment, Labor & Benefits and Health Law attorneys and noted immunologist Dr. Darryl Carter for a webinar to discuss key takeaways from the EEOC’s recently updated vaccination guidance and other COVID-19–related workplace question.
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My colleagues in our Litigation practice, Harvey Saferstein and Nada I. Shamonki, recently authored an alert "Another Shoe Drops in Washington: Ninth Circuit Expands Personal Jurisdiction over Willful Copyright Infringers".
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On November 2, 2012, a federal jury in the Central District of California awarded Mixed Chicks LLC, a beauty supply company for mixed-race women, $839,535 in actual damages and $7,275,000 in punitive damages for willfully infringing the MIXED CHICKS® trademark and trade dress with its MIXED SILK line of products.
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How Do You or Don’t You State a Case for A Declaratory Judgment in a Trademark Dispute?

December 5, 2012 | Blog | By Geri Haight, Susan Neuberger Weller

Ever since the US Supreme Court in MedImmune, Inc. v. Genetech, Inc., 549 U.S. 118, 127 S, Ct, 764, 166 L. Ed.604 (2007)  threw out the "reasonable apprehension" test as defining the grounds for bringing a declaratory judgment action, courts have considered a wide variety of factual circumstances in deciding which meet the Court's redefinition of "controversy."
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Some Companies Must Do More To Protect Brand Identity

December 4, 2012 | Blog | By Geri Haight

My colleague Susan Weller recently authored an article for Law360 on protecting brand identity.
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As we reported  previously, Lululemon, an exercise apparel company, filed suit against Calvin Klein and its supplier G-III Apparel Group for infringement of three Lululemon design patents for yoga pants. On November 20, 2012, Lululemon filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in the Delaware proceeding based upon a settlement that would dismiss the suit with prejudice.
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Six months after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of Rosetta Stone's trademark infringement lawsuit against Google, the parties issued a joint statement today announcing that they have settled their legal dispute. 
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Pattern Designs on US Navy Uniforms and Fabric Are Non-Functional Protected Trademarks

October 9, 2012 | Blog | By Geri Haight, Susan Neuberger Weller

A recent TTAB case addresses the issue of functionality and protection of design. In the case In re Navy Exchange Service Command, (“NEXCOM”), the TTAB issued a non-precedential decision on September 29, 2012 in which it reversed the Examining Attorney's refusal to register four irregular block-shaped, multi-colored pixilated pattern design marks that the US Navy used on clothing and fabric.
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An Update: The Cost Of An Illegal Download

September 20, 2012 | Blog | By Geri Haight, Susan Neuberger Weller

As you may recall, we asked the question in a recent blog post “Are You Willing to Pay $22,500 to Download A Song? " Well, we now ask "Are you willing to pay $9250 to download a song?" 
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News & Press

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Mintz is pleased to announce that 120 firm attorneys have been recognized as leaders by Best Lawyers® in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©.
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BOSTON – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly has recognized Mintz in its inaugural Empowering Women awards program, which honors law firms that have shown a strong commitment to supporting and elevating women attorneys in Massachusetts, and showcase tangible and innovative efforts by law firms to advance women attorneys in the workplace and community.
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Member and chair of the firm's Women's Initiative Geri Haight was quoted in SHRM discussing when employees develop long COVID-19, what the implications could be for employers.
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Mintz continues its ongoing commitment to ensuring the firm is an equitable workplace, establishing a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee that reports directly to the firm's main decision making body, the Policy Committee. The new Equity Advisory Council (EAC) will be responsible for driving equity for the firm’s attorneys, especially women, attorneys of color and LGBTQ+ attorneys.
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Law360 reported that Geri Haight has rejoined Mintz as a Member in the firm’s Employment, Labor & Benefits Practice, based in Boston.
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Publications

Co-author, "Contract Corner," The Licensing Journal (November-December 2023).

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Recognition & Awards

  • Featured in Best Lawyers in America, Employment Litigation (2024)

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Involvement

  • Chair, Legal Affairs Committee, Association of National Advertisers (2018-2020)
  • Co-Chair, Intellectual Litigation Committee, Boston Bar Association (2009–2011)
  • Member, Boston Bar Association
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, Massachusetts Bar Association
  • Member, International Trademark Association (INTA)
  • Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association
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Geri L. Haight

(she/her/hers)

Member

Boston