Kristin H. Hardy

Kristin is an attorney in Taft’s Intellectual Property practice group and focuses her practice on trademark and copyright matters. She counsels clients in all areas of trademark portfolio management, extensive enforcement efforts, and on trademark clearance searches in the U.S. and abroad. Kristin additionally advises clients regarding copyright protection, licensing, domain issues, UDRP proceedings, advertising and branding online and on social media, NIL agreements, and corporate due diligence matters. She also has experience prosecuting trademark applications including counseling on and responding to Office Actions, as well as filing and pursuing opposition and cancellation proceedings, among other post-registration proceedings, before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Prior to law school, Kristin worked for the Chicago Bears and at a large corporate Chicago firm doing marketing and business development work. Prior to joining Taft as an associate, she was a summer associate with the firm and a law clerk for the Indiana Office of the Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division. She also was a law clerk for Honorable Barbara P. Gorman at the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.

Kristin obtained her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Dayton School of Law (UDSL) where she was elected publication editor of the UDSL Law Review, was a finalist in the Walter H. Rice Moot Court Competition, and was awarded Runner-Up Best Brief Award of Fordham Law School’s Irving R. Kaufman Memorial Securities Law Moot Court Competition. Kristin was also nominated and selected for the UDSL Leadership Honors Program and was awarded a full-tuition, merit-based scholarship. Kristin served on the honor counsel, was a Dean’s Fellow, and participated in the student mentor program. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Chicago graduating cum laude.

• “No Soup for Warhol: Use of Prince Image is Copyright Infringement,” Taft Law Bulletin, May 19, 2023.
• “Intent to Sell Does Not Equate to Intent to Use,” World Trademark Review Weekly, Sept. 29, 2022. (co-author with Salha El-Shwehdi)
• “Lowering the Bar for Genercide from “Clear Evidence” to “Reasonable Basis,” World Trademark Review Weekly, Aug. 25, 2022.
• “Multi-Factor Authentication: The New Norm for Cyber Insurance Coverage,” Taft Privacy & Data Security Insights Blog, Sept. 8, 2022.
• “The Intersection of Data & Intellectual Property: You Want to Share it, but How do You Protect it?” Taft Privacy & Data Security Insights Blog, Aug. 1, 2022.
• “Think Again on Cybersecurity Training – Human Error Continues to Drive Numbers on Cybersecurity Attacks,” Taft Privacy & Data Security Insights Blog, June 21, 2022.
• “Apache Log4j Security Vulnerability Is STILL a Problem – What is it, Who Does it Impact, and Should I do Anything About It?” Taft Privacy & Data Security Insights Blog, May 4, 2022.
• “K-12 Cybersecurity Act: Federal Government Seeks to Improve Security for America’s Educational Institutions,” Taft Privacy & Data Security Insights Blog, Dec. 6, 2021.
• “The Rise of the Metaverse and What Brands Need to do Now,” World Trademark Review Weekly, March 31, 2022,
• “Texas Social Media Bill May Speed Resolution of Trademark Complaints,” World Trademark Review Weekly, Sept. 23, 2021. (co-author with Paul McGrady)
• “Trademark Update,” 2019 Trademark & Copyright Law Year in Review, Indy Bar CLE program, April 22, 2020.
• “Did the Supreme Court Just Give States License to Pirate Copyrights? Protecting Copyrights Post Allen,” Taft Law Bulletin, April 13, 2020.