
Charles W. Grimes
Attorney Profile
Chuck is the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner. He has been practicing law since 1975. Chuck is admitted to practice law in the States of Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and New York and before various U.S. District Courts and Courts of Appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court. He received a B.S. degree in Engineering Mechanics from the Pennsylvania State University and a J.D. degree from the University of Denver School of Law. He was in private practice for several years and served as Trademark Counsel for Gulf + Western Industries in New York before founding the firm in 1980. Chuck has also been adjunct professor at the Ave Maria School of Law where he taught courses on intellectual property. He has served as the editor of the Licensing Journal and the IP Litigator and has authored more than twenty books on intellectual property and licensing matters, including:
‘The Law of Merchandise & Character Licensing’
‘License Agreements: Forms and Checklists’
‘Licensing Deskbook,’ ‘Licensing Law Handbook’ and
‘Licensing Royalty Rates’
‘A Primer on Technology Licensing’
‘Drafting Internet Agreements’
‘The Toy & Game Inventor’s Guide’
‘Patent Disputes: Litigation Forms and Analysis’
‘Trademark and Copyright Disputes: Forms and Analysis’
Chuck has worked extensively in all facets of intellectual property law. He has managed the worldwide trademark portfolios of leading consumer products companies.
Chuck has represented inventors, artists, authors, illustrators, musicians, photographers, toy and game designers, software designers, entertainment and sports personalities and other individuals in every imaginable field of creative endeavor.
Chuck has participated in major patent and trademark litigations. He developed and implemented a plan that effectively protected the valuable trademarks of the world”s largest premium cigar manufacturer against counterfeiting. He worked with undercover operatives, private investigators, and federal, state and local law enforcement officials to conduct raids, seize tens of millions of dollars of counterfeit merchandise, and arrest and convict key perpetrators.
Chuck has collaborated on some of the most successful commercial exploitations of intellectual properties over the last thirty years. In his early years at Gulf & Western, Chuck helped exploit the hidden values in movies and television shows such as STAR TREK, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, HAPPY DAYS and LAVERNE & SHIRLEY, in pageants such as the MISS UNIVERSE pageant, and in sports franchises such as the KNICKS, the RANGERS and the ARLINGTON PARK RACE TRACK. Subsequently, at Grimes LLC, Chuck has assisted, advised and/or was instrumental in structuring exploitation agreements involving a diverse collection of companies, such as:
New York Times |
Thomson Publishing |
Garfield Comics |
Archie Comics |
Revlon |
Avon |
Pierre Cardin |
Givenchy |
Gale Hayman |
Consolidated Cigar |
Cuban Cigar Brands |
Evian Waters |
South Beach |
Hearst Entertainment |
Tribune Media |
Harvard |
Yale |
UCLA |
Playtex |
Champion |
Macy’s |
PGA |
NBA |
Microsoft |
DreamWorks |
Phillips Media |
GTE Interactive |
Sega |
Time Warner |
Turner |
Hanna-Barbera |
Disney |
Universal Studios |
Viacom |
Columbia |
Paramount |
Warner Brothers |
ABC |
CBS |
Pepsi |
Frito Lay |
Hershey |
Pizza Hut |
Taco Bell |
Dairy Queen |
Howard Johnson |
McDonald’s |
Burger King |
Denny’s |
Kraft |
Dial |
General Foods |
Colgate-Palmolive |
Fruit of the Loom |
Quaker Oats |
Kellogg’s |
Mattel |
Hasbro |
Fischer Price |
Milton Bradley |
Tiger |
Tyco |
Disguise |
Thermos |
Hallmark |
Marvel |
Topps |
Polaroid |
Chase Bank |
People’s Bank |
Lee |
Sears |
Bloomingdale’s |
Rao’s |
And the list goes on and on…….
In summary, Chuck’s efforts have contributed to the generation of hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from successful intellectual property exploitation. Chuck practices primarily out of the firm’s headquarters in Florida, and is also available by appointment at the firm’s locations in New York and Connecticut.