text: LOS ANGELES and PALO ALTO– April 22, 2015 – Two attorneys from the international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP have been named to the 2015 Daily Journal’s list of Top Intellectual Property Lawyers in California. Ian C. Ballon was selected as one of the Top 75 IP Litigators and Susan L. Heller (Trademarks/Brand Management) was chosen as one of the Top 25 Portfolio Managers. Both Ballon and Heller have consistently been named to each of the Daily Journal’s Top Intellectual Property lists since the first list was published in 2003.
  “It is an honor to have these two well-respected intellectual property shareholders again included on this prestigious list,” said Matt Gorson, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig. “We are proud of Ian and Susan for earning this recognition by the Daily Journal.”
  Ballon is an Internet and intellectual property litigator based in both the firm's Silicon Valley and Los Angeles offices. He represents technology, media, and entertainment companies in complex copyright, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Lanham Act, and Internet- and mobile-related litigation, including the defense of data privacy, security breach, and TCPA class action suits. Ballon has served as lead counsel in numerous lawsuits involving novel and complex IP issues involving copyright law and the DMCA, software copyrightability, trademark infringement, cybersquatting, sponsored link, and other online advertising, design patents, trade secrets, rights of publicity, and secondary liability and safe harbors applicable to Internet, mobile, social media, and cloud service providers.
  In addition to his litigation docket, Ballon is the author of West's best-selling four-volume treatise, E-Commerce and Internet Law: Treatise With Forms 2d Edition (Thomson West 2009 & 2015 Annual Supp.), the leading treatise in the field. See www.IanBallon.net. He also serves as executive director of Stanford University Law School’s Center for E-Commerce. Recognizing his ongoing contribution to the field, Ballon has been the recipient of the State Bar of California Intellectual Property Law Section’s Vanguard Award, named as one of the 50 Game-Changing Attorneys in Variety's Legal Impact Report, and listed as both a Northern California and Southern California Super Lawyer.
  Heller, chair of the firm’s Global Trademark and Brand Management Group, is based in Los Angeles and Orange County. She represents highly visible Fortune 500 companies, world champion athletes, high network individuals, and A-list entertainment personalities, who turn to her when the stakes are high and their critical brands are at risk. She helps her clients monetize and optimize their key brands and corporate images through strategic positioning, management, and enforcement of their worldwide trademark, copyright, and domain name portfolios, and extensive collateral product licensing. Heller partners closely with her clients, working with their legal, marketing, and business teams to ensure that marketing strategies and business sensitivities are integrated into her legal analysis and advice.
  Heller has received numerous prestigious honors and awards from highly regarded organizations and publications (including Daily Journal, Euromoney, Law360, MIP’s IP Stars, and World Trademark Review, among others), naming her a leading California, U.S., and international trademark attorney. She was named one of IP Law360’s Ten “Most Admired Attorneys” and has served as the sole outside director on the Board of Directors of Intangible Holding Companies for a number of highly visible Fortune 500 companies, where she honed her ability to assess and apply legal objectives and business strategies to branding challenges. Heller began her career as an examining attorney at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, and has gone on to build a practice that has spanned more than 30 years, across virtually every industry and in most jurisdictions throughout the world.
  Ballon and Heller represent different aspects of the firm’s Intellectual Property & Technology Practice, yet they frequently collaborate to bring greater value to their clients. Together, they use the strategic positioning and prosecution of their clients’ brand portfolios to strengthen and better leverage both offensive and defensive litigation, while using litigation to increase the value and monetization capacity of the underlying portfolio assets. This is illustrative of the sophisticated nature, and scope, of Greenberg Traurig’s Intellectual Property and Technology Practice.