Ivy Clarice Estoesta

Ivy Clarice Estoesta is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Mechanical & Design Practice Group and Trademark & Brand Protection Practice. Ivy counsels a wide range of clients, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, on strategically securing and enforcing intellectual property rights in the U.S. and abroad. She focuses her practice on design rights and brand protection for clients in various industries, including consumer electronics, apparel, household cleaning products, and software and applications. Ivy’s multidimensional practice includes drafting and prosecuting design patent applications and enforcing design rights; clearing, prosecuting, and enforcing trademark rights; and advising on copyright protection, for some of the most recognizable brands in North America. She also has experience in ex parte proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board and U.S. Copyright Review Board, and inter partes proceedings before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Ivy has niche expertise in U.S. and foreign design rights related to graphical user interface (GUI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) designs. She is also the firm’s go-to resource for copyright matters, particularly for visual works, including digital art/NFTs.

For five consecutive years since 2019, Ivy was recognized as a “Rising Star” by Managing IP.

She serves on the International Trademark Association’s (INTA) Designs Committee for the 2022-2023 term, and on the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Industrial Designs Committee.

Ivy serves on Sterne Kessler’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and annually participates in the Intellectual Property Legal Clinic for Small Businesses co-hosted by Sterne Kessler and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono center since 2017. Ivy’s leadership in diversity and inclusion efforts beyond the firm includes participating as a speaker at the Hispanic National Bar Association/Vision in Action Intellectual Property Law Institute (HNBA/VIA IPLI). She also participates in the Maryland Carey Law Alumni Mentor Programs for 1Ls.

Ivy credits her commitment to diversity and inclusion, pro bono service, and mentorship to the motto of her alma mater (Pro Humanitate (For Humanity): Wake Forest University. There, she attended as a Joseph G. Gordon Scholar, and graduated with a B.A. in art history with honors and a minor in chemistry. While in Winston-Salem, Ivy had the unique opportunity to work on research for the treatment of cancer and neurological diseases through the Wake Forest University Chemistry Department and the Wake Forest University Medical School Neuroscience Department, respectively. Ivy earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.