Biography
She concentrates her practice in intellectual property and commercial litigation cases.
Ms. Peñagarícano was part of the State Department Committee that drafted the new Trademarks Act of Puerto Rico and the Regulation for the Registration of Trademarks in Puerto Rico. She was the President of the Intellectual Property Committee of the PR Bar Association and, under her presidency, the Committee drafted the Right of Publicity bill, the Trade Secrets bill, and the Moral Rights bill which were signed into law between 2011 and 2012.
She has been an active member of the International Trademark Association (INTA) for many years, and member of its Sub-Committee on Legislation in Latin America, and its Sub-Committee on Trade Dress. Ms. Peñagarícano has been a speaker in many Intellectual Property seminars and conferences in Puerto Rico and in the United States.
She is ranked as one of Puerto Rico’s Leading Attorneys in the Intellectual Property field by the renowned international publication Chambers & Partners in its Latin America Guide. She is also ranked in the Intellectual Property Law field of The Best Lawyers in Puerto Rico guide. In 2017 Ms. Peñagarícano was recognized by Best Lawyers® as the Intellectual Property Law "Lawyer of the Year" in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Before joining McConnell Valdés, she was a Law Clerk to the Hon. Wilfredo Alicea López, the Hon. Pedro López Oliver, and to the Hon. Arnaldo López Rodríguez, Extraordinary Writs Section of the Superior Court of Puerto Rico.
Representative Cases
Her representative cases include:
- Winning a landmark case in 1998 garnering a permanent injunction against a company illegally using the name of former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres in the first “right of publicity” action brought in federal court in Puerto Rico.
- Winning a precedent setting case in the First Circuit Court of Appeals for The Clorox Company in which the Appeals Court reversed the dismissal of a Lanham Act false advertising action brought by Clorox against Procter & Gamble. This decision, The Clorox Company Puerto Rico v. The Procter & Gamble Commercial Company, 228 F.3d 24 (1st Cir. Oct. 3, 2000), was the first false advertising case decided in the First Circuit.
- Filing the first case before the Federal Court of Puerto Rico under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and obtained from the defendant the domain name of her client.
- Successfully defending PGD, Inc. against a claim of trademark infringement involving the name of a generic drug in the case Doral Pharmamedics v. PGD, 148 F. Supp. 2d 127 (D.P.R. 2001).
- Ms. Peñagarícano was part of the legal team that obtained an injunction in favor of McNeil and against Merisant ordering the withdrawal from the Puerto Rico market of the yellow artificial sweetener product SAME, since its trade dress was a copy of the trade dress of the SPLENDA artificial sweetener product.
- Litigating the first “right-of-publicity” case brought in state court in Puerto Rico in which the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico established the rights of the parties.
- Obtaining an ex-parte TRO and seizure order in a jewelry copyright infringement case.
- Obtaining an ex-parte TRO and seizure order in the BRITTO counterfeit, trademark and copyright infringement case against 177 defendants.
- Presenting claims against various stores for selling Creative Recreation shoes in violation of the design patents of her client.
- Presenting claims against various stores for selling gray goods in Puerto Rico.
- Obtaining an ex-parte TRO and seizure order in the TOUS counterfeit, trademark and copyright infringement case against 177 defendants.
- Obtaining an ex-parte TRO and seizure order in the Nicole Lee copyright infringement case against Novus Shoe Stores.
- Obtaining a Judgment from the Supreme Court dismissing 93 DACO penalties issued against Toys R' Us.
- Obtaining a Judgment from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico holding that plaintiff, a former employee of Church's Chicken Puerto Rico, was not the owner of the PechuSandwich trademark and holding that such ex-employee did not have copyrights over the PechuSandwich recipe – since recipes are not subject to copyright protection. In 2015, this Judgment was affirmed by the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Successfully litigating intellectual property claims for such clients as Kraft Foods, Gillette, Clorox, Shell, Carvajal, S.A., Century 21, Wells Fargo, Vitamin World, Mattel, JWT, McNeil, PGD, ConAgra, Cajun Operating Company (Church’s), Aggreko, Pernod Ricard, Kabushiki Kaisha Pilot, Danone, Quest Beads & Cast, Nobox Marketing Group, Ponte Fresco, Gymboree, Pottery Barn, and Elba Jewelers (Sophia Fiori).
Practices
News & Publications
News
- February 23, 2023
- February 10, 2023
- McV NewsAugust 21, 2019
- McV NewsAugust 21, 2018
- McV NewsAugust 28, 2017
- June 7, 2016
- February 18, 2016
- Intellectual Property News, October 26, 2015
- 17 McV Attorneys listed in The Best Lawyers in Puerto Rico© 2016September 11, 2015
- First Circuit decides that recipes are not subject to copyright protectionAugust 26, 2015
- Dora Peñagarícano discusses impact of DACO’s new Advertising RegulationsJuly 21, 2015
- Twenty-six McV Attorneys Recognized in Chambers & Partners Latin America GuideJune 22, 2015
- Retailers Ordered to Pay Damages to TOUS in Counterfeit SuitDecember 8, 2014
- September 25, 2014
Publications
- An McV Litigation AlertJanuary 8, 2021
- An McV Intellectual Property AlertOctober 21, 2020
- An McV IP & Labor AlertSeptember 9, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertAugust 17, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertJuly 20, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 10, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertMay 26, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertMay 21, 2020
- McV Litigation AlertMay 6, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertApril 14, 2020
- An McV Intellectual Property AlertApril 8, 2020
- An McV Intellectual Property AlertApril 2, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertApril 1, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertMarch 27, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertMarch 26, 2020
- An McV Intellectual Property AlertMarch 23, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertMarch 20, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertMarch 18, 2020
- An McV Litigation AlertMarch 17, 2020
- McV Litigation AlertMarch 16, 2020
- McV Cuba Practice Team AlertSeptember 17, 2019
- McV Litigation AlertAugust 26, 2019
- An McV Intellectual Property AlertJanuary 29, 2018
- An McV Litigation AlertJanuary 19, 2018
- An McV Cuba Practice Team AlertNovember 17, 2017
- An McV Retail AlertAugust 17, 2017
- An McV Cuba Practice Team AlertJune 23, 2017
- An McV Litigation AlertJune 23, 2017
- An McV Retail AlertApril 5, 2017
- McV NewsJanuary 19, 2017
- An McV Retail AlertDecember 1, 2016
- An McV Retail AlertDecember 1, 2016
- An McV Tax AlertJune 15, 2016
- An McV Tax AlertJune 3, 2016
- March 16, 2016
- February 2, 2016
- Amendments Ease Financing Rules on Exports and Further Facilitate Travel to CubaJanuary 28, 2016
- Retail Consumer Laws, November 30, 2015
- Cuba Practice Team, September 21, 2015
- Cuba Practice Team, July 1, 2015
- Cuba Practice Team, January 15, 2015
- Obama Administration Charts a New Course for U.S. - Cuba RelationsDecember 23, 2014
Co-Leader, Retail Practice Team
Co-Leader, Intellectual Property Practice Team
Bar Admissions
- Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
- U.S. District Court District of Puerto Rico
- U.S. Court of Appeals First Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
Clerkships
- Law clerk to the Hon. Wilfredo Alicea López, Extraordinary Writs Section of the Superior Court of Puerto Rico
- Law clerk to the Hon. Pedro López Oliver, Extraordinary Writs Section of the Superior Court of Puerto Rico
- Law clerk to the Hon. Arnaldo López Rodríguez, Extraordinary Writs Section of the Superior Court of Puerto Rico
Education
B.A., Cum Laude, Georgetown University
J.D., Magna Cum Laude, University of Puerto Rico Law School
Memberships
Puerto Rico Bar Association
Federal Bar Association
International Trademark Association (INTA)