Resources
Pro Bono
Our mission at the INTA Pro Bono Clearinghouse is to ensure equitable access to trademark protection for individuals and businesses alike. We are committed to fostering a landscape where trademark rights are upheld with integrity and consistency, thereby promoting innovation, fairness, and growth within the global marketplace.
We believe that all consumers and businesses benefit when trademark rights are protected in a meaningful and consistent manner.
To this end, our Pro Bono Clearinghouse is the focal point of this initiative.
The Pro Bono Clearinghouse is a wonderful initiative from INTA that connects individuals and organizations in need of trademark-related legal assistance with volunteer expert attorneys who provide their services at no cost. This global initiative stands as a unique program primarily dedicated to addressing trademark issues.
The Clearinghouse is designed to assist individuals with limited financial resources, small and medium-sized businesses, as well as not-for-profit and charitable organizations with constrained operating budgets.
By participating in the Clearinghouse, attorneys have the special opportunity to leverage their legal skills while fulfilling their commitment to serving the public interest within their field of expertise. This collaboration benefits both those in need of legal aid and the legal professionals volunteering their time.
We are now accepting applications from individuals and entities worldwide and assess in matters in all jurisdictions. As a pilot, the program was serving the United States originally, and later expanding to Latin America, our global expansion is proof to the program’s success and the pressing demand for this invaluable pro bono service.
Getting Started
For Potential Clients/Applicants
To be eligible to participate in the Clearinghouse program, you or your organization must have:
(i) a valid trademark issue; and
(ii) financial need.
To see if you are eligible, please fill out an application below. You will be asked to describe your trademark issue and demonstrate financial need by providing tax information or the past 12 months of bank statements (which is kept confidential). If you have questions, please contact us.
For Member Attorney Volunteers
We encourage attorneys who are members of INTA to join our pool of Clearinghouse volunteers to provide help, e.g., in following general matters:
- General trademark questions
- Oppositions
- TTAB cases
To volunteer, you must:
(i) be a licensed attorney (in good standing) to practice in your jurisdiction;
(ii) carry malpractice insurance, and
(iii) be a current member of INTA (membership of the law firm is sufficient).
To learn more, please contact us by click here and include your e-mail or send an e-mail to Stacey Sutton.
Events
The INTA Pro Bono Committee hosts a variety of in-person and virtual events throughout the year. These events are focused on helping individuals and organizations navigate the trademark process and issues that may arise. Check back often to see what’s available!
EntreprenuHERship Virtual Clinic
March 11, 2025 | 11:00 am Eastern Time
Juneteenth Virtual Clinic
June 17, 2025 (Time TBD)
Global Pro Bono Celebration Virtual Clinic
October 29, 2025
Africa Virtual Clinic
Details TBD
INTA Pro Bono Juneteenth Virtual Program
INTA’S Pro Bono Black Entrepreneurs Virtual Clinic
The Pro Bono EntreprenuHERship Program
Virtual INTA Pro Bono Program on European Union Trademarks June 8, 2022
Resources
This document provides an overview of issues to consider for organizations, corporations and law firms when adopting, expanding or refining a pro bono program. It also provides sample documents such as law firm and corporate pro bono policies and engagement letters.
TTAB
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is an administrative tribunal within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The TTAB is empowered to determine the registrability of a trademark. Various causes of action can be brought including likelihood of confusion, descriptiveness, fraud, and abandonment. The TTAB has no authority to determine the right to use one, nor broader questions of infringement, unfair competition, damages or injunctive relief. Proceedings through the TTAB are essentially mini trials as parties still go through a pleading stage, discovery period, and trial period.
Through the clearing house we would offer support in the form of assigning an attorney who would represent you if a proceeding were initiated against your pending trademark application or active registration. This representation may involve drafting an answer, motions, and serving and responding to discovery requests. More often than not, TTAB cases end in the parties reaching an amicable resolution in the early stages which is strongly encouraged by the USPTO. The assigned attorney would consider amicable resolutions that are in your best interests during the proceeding.
Pro Bono Spotlight
Spotlight articles highlight individuals who are passionate about Pro Bono efforts and amplifies some of the interesting work they have done. Come read about these truly remarkable legal personnel who generously devote their time to helping others!
Shane Delsman
Godfrey & Kahn (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA)
One of the missions of INTA’s Pro Bono Committee is to ensure equitable access to trademark protection for all. The focal point of this initiative is the Pro Bono Clearinghouse, the only international program of its kind dedicated to trademarks. The Clearinghouse provides qualifying applicants with the assistance of an INTA member trademark attorney at no cost. Applicants are often low-income individuals, small businesses, or non-profit organizations with low operating budgets.
Shane Delsman is the current Project Leader of the Clearinghouse Working Group, which focuses on incoming applications, and monitors the review and matching process to ensure applicants are receiving timely responses. He is also in the midst of his second term on the Pro Bono Committee. Shane is an attorney at Godfrey & Kahn (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) and is the Intellectual Property Practice Group Leader. In addition to the service Shane provides through the Pro Bono Committee, he also serves as a member of Council for the IP section of the American Bar Association, President-Elect of the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association, and as an advisor to various non-profit boards.
As chair of the Clearinghouse Working Group, Shane’s responsibilities include overseeing the review of applications from those seeking pro bono trademark assistance. Members of the Working Group must confirm that applicants qualify for Clearinghouse assistance by Applicants must demonstrate that they meet certain financial criteria and have a specific legal trademark need, such as a need for assistance with filing applications, responding to office actions, or dealing with opposition proceedings.
Applicants that qualify are placed on a list, which Shane and his Working Group circulate to INTA member attorneys who have expressed interest in taking on a pro bono client. As Shane will tell any attorney interested in participating, the Clearinghouse provides INTA volunteers an opportunity to utilize their legal knowledge in bettering their community, gaining experience, and forming new connections. There is no long-term commitment and options are flexible. For example, volunteers may simply assist an applicant with filing a trademark application or responding to an office action. However, for those who are interested, there are opportunities to provide more substantive/longer representation to applicants who have matters before the TTAB. While the Clearinghouse takes care of obtaining and validating pro bono applicants, conflict checks and engagements for any legal representation must be done through an attorney’s own firm.
Shane finds that applicants discover the Clearinghouse in a variety of ways. Some are referred by the USPTO, including the TTAB. Other applicants find out about the Clearinghouse through trademark clinics and virtual programs held by the Pro Bono Committee or from INTA’s website. The Clearinghouse presently receives between 15 and 25 new applicants each month and sometimes these applicants later become fee-paying clients, which is another added benefit for INTA-member participants.
So why should you consider getting involved? Take it from Shane, who enjoys his role with the Clearinghouse because it allows him to see the creativity of applicants—“it’s so much fun to connect with these entrepreneurs and young businesses and be a part of the cool stuff they are doing.” Applicants are always highly appreciative of any help they can get, which is another reason why volunteers enjoy participating in this initiative.
Tom Brooke
Carey Kulp
Daniel Greif
Lara Kayode
Ranjan Narula
Over her 12 years at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, intellectual property (IP) litigator Bethany Rabe has distinguished herself not only through her professional achievements but also through her tireless commitment to pro bono advocacy. Last year, she topped the firm’s Las Vegas office in the number of pro bono hours logged.
David Aylen, managing partner of Gowling WLG-Russia/CIS practice, has always had an eye on intellectual property (IP) law. Even as a civil engineering student at Carleton University in Ontario, Canada, he was preparing for the law program at the University of Ottawa. He would soon use his technical interests and expertise to hone his practice as an IP lawyer in Canada, Russia, and internationally.
A self-proclaimed “logician with a law degree,” Joel Feldman (Greenberg Traurig, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) has been with the law firm for more than 14 years. He serves as Vice Chair of the firm’s Global Trademark and Brand Management Group, and mentors many of the firm’s rising trademark law superstars.
When Micheline Don is not practicing what she describes as “a mix of soft IP,” she is chairperson of Reprieve Netherland, the Dutch branch of Reprieve USA, which she founded with other Dutch-based former volunteers to provide U.S. firms working on death penalty cases with temporary volunteer Dutch interns. Motivated by her own life-changing experience taking a sabbatical and working six months as a paralegal at a capital defence firm in Texas, Ms. Don is now keen to raise awareness among Dutch people as to the human rights issues associated with capital punishment while providing U.S. firms that are fighting for clients on death row with much-needed legal assistance.