LaTessa F. Gray

Tessa is an associate in the Intellectual Property and Franchise groups. She counsels clients on a variety of intellectual property-related matters and assists with patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret matters for a variety of local and national clients. Tessa also assists franchisors with franchise creation, helps franchisees identify and pursue potential franchise opportunities, and helps clients grow their businesses with a focus on franchising and other licensing opportunities.

Tessa received her Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Lincoln University. The Lincoln Humanities Journal published her article, “A False Perception of Strangeness: How America Creates its Exclusivity,” in 2017. In the summer of 2017, Tessa also studied abroad at London South Bank University.

Tessa was a summer associate at Taft Cleveland while attending law school. She was the 2021 recipient of the Microsoft x IIPSJ Outstanding Student in IP Award. She earned her J.D., cum laude, from Howard University School of Law, Washington, D.C., in 2021.

Tessa’s activities during law school included the following:

• Served as president of the IP Students Association where she founded the IP Legal Assistance Fund.
• Employed as a law clerk in 2020 for an intellectual property law firm in Virginia to create a brief in opposition to a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court on a complex patent matter.
• Worked as an extern for the Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice in 2020.
• Served as a student attorney for Howard University School of Law’s Trademark Clinic from 2019-2020.
• Acted as senior articles editor of the Howard Law Journal.

• Presenter, “AI Art and IP Law,” Fan Expo Cleveland, March 24, 2023.
• “Failure to Record Trademark Assignment Supports Dismissal,” World Trademark Review Weekly, Sept. 22, 2022.
• “Purchase of Search Engine Ads for Word Marks is Sufficient to Constitute Infringement,” World Trademark Review Weekly, June 16, 2022.
• “Lights, Camera, Legal Action: Quentin Tarantino in Litigation with Miramax over NFT Rights,” World Trademark Review Weekly, April 14, 2022.
• “Transfer Action Raises Questions Around Jurisdiction in Trademark Infringement Cases,” World Trademark Review Weekly, Feb. 3, 2022.
• “USPTO Finally Implements the Trademark Modernization Act,” World Trademark Review Weekly, Dec. 2, 2021.