Paralegal - Trademarks

Build your career at Sazerac! With almost 400 years of rich history, Sazerac Company has thrived as an independent, American family-owned company with operations in the United States and around the world. Since the 2000s, Sazerac has averaged double digit growth every year! Sazerac Company produces and markets the most award-winning bourbons and whiskeys in the world, including Buffalo Trace, Pappy Van Winkle, Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, and Sazerac Rye. Additionally, Sazerac owns many popular brands across a range of spirits, including Fireball, Southern Comfort, Seagram’s V.O., Myers’s, Goldschläger, Parrot Bay, 99 Brand, and Platinum Vodka. 

We’re proud of our award-winning culture and distilleries. Our Louisville office has been named one of the “Best Places to Work in Kentucky” four times, and our Buffalo Trace Distillery has earned the title of “world’s most award-winning distillery” through the dedication of our craftsmen for well over 200 years. Whether you’re a recent graduate or an experienced professional, Sazerac provides extraordinary opportunities for growth with competitive salaries and benefits in an exciting, entrepreneurial industry.

Sazerac is seeking an experienced Trademark Paralegal to support the management, protection, and enforcement of its domestic and international trademark portfolio. This newly created position will work closely with in-house attorneys, business and marketing teams, outside counsel, and legal service providers.

You will provide hands-on support across the trademark lifecycle, including clearance, prosecution, maintenance, portfolio management, enforcement, and related legal operations. The successful candidate will be highly organized, detail-oriented, responsive, and comfortable managing multiple matters in a fast-paced consumer-brand environment.

Because this is Sazerac’s first dedicated trademark paralegal position, the individual will also have an opportunity to help strengthen the Trademark Team’s processes, systems, templates, and reporting capabilities.

This role will work a hybrid schedule onsite at our Louisville headquarters.

What You’ll Do:

• Trademark Clearance and Business Support – Support U.S. and international trademark clearance and business needs by conducting and coordinating searches, summarizing potential conflicts for attorney review, partnering with Marketing, Brand, and Innovation teams, and tracking proposed trademarks through the clearance and approval process.
• Trademark Prosecution and Maintenance – Prepare and coordinate U.S. and international trademark filings, prosecution, renewals, maintenance, and related documentation under attorney supervision, including gathering specimens, reviewing correspondence, tracking deadlines, and preparing draft responses and instructions. Coordinate with business teams, foreign associates, and outside counsel on trademark matters, including execution and legalization of documents and ownership, assignment, merger, acquisition, and other chain-of-title changes.
• Portfolio and Docket Management – Maintain and manage the company’s trademark portfolio and docketing systems, ensuring accurate records, timely tracking of deadlines, organized files, portfolio audits, and clear reporting to attorneys and internal stakeholders, while supporting the identification of inactive, duplicative, or nonstrategic marks.
• Enforcement and Brand Protection – Support trademark enforcement efforts by reviewing watch notices, preparing preliminary assessments, coordinating cease-and-desist matters, takedowns, marketplace complaints, domain disputes, oppositions, and cancellations, and tracking matters and follow-up actions with internal teams, outside counsel, and service providers.
• Trademark Operations – Coordinate with outside counsel and trademark service providers while supporting invoice review, matter budgeting, expense tracking, spend reporting, and the development and maintenance of trademark processes, templates, playbooks, and training materials.

Required:
• Bachelor’s degree, paralegal certificate, or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• Minimum of 3 years of substantive trademark paralegal experience in a corporate legal department, law firm, or comparable environment.
• Hands-on experience with U.S. trademark prosecution, maintenance, USPTO filings, deadlines, docket management, databases, and electronic matter files.
• Experience conducting preliminary trademark searches, preparing clear search summaries, and supporting international trademark prosecution and portfolio management.
• Exceptional organization, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple matters, deadlines, and competing priorities with sound judgment and discretion.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with attorneys, business stakeholders, outside counsel, and service providers; proficiency in Microsoft Office.

Preferred:
• In-house legal department experience.
• Experience supporting consumer-facing brands and large domestic and international trademark portfolios, preferably in consumer products, food and beverage, retail, apparel, entertainment, or hospitality, with familiarity using commercial trademark management or docketing systems.
• Experience with trademark watch services, domain and social-media matters, online marketplace enforcement, anticounterfeiting, and trademark-related agreements, acquisitions, divestitures, or licensing; interest in legal technology, process improvement, data management, and practical applications of AI.

Culture and Benefits:
Sazerac offers a comprehensive compensation and benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, 401K, paid time off, and more. These benefits may vary depending on location and work type. Learn more about how we support our employees here.

Sazerac is committed to equality of opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, veteran status, age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disability or any other legally protected status.

What’s Next:
After you apply, a recruiter will review your application and reach out to qualified candidates. Selected candidates will follow our interview process, which may include a phone screen, hiring manager interview, and panel interviews with business leaders. There may be additional steps or assessments throughout the process dependent on the position. Applicants who are not selected to move through the process, at any stage, will be notified via email.

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