Kendall J. Burr - Edison, McDowell & Hetherington LLP

Kendall Burr is an attorney in the firm’s Houston office. His practice focuses on a wide variety of commercial litigation matters, including trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition litigation; life insurance litigation; financial services litigation; and other complex commercial disputes. He also has litigation and arbitration experience in disputes involving, among other issues, director liability, corporate opportunity, unfair competition, employment, trademark, copyright, patent, real estate, bankruptcy, business tort, contract and securities claims.

Kendall’s practice involves litigation in state and federal courts in Texas, California, New York and various other courts around the country. He has represented clients in numerous industries, including entertainment, brand licensing, sports, life insurance, chemical-process technology, financial services, and energy.

Kendall has represented clients in several high-profile federal trials, including author J. K. Rowling in a well-publicized trial that resulted in a finding of copyright infringement against the publisher of an unauthorized dictionary based on her Harry Potter books.

Before joining the firm in November 2009, Kendall practiced at Mayer Brown LLP in Houston and at O’Melveny & Myers LLP in New York. Kendall graduated from Columbia Law School in 2005, having worked for one year as an intern for the National Hockey League’s legal department and having clerked for the U.S. Army JAG Corps. Kendall also spent several summers volunteering in Mozambique and served a two-year mission to northern Portugal.

Kendall lives in Humble and enjoys spending time with his wonderful wife and three children. Kendall enjoys sports, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2001 and completed two marathons in 2009 and 2011.

Cause No. 07-CV-9667 (RPP), Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. v. RDR Books, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Represented author J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers in pursuing copyright infringement claims against the publisher of an unauthorized “lexicon” based on Ms. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, which resulted in a favorable verdict halting the publication of that book after a well-publicized bench trial that Managing Intellectual Property named "Copyright Trial of the Year."

Cause No. 05 Civ. 4535(JGK), The American National Theatre and Academy v. The American National Theatre, Inc., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Successfully tried to conclusion and obtained unanimous jury verdict of no liability for a nonprofit theatre company accused of trademark infringement and won an appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Cause No. 3:05-CV-967 (MRK), Excelsior Advertising, Inc. v. Abbott, U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. Represented brand licensor, License Management Co., in a case involving corporate opportunity and breach of fiduciary duty claims relating to the rights to license “Swiss Army” trademarks and secured a favorable settlement during the second week of a three-week bench trial.

Cause No. 10-CV-02100 (DGH), INVISTA S.a r.l. v. Frontech, Inc., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Successfully prosecuted an intellectual property dispute on behalf of chemical compound producer INVISTA, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc., in pursuing trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition claims relating to the theft of its proprietary chemical process technology it licenses to manufacturers of Butanediol in China. Favorable settlement included an agreement by the defendants to issue a joint press release stating that Defendants had agreed to pay INVISTA licensing fees in connection with two projects they had secured in China, and to the issuance of a court order declaring that defendants had no rights to INVISTA's technology, and shall not use or license it in the future.

Cause No. 07-CV-15324 (SJM-MKM), Ellias v. Phoenix Life Ins. Co., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Obtained summary judgment dismissal of case brought against life insurer in a dispute involving non-recourse premium financing; the court found that the plaintiffs, an insured and a life insurance trust that had collaterally assigned policy rights to a third party premium financier, lacked standing to assert claims against the insurer due to the nature of the financing transaction.

Represented a well-known international bank in actions seeking damages under the Antiterrorism Act for providing financial services to groups with alleged ties to international terrorism.