OC Attorney Sues Over ‘Atticus’ Law Brand Trademark

A trademark dispute between an Orange County trial attorney and a venture-backed technology company has escalated into a federal battle over ownership of the name ‘Atticus.’

The plaintiff, Atticus Wegman and his law firm Atticus Injury Law, raises questions about ownership of legal practices, fee-sharing, and trademark ethics.

“This all started when Atticus Labs sent me a cease-and-desist letter,” Wegman told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “When somebody tells me to change my name, I don’t have to do that. I’m not going to be bullied.”

Wegman’s law practice, Atticus Injury Law, is located on Irvine Boulevard in Tustin while Atticus Law and Atticus Labs, founded by CEO Sam Byker, are headquartered in Los Angeles.

The Atticus company cease-and-desist letter requested that Wegman stop using ‘Atticus’ based on its federal trademark registration in connection with legal services. Atticus Law and Atticus Labs contend that they have attempted to resolve the issue with Wegman amicably.

“Our ask from day one has been simple: Mr. Wegman should practice using his full name (adding his last name to the name of his firm),” Atticus founder Sam Byker told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “He refused and decided to sue us instead.”

Related Media:

• Find an intellectual property lawyer
• Mickey Mouse as Steamboat Willie enters public domain

Naked Licensing & Fraud Alleged

Wegman filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging naked licensing, fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and operating as an uncertified lawyer referral service.

Wegman is represented by Irvine attorney Brian Kinder of The Kinder Law Group, APC and Aliso Viejo attorney Nathan Camuti of Camuti Law Group APC.

“They have registered Atticus for legal services and our position is they don’t provide legal services,” Kinder told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “In fact, the entity that owns the registration cannot provide legal services. It’s not a law firm.”

Defendants named in the complaint are Atticus Labs, Atticus Law and Byker. DOWNLOAD COMPLAINT HERE.

Atticus is a universally recognized name in most legal communities due to Harper Lee’s 1960 novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ in which an attorney named Atticus Finch defends an innocent African American man falsely accused of a crime in Alabama.

Atticus is also Wegman’s first government birth name.

“Nobody knows my last name ‘Wegman’ so my entire life is based on ‘Hey, call Atticus,’” Wegman said. “Wegman might as well be Frankenstein. Nobody knows who that person is but they know Atticus in my community in Orange County where I practice law, not nationwide.”

Wegman seeks a declaration of non-infringement, cancellation of Atticus Labs’ trademark registration, and statutory damages.

His legal team, led by Camuti and Kinder, alleges that Atticus Labs improperly operates a digital platform that screens disability and workers’ compensation applicants and sends them to outside law firms in exchange for a percentage of the contingency fee.

According to Atticus, Atticus Law is a law firm separate from Atticus Labs that delivers legal help to more than 100,000 Americans each year and has won more than $7 billion in benefits for their clients to date.

“Our mission is to tear down barriers between Americans in crisis and the aid they need,” Byker said.

Byker, a Stanford University Law School-educated attorney, is licensed by the State Bar of California. He founded Atticus in 2017 and received a trademark for Atticus in 2018.

Byker views the case as a routine trademark dispute “that was triggered after Mr. Wegman sought a trademark registration, got rejected by the government, and decided to knowingly infringe our mark.”

Atticus Labs filed motions to dismiss Wegman’s lawsuit and strike portions of the complaint under California’s Anti-SLAPP statute, arguing that its trademark application was protected activity and that its staff attorneys actively render legal services.

In an August 17 ruling on Wegman’s second amended complaint, U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter denied the Anti-SLAPP motion and allowed claims regarding naked licensing, fraudulent procurement, abandonment, and unfair competition to proceed.

“Judge Slaughter recognized that our lawsuit is not directed at their protected activity of filing a trademark application,” Camuti told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “The strength in the denial of that motion is that it showed that the judge recognized we’re not challenging protected speech and it put an end to that issue.”

The current status of the litigation is that Wegman has the option to file a third amended complaint by September 7 and Atticus has until Sept. 21 to file a response.

Wegman also filed a complaint with the State Bar of California’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel.

To date, the state bar has not issued a ruling.

“We are confident we will prevail in this matter, and in the meantime remain focused on delivering critical legal services to Americans in need,” Byker added.

Photo credit: Photo of Nathan Camuti provided by Camuti, Header image created in ChatGPT.