Mark Riedel

Mark Riedel is a business lawyer, with a focus on brand protection, trademark, copyright and unfair competition litigation.  He also regularly advises clients on trademark prosecution, advertising, regulatory compliance and distribution issues.  He is a leader in anti-diversion, anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy efforts within the beauty industry.  Mark helped co-found The Beauty Industry Fund, a non-profit trade association dedicated to the eradication of product diversion, decoding and piracy.  He has been an active member of the Personal Care Products Council for over 14 years and has participated in other beauty industry trade initiatives.

Prior to joining CK&E, Mark served as Vice President and General Counsel of the professional beauty division of Procter & Gamble. This division included the Sebastian, Wella, Graham Webb, Clairol Professional, Johnson Products and Belvedere brands and subsidiaries.  Over a ten year period, Mark helped the company more than double the size of its professional salon products business.

Prior to his in-house roles, Mark specialized in business litigation, including arbitration, trial and appellate work in state and federal courts.

Before attending law school, Mark worked as a real estate broker in San Luis Obispo, California.

Experience, Presentations and Publications

Representative Engagements

• Reversed Trademark Office’s refusal to register Brazilian Keratin Treatment trademark based on descriptiveness.
• Obtained an injunction against the display or publication of client’s copyrighted images, which were being used to sell diverted products on defendant’s website.  The injunction also included a prohibition on sales of decoded products.
• Stopped sales of copycat nail polish products, which infringed client’s nail bottle design trademark.
• Successfully prosecuted numerous Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) actions to force the turnover of infringing domain names for beauty industry clients.
• Prepared numerous distribution agreements for professional salon industry clients, which simultaneously protect the select distribution channel and encourage distributors to aggressively sell and promote the products.

Presentations

• “What’s Your Game Plan?,” Personal Care Products Council Emerging Issues Conference, Santa Monica, California, November 2012 (co-presenter)
• “Grey Marketing and Counterfeiting Issues,” Personal Care Products Council Legal & Regulatory Conference, Charleston, South Carolina, May 2012 (co-presenter)

Publications

• Bancroft – Whitney’s, California Civil Practice, Torts, Vol. 1, Chapter 17, Nuisance, 1992 (co-author)

Education

• Loyola Law School, J.D., 1986
  • Judicial extern for the Honorable William “Matt” Byrne, Jr. (U.S. District Court for the Central District of California)
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, B.S. (Economics), with honors, 1981

Professional Associations

• Los Angeles County Bar Association, Business Section
• Personal Care Products Council