Anna B. Naydonov

Partner, Washington, DC

Biography

Overview

Anna is a first chair litigator with a reputation of staying in front of emerging market trends. Being at the forefront of trademark, copyright, and false advertising litigation with deep experience in intellectual property and advertising law, class action defense, and jury and bench trials, she has an impeccable ability to partner with clients, providing practical solutions and counseling for their most complex issues. She routinely litigates high-stakes cases for some of the world's most renowned brands before federal trial and appellate courts, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the National Advertising Division.

Anna has led a string of victories for her clients, including in jury and bench trials, requests for injunctive relief, and defeating class certification. She has also secured a number of appellate wins including a first-impression copyright infringement and complex trademark and unfair competition cases.

Anna also counsels clients on advertising claims substantiation (including such cutting-edge areas as sustainability/ESG, Web3 and blockchain, and social media campaigns and promotions), trademark enforcement, copyright, and right of publicity issues. Anna was selected as a DC Rising Star by the National Law Journal and as a Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) Rising Star and a Legal Media Group America's Rising Stars award winner for copyright and trademark work. She has consistently been recognized as a Rising Star by Legal Media Group and as one of DCA Lives Rising Stars of Law: 40 Under 40.

Bars and Courts
District of Columbia Bar
Virginia State Bar
US District Court for the District of Columbia
US District Court for the District of Maryland
US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Education
JD
George Mason University School of Law (Antonin Scalia Law School)

School of Law

BA
James Madison University
Languages
Russian
English

Experience

Representative experience include the following:

Roadget Business PTE. Ltd. v. Whaleco, Inc. (N.D. IL)
Lead counsel in a trademark, copyright, and false advertising litigation involving Shein and Temu platforms.

Beijing Meishe Network Technology Co., Ltd. v. TikTok Inc., et al. (W.D. Tex.)
Counsel for TikTok Inc., TikTok Pte. Ltd., ByteDance Ltd., and ByteDance Inc. in a global copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, false advertising, unjust enrichment, and breach of fiduciary duty case pertaining to copyrighted software technology.

Conopco, Inc. d/b/a Unilever v. WBM, LLC (D.N.J.)
Lead counsel for one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, Unilever, in a trade dress infringement and unfair competition case over the well-known Love Beauty and Planet packaging trade dress.

WNAC, LLC v. Verizon Corporate Services Group, Inc. and Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (D. Mass.)
Lead counsel for a television station license holder in a copyright infringement and breach of contract litigation involving retransmission consent rights.

Jacob Devine v. Bethesda Softworks LLC, et al.
Succeeded in compelling arbitration in a false advertising class action case, with over $1 billion in damages at stake, involving advertising for the Season Pass for the FALLOUT® 4 video game.*

Conopco, Inc. v. 2026 Third Realty, LLC. et al
Secured a victory for Unilever in an anti-counterfeiting case that prevented distribution of 17,280 units of expired and counterfeit Hellmann's mayonnaise. Obtained multiple ex parte temporary restraining orders and a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.*

Combe Incorporated v. Dr. August Wolff GMBH & Co. KG Arzneimittel
After a full trial before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia obtained a ruling that the parties' VAGISIL and VAGISAN marks are confusingly similar and that "VAGISIL is a famous mark that has attained substantial commercial strength." The 4th Circuit affirmed the ruling.*

Buddy Webster v. Dean Guitars
Secured a victory on summary judgment for Dean Guitars and the Estate of Dimebag Darrell Abbott in a hotly-contested copyright infringement and unfair competition case, with multiple Lanham Act, invasion of privacy, and other state law claims. The case involved one of the world's most popular heavy metal guitarists—Darrell Abbott of the band Pantera—and a lightning bolt graphic on his "Dean from Hell" guitar, which for decades has been an inseparable part of Abbott's persona and likeness. The 11th Circuit affirmed the ruling.*

Ass Armor, LLC v. Under Armour, Inc.
Prevailed in a bench trial for Under Armour, securing a consent judgment recognizing fame of UNDER ARMOUR, ARMOUR, and other ARMOUR-formative marks and a permanent injunction against infringing use of a trademark on snowboarding shorts.*

Russell Minoru Ono v. Head USA, Inc.
Defeated class certification in false advertising case involving promotion of tennis rackets by some of the world's most famous tennis pro players. Plaintiff withdrew the case before trial.*

Nuance Communications Inc,. v. Abbyy USA Software House Inc.
Prevailed in jury trial, obtaining verdict that the plaintiff's asserted family of software packaging designs was unprotectable.*

Rolls-Royce v. United Technologies Corp.
Member of litigation team that defended United Technologies Corp. in a patent infringement action concerning fan blades used on contemporary commercial and private aircraft, resulting in a favorable summary judgment ruling of noninfringement.*

*Matters from prior firm

Speaking Engagements

Panelist, "The Metaverse: What Every Advertising Attorney Needs to Know About Substantiating Claims in the New Virtual Marketplace", ACI’s 6th Annual Forum on Advertising Claims Substantiation, Feb 10, 2023

Awards and Recognition

Silver: Enforcement and Litigation, WTR 1000, 2022

Managing Intellectual Property’s "Trade Mark Star", 2022

Super Lawyers Washington, DC Edition, 2014-2021

"DC Rising Stars in Intellectual Property Law" National Law Journal 2020

Bloomberg Law "They’ve Got Next: the 40 Under 40" list in Intellectual Property category 2020