Franchise & Distribution

We have counseled franchisors and represented them in litigating antitrust issues. Gibbons attorneys handle civil and criminal antitrust cases, business torts, and competition matters involving such issues as price fixing, market and customer allocation, termination of distributorships, boycotts, monopolization and attempted price discrimination, unfair competition, state antitrust law claims, and restrictive covenant enforcement. In this connection, Gibbons is also accustomed to handling multidistrict and multiparty litigation.

In the trademark area, in addition to litigation, our lawyers handle the preparation, filing, and prosecution of a large variety of trademark applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We perform screening searches and advise clients on potential marks prior to adoption and use, so as to minimize the possibility of infringing an existing mark and maximize the likelihood of registration of a mark. We advise clients in a variety of licensing situations and other corporate transactions involving trademarks. The firm’s practice extends to the full range of issues covered by the Lanham Act, including false and deceptive advertising. Gibbons maintains relationships with intellectual property firms throughout the world and obtains trademark registration for clients in other countries. We prepare trademark applications for both word and design marks involving a wide variety of goods and services.

Gibbons has an extensive real estate practice that provides counsel to businesses involved in conveying, leasing, financing, and virtually every other kind of real property transaction. The firm is also recognized for its experience in zoning, planning, and permitting matters, with particular emphasis on commercial, office, and large-scale industrial uses. We regularly work with a number of the most highly respected and best-known architects, planners, traffic engineers, engineering firms and environmental consultants.

The firm’s corporate and finance lawyers are experienced in all types of business transactions, such as initial public offerings; mergers; stock and asset acquisitions and divestitures; issuance and exchange of securities, including private placement and debt offerings; partnering and joint venture agreements; and the entire range of business agreements. Gibbons also has considerable experience in financial services, such as negotiation and documentation of financing transactions; secured and unsecured loans; asset-based financings; factoring; project financings; direct and indirect and leveraged lease financings; syndications and participations in multi-lender financings and LBO financings; bond indenture financings; trust structure financings; recourse and non-recourse real estate financings of all types; letters of credit; and guarantees and other credit enhancement transactions.

The firm handles a broad range of federal, state, and local tax matters for corporate clients. Our tax lawyers advise corporations on the international tax implications of conducting business both in the United States and overseas. We frequently assist clients in planning and structuring their U.S. operations to take into account the tax rules relating to income sourcing, withholding, tax credits, and particular U.S. statutory provisions, such as the branch profits tax and the Foreign Interests in Real Property Tax Act.

We have extensive experience in the hospitality industry, with particular reference to franchised operations. We regularly represent one of the world’s largest hospitality companies and its affiliates across six continents in litigation with former franchisees arising out of termination of franchise agreements. We conducted the nationwide corporate reorganization of a national motel chain, litigating or negotiating with franchisees and co-owners for termination, sale, restitution, and related matters. We have been involved with litigation or restructuring of other entities in the industry, including hotel/casinos and airport hotels.