Litigation

Kenneth L. Chernof is a partner in the firm's Washington, DC office, and head of the business litigation group. He focuses his practice on complex commercial, antitrust, and IP litigation. His practice is centered on defending leading business clients, particularly consumer products or services corporations, in multistate class actions and government litigation and investigations, and offensively devising creative litigation and non-litigation strategies to achieve key business objectives. Mr. Chernof's successes include federal jury and bench trials, federal and state appeals, and mediations and AAA arbitrations.

Mr. Chernof routinely defends his corporate clients in multistate antitrust matters and class actions (including price-fixing, monopolization, group boycott, Robinson-Patman Act, Donnelly Act, and other claims), as well as government investigations and lawsuits in federal and state courts (including contract disputes, Americans with Disabilities Act disputes, and bank powers issues). Representative clients have included Philip Morris USA, Inc., Hilton Worldwide, Inc., Bank of America, Household Bank, and other financial institutions. These lawsuits have resulted in important, industry-leading precedents.

Mr. Chernof also has significant experience in offensive trademark litigation, particularly regarding brand protection counseling and litigation involving counterfeit and grey-market products. He has successfully litigated in dozens of federal, district, and appellate courts; the International Trade Commission; and other venues against thousands of retailers, suppliers, importers, and Internet vendors engaged in the sale of pirated goods. These lawsuits have resulted in significant Internet commerce rulings and multimillion dollar damage awards against counterfeiters and grey marketers.

Prior to joining Arnold & Porter LLP, Mr. Chernof served as co-chair of the complex commercial litigation practice group at Heller Ehrman. From 1997 to 1999, he served in the US Department of Justice as Deputy Associate Attorney General and Chief of Staff to the Associate Attorney General. While at the Department of Justice, he worked closely with the Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, and the Assistant Attorneys General in charge of the antitrust, civil, tax, environment and natural resources, and civil rights divisions on a wide range of civil and criminal matters.

Litigation Representative Matters

• Holiday Wholesale v. Philip Morris, Inc., 231 F.Supp.2d 1253 (N.D. Ga. 2002), aff'd, Williamson Oil v. Philip Morris USA, 346 F.3d 1287 (11^th Cir. 2003), defended Philip Morris in MDL price-fixing class actions, resulting in summary judgment for Philip Morris.
• Romero v. Philip Morris Inc., 2010 WL 3169287 (N.M. 2010), defended Philip Morris in consumer antitrust class action, summary judgment for Philip Morris, affirmed by state Supreme Court.
• United States of America v. Hilton Worldwide Inc. (D.D.C. 2010), represented Hilton Worldwide in Americans with Disabilities Act litigation, resulting in consent decree.
• Philip Morris USA v. Otamedia, Ltd., 331 F.Supp.2d 228 (S.D.N.Y. 2004), grey market bench trial resulting in domain name transfer and US$173 million damage award.
• In the Matter of Certain Cigarettes and Packaging Thereof, 2009 WL 6751505 (ITC Oct. 1, 2009), aff'd Alcesia SRL v. International Trade Comm'n, 2011 WL 201490 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 24, 2011), ITC summary judgment award and Federal Circuit affirmance resulting in issuance of General Exclusion Order.
• Eastwood v. National Enquirer, Inc., 123 F.3d 1249 (9^th Cir. 1997), represented Clint Eastwood in successful jury trial and appellate litigation against the National Enquirer.