Partner

Maury M. Tepper III

Maury regards his primary gift as the ability to bring talented people together and to stay out of their way. This is the formula that led to the creation of Tepper & Eyster. Anyone working with Maury can quickly tell that he has an interest and enthusiasm for finding ways to help clients accomplish their goals. As an amateur musician, Maury is also drawn to the creativity involved in working to develop and protect new brands. Although Maury denies rumors that he can hold a conversation with a post, the post has no comment.

Maury’s practice encompasses all aspects of the creation, registration, maintenance and enforcement of trademarks, copyrights and domain names. Maury regularly assists clients with marketing, legislative and licensing issues; and in intellectual property dispute resolution. He also provides strategic counsel to clients on intellectual property transactions and portfolio acquisition and management.

Maury has extensive experience helping clients in industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to information technology and from food to entertainment. Prior to founding Tepper & Eyster, a firm specializing in intellectual property, Maury headed the trademark practice at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, a general practice firm with more than 500 attorneys. Maury has also worked in-house, serving as Director and Trademark Counsel for GlaxoSmithKline, a leading research-based pharmaceutical company.

Maury has been appointed, by four different Secretaries of Commerce to serve on the Trademark Public Advisory Committee to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (TPAC), including a five-year stint as Chair. Maury is a Board Certified Specialist in Trademark Law, and he has served as a founding member of the Trademark Specialization Committee of the North Carolina State Bar.

Maury has a long and active history with the International Trademark Association (INTA), where he has served as Counsel, as a member of the Board of Directors, Chair of the Legislation and Regulatory Analysis Committee, Chair of the Audit Committee and Chair of the USPTO Subcommittee. Maury was also a founding member of INTA PAC and served on the INTA PAC Board for many years.

Maury has also served on the Board of Directors of the Triangle Intellectual Property Association, North Carolina Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (where he served as President) and the North Carolina Bar Association Intellectual Property Section (where he served as Section Chair).

Maury has participated in drafting and commenting on several important legislative and regulatory initiatives affecting trademarks, including the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, the Madrid Protocol Implementation Act, FDA’s Trademark Pilot Program and the American Inventors Protection Act. He has also served as an expert witness in pharmaceutical trademark cases.

Maury is regularly called upon to lecture on trademark developments at conferences throughout the United States, as well as abroad. He has spoken at conferences hosted by the North Carolina Bar Association, International Trademark Association, Pharmaceutical Trademarks Group, Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI), ALI-ABA, Carolinas Patent Copyright & Trademark Law Association (CPTCLA) and others. Maury has, on multiple occasions, been named to the “Legal Elite,” “Top Attorneys in North Carolina” and “Super Lawyers” and has been honored to be included in the WTR 100 and WTR 300 lists of leading trademark professionals every year since their inception.

Maury is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. In his spare time, Maury loves music, golf and talking.