Christopher S. Finnerty is a partner in Nelson Mullins's Boston office, where he represents clients in antitrust, distribution, and intellectual property matters while leading the Online Brand Equity and Strategic Distribution Group. He serves as antitrust counsel to corporations, advising on both legal and practical aspects of Sherman, Robinson-Patman, Hart-Scott-Rodino, and Clayton Act compliance, as well as their impact on global distribution. He concentrates his practice in the design and implementation of resale price maintenance strategies focusing on limiting online price erosion and price transparency. 

Mr. Finnerty's intellectual property practice includes trademark, counterfeit, gray market and copyright litigation and counsel regarding brand dilution over the Internet. Specifically, Mr. Finnerty helps companies devise early detection strategies to limit gray market resale of their products and importation of counterfeit products by targeting consumer web sites and business-to-business web sites. He has working relationships with more than 100 of the world's largest consumer and business-to-business web sites in an effort to limit unauthorized and counterfeit sales.

Mr. Finnerty has created a distinctive approach to combating the issues that arise online by combining proprietary software and worldwide intellectual property laws using auction activity to identify marketplace trends and distribution problems. The Online Brand Equity and Strategic Distribution Group routinely litigates trademark and counterfeit issues nationally.

Representative clients of Mr. Finnerty include: 

• The Bose Corporation
• GN Netcom, Inc.
• Cleveland Golf/Srixon
• Stillwater Designs, Inc./Kicker
• Skyhawke/Skycaddie
• TiVo
• Logitech
• Cardo Systems
• Olympus Corporation 

Mr. Finnerty is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Recent Cases: 

• Roger Cleveland Golf Co. Inc. v. Prince, South Carolina Federal District Court (2011) - $770,000 jury verdict against SEO Company for their contributory acts of counterfeiting 
• Bose Corporation v. Bahar, et al., Massachusetts Federal District Court (2011) - $2,200,000 Judgment in favor of Bose Corporation resulting from defendants' sale of counterfeit products 
• Bose Corporation v. Meyerer, et al., Massachusetts Federal District Court (2011) - $600,000 Judgment in favor of Bose Corporation resulting from defendants' sale of counterfeit products 
• Roger Cleveland Golf Co. Inc. v. Kingsport Golf, Inc., Northern District of Georgia Federal District Court (2010) – $1,000,000 Consent Judgment awarded to Cleveland Golf resulting from defendant's sale of infringing golf clubs. 
• Roger Cleveland Golf Co., Inc. v Cinicolo, Massachusetts Federal District Court (2009)  

Media:

• New England In-House, “A Swing at Infringement”; November 1, 2011
• Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, "Boston lawyers secure judgment vs. SEO company in golf-club case"; October 7, 2011
• Landmark IP Litigation Series, "Roger Cleveland Golf Company, Inc. v. Prince"; October 4, 2011
• Corporate Counsel, “Business as Usual”; May 2011
• Internet Retailer, “Toys R Us settles lawsuits over Web Price Pressure”; March 29, 2011
• Managing Intellectual Property, "Ignorance no longer Bliss for ISPs"; March 28, 2011
• National Law Journal, "Web Host Liable for Contributory Infringement" March 17, 2011
• Internet Retailer, "Court Holds SEO Responsible for Sales of Counterfeit Goods" March 15, 2011
• Wall Street Journal, "State Law Targets 'Minimum Pricing'"; April 28, 2009
• Internet Retailer, "Maryland Prohibit Manufacturers from setting Minimum Retail Prices"; March 28, 2009
• Internet Retailer, "How the Supreme Court Fractured Online Pricing"; October 30, 2008
• Industry Week, "Resale Price Maintenance and Long Term Distribution"; August 20, 2007