Julia Huston is well known for achieving outstanding results for clients in high-stakes intellectual property cases. She is Co-Chair of Foley Hoag LLP’s Intellectual Property Department.
Julia provides a full range of services to clients in connection with their valuable intellectual property, with a focus on litigation and strategic counseling. Julia’s experience extends to:
In the litigation arena, Julia acts as lead counsel in cases before the federal courts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau. Our clients entrust Julia with enforcing and defending their key intellectual property assets.
A forceful and creative courtroom advocate, Julia has obtained multimillion-dollar judgments and settlements in numerous cases. For example, Julia obtained a $20.7 million verdict in a case involving the false advertising and commercial disparagement of musical instruments, which Music Trades magazine described as “the largest financial judgment in music industry history.” Julia played a significant role in defending a major motion picture company from allegations that its blockbuster film infringed the plaintiff’s copyright, thereby defeating a claim for over $100 million in damages. Julia invalidated a patent for speech recognition software, which not only protected the client from a multi-million dollar claim for damages but also paved the way for the client to develop new technologies that have altered the course of how consumers interact with their electronic devices.
Julia represents clients in fields as diverse as pharmaceutical products, food and beverages, health care, consumer products, electronics, software and hardware, insurance, financial services, energy, education, publishing, and entertainment. Julia's extensive experience in litigation and dispute resolution enables her to build her clients’ IP portfolios strategically with an eye toward enforcement and defense in the marketplace.
A frequent author and lecturer on intellectual property topics, Julia’s articles have appeared in World Trademark Review, Managing Intellectual Property, Intellectual Property Today, and other prominent publications. Julia has publicly commented on high-profile intellectual property cases for Channel 4 WBZ-TV, Channel 7 WHDH, Fox 25 News, and major metropolitan newspapers.
Julia is particularly well known in the fields of trademark and advertising law. The WTR 1000, an international review of trademark attorneys in which she has consistently earned high rankings, recently stated, “The remarkable Julia Huston manages the set with a steady hand and is a go-to for prestigious trademark owners. Her judicious insight serves clients equally well in both sophisticated prosecution and enforcement. In addition, her leadership and litigation skills are superb. It’s easy to resolve a dispute with her because she takes a firm but practical stance. Unlike lawyers who refuse to give a straight answer, she covers all the bases and is direct with her responses.”
Julia has held leadership positions in several civic, professional and charitable organizations, and previously served as President of the Boston Bar Association (BBA), President of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) and President of the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts (WBA). Julia is the immediate past Chair of the Parallel Imports Committee of the International Trademark Association (INTA), which addresses the unauthorized movement of parallel imports, also known as gray market goods, across country borders.
