John W. Crittenden is a partner in the Cooley Godward Kronish Litigation department. He is resident in the San Francisco office, and has been with the Firm since 1983.

A member of the Firm’s Trademark, Copyright & Advertising practice group, Mr. Crittenden’s practice includes litigation and trial work in the areas of trademark, false advertising, unfair competition, and copyright, domestic and international trademark counseling and prosecution, and advice and advocacy in other intellectual property fields such as rights of publicity and the Internet. He is listed in the Guide to the World’s Leading Trademark Practitioners, following nominations by his peers and selection by a worldwide panel of advisors, and has been selected as a Northern California Super Lawyer by Law & Politics.

Mr. Crittenden has been the lead lawyer on a number of notable intellectual property cases. He tried and successfully argued on appeal PerfumeBay.com, Inc. v. eBay Inc., No. 05-56794 (9th Cir., Nov. 5, 2007), in which the appellate court affirmed a lower court injunction against an online perfume seller’s use of the name PerfumeBay and held that the PERFUMEBAY mark also diluted the famous eBay brand. He led the successful defense of NCsoft Corporation in Marvel Enterprises v. NCsoft Corporation, 74 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1303 (C.D. Cal. 2005), which established that players’ use of Marvel’s trademarked names in the online game City of Heroes is not infringement. He litigated and successfully argued on appeal Cohn v. PETsMART, Inc., 281 F.3d 837 (9th Cir. 2002), in which the court affirmed summary judgment for the national pet supply chain, finding “no likelihood of confusion even though the parties use the same mark for similar goods and services.” 

He is experienced in all forms of alternative dispute resolution, and regularly serves as a mediator and neutral evaluator in copyright and trademark cases for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

Mr. Crittenden is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Trademark Association, and has held a number of other leadership positions in the organization over the years. He serves as chair of INTA’s Courts and Tribunals Subcommittee, is a member of its Panel of Neutrals, and previously chaired its Emerging Issues Committee. From 1999 to 2001, he was editor-in-chief of the INTA Bulletin, the association’s twice-monthly report on trademark news to members worldwide.

Mr. Crittenden also is a member of the American Bar Association and previously was chair of ABA Intellectual Property Section subcommittees on Unconventional Trademarks and the Right of Publicity.

A frequent speaker on intellectual property topics, Mr. Crittenden has lectured and participated in panel discussions for the Practising Law Institute, California Continuing Education of the Bar, the International Trademark Association, and various industry and trade organizations.

From 1990 to 1995, he was the partner in charge of the firm’s litigation training program. The firm’s training tied for best in the United States in a 1992 American Lawyer survey.

From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Crittenden served as law clerk to the Honorable Joyce Hens Green of the U.S. District Court   for the District of Columbia.  He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, where he was a member of the UCLA Law Review, and received a J.D. degree in 1981. He completed his undergraduate work at UCLA, where he received an A.B. degree in English in 1978.