Carina M. Kraatz
USA - Michigan
Kitch Drutchas Wagner Valitutti & Sherbrook, P.C.
One Woodward Avenue
Suite 2400
Detroit, MI 48226-5485
Tel: (313) 965-7647
Email:
carina.kraatz@kitch.com
Web:
www.kitch.com
Ms. Kraatz received her J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in Detroit, Michigan and her LL.B from the University of Windsor Faculty of Law in Ontario, Canada.
Ms. Kraatz is admitted to the U.S. District Courts of Eastern and Western Michigan as well as being registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She has also litigated matters in the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana as well as Iowa state and federal courts.
Ms. Kraatz was named a Rising Star in 2019 by Super Lawyers. Rising Stars are attorneys who are 40 years old or younger or those who have practiced for ten years or less. Only 2.5 percent of Michigan lawyers are named to this list every year.
Membership & Affiliations:
- State Bar of Michigan
- Michigan Intellectual Property Law Association
- Oakland County Bar Association
- Consumer Bankruptcy Association
- National Association of Women in Construction
- Detroit Bar Association – pro bono/access to justice and barrister’s sub-committees
- American Intellectual Property Law Association – trademark sub-committee
- Federal Bar Association
- Building Owners and Managers Association
- Engineering Society of Detroit
The Kitch firm provides strategic counseling to its clients on creating, protecting, enforcing and earning a return on their investment in their intellectual property and technology assets. Services in this area focus on trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, software, information technology and patents.
Trademarks: As symbols of the goodwill of a company, trademarks are important assets that help a company create a unique identity for the company and distinguish its products and services from those of its competitors. Our services in this area include:
- Advising clients on the strategic selection of company names, domain names, trademarks, logos and advertising slogans
- Conducting clearance searches
- Filing applications to register trademarks, service marks, and trade dress
- Obtaining domain name registrations
- Maintaining trademark registrations and domain name registrations
- Negotiating and drafting trademark licensing agreements and private labeling agreements
- Protecting trademarks from misappropriation through trademark monitoring programs and issuing cease and desist demands
- Resolving domain name disputes
- Litigating trademark infringement and unfair competition matters
Copyright: As authors of original works, copyright holders have the ability to control the use and distribution of their works. Our services in this area include:
- Advising clients on the creation, ownership and protection of copyrightable works
- Preparing and prosecuting applications for copyright registration in all types of works including computer programs, web sites, technical manuals, technical drawings, art, architectural drawings, sculpture, photographs, and videos, among others
- Protecting copyrights in content accessible via the Internet including on social media sites
- Acquiring and licensing copyrights
- Negotiating and drafting work for hire agreements, consulting agreements, development agreements, and other copyright-related agreements
- Issuing cease and desist demands and Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices on behalf of clients
- Responding to cease and desist demands and Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices
- Litigating copyright disputes
Patents, Technology and Technology Transfer: New products and processes may be entitled to protection for commercial use through the application and issuance of patents in the United States and abroad. Our services in this area include:
- Negotiating and preparing licensing agreements for patents, digital content, databases, technical know-how and trade secrets
- Negotiating and preparing software licensing agreements, software-as-a-service agreements and software development agreements
- Drafting enforceable click-through agreements
- Counseling clients on protecting trade secrets
- Advising clients on protecting mobile applications
- Advising clients on structuring joint ventures and strategic alliances to jointly develop and commercialize use new technology and negotiating and preparing appropriate agreements to implement such arrangements
- Negotiating and preparing the purchase and sale of technology companies
While many firms have grown primarily through mergers and acquisitions, the Kitch firm has experienced all of its growth to date through its focus on strong client partnerships, leadership in the practice of law, and successful business practices. The firm has grown from four attorneys in 1969 to 19 attorneys in 1980 to nearly 100 attorneys and six offices in the Great Lakes region in 2008.
Although the Kitch firm began as a medical malpractice defense firm, and continues to be recognized as one of the premier medical malpractice defense firms in the industry, it is today a full-service firm. The Kitch firm expanded to meet the other legal needs of its healthcare clients as those clients grew during the ’80s and ’90s, and into the new millennium. The firm successfully expanded to provide the same uniquely tailored high quality services beyond the healthcare industry. The firm now covers such diverse areas as immigration, government regulation and litigation, estate planning, labor and employment, corporate, criminal investigations and prosecutions, commercial real estate, commercial litigation, trucking, Long term care, insurance and real estate law and finance, among many others.