Biography
Randi is repeatedly recognized as a top lawyer in the intellectual property and media & entertainment areas by legal industry publications. She is ranked by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer in New York for Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright and Trade Secrets, where clients have noted that she “understands our business as we do, and sometimes better,” and that they “particularly appreciate Randi’s ability to not only identify legal risk, but then thoughtfully embrace, balance, and mitigate it.” In 2023, National Law Journal named her a “Trailblazer” in Media & Advertising Law, an honor bestowed on the top 12 nationwide “agents of change” in this space. Randi also is recognized by Legal 500 as a recommended lawyer for Trademark Litigation, Copyright, Advertising & Marketing Litigation, and Media and Entertainment Litigation, where clients have called her “highly responsive, direct, and super smart.” And, she has been ranked for many years by World Trademark Review’s WTR1000 as a leading trademark litigator for Enforcement and Litigation, which has called her a “professional firefighter who has a talent for making problems go away quickly,” who offers “resonant performances in court and steadies nerves with her expertise,” and who excels at “unravelling complex trademark problems and developing strategies to overcome them.” In 2021, Randi was shortlisted for the “New York Practitioner of the Year” award for Managing Intellectual Property’s MIP Americas Awards and, in 2020, she was named a BTI Client Service All-Star. For two consecutive years, Randi has been honored in Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards: for the 2020 “Best in Trademark” award (shortlisted), and for the 2021 “Best in Media & Entertainment” award (winner). She also has been ranked in Benchmark Litigation, Expert Guides, Managing IP Magazine’s IP Stars, Super Lawyers, and Law360.
Randi has successfully represented and counseled clients on a wide variety of copyright and trademark matters encompassing classic ownership and fair use issues for comic books, academic works, music and photographs. A recognized expert on secondary liability infringement issues, Randi also is regularly called upon by major internet platform clients for help navigating an array of unprecedented concerns and solving a wide variety of disputes. Her advertising, trademark, and state unfair trade practices cases have spanned a broad spectrum of consumer products and services, from over-the-counter drugs, razors, toothpaste, paint, food and cosmetics, to financial services, cell phone cases, luxury goods and consumer electronics.
Randi has earned the Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) credential and regularly advises clients in connection with privacy, cybersecurity, and social media issues in a wide variety of matters, including hundreds of transactions ranging from high-profile deals such as Facebook’s acquisition of Whatsapp, Inc. to large public company mergers and small talent acquisitions. In 2015, The National Law Journal recognized Randi as one of its inaugural “Trailblazers” nationwide for her cutting-edge work in the cybersecurity and data privacy area.
Her notable experience includes:
- Serving as co-lead trial counsel for innovator company CareDx, won a $45M trial verdict following five days of trial in a Lanham Act false advertising suit brought against a competitor, Natera. The jury found that Natera intentionally and willfully engaged in false advertising in the promotion of its kidney transplant rejection assessment test, and awarded CareDx $21.2M in compensatory damages and $23.7M in punitive damages under the Lanham Act, the Delaware Deceptive Trade Practices Act and Delaware unfair competition law.
- Obtaining a number of major victories for eBay, including securing summary judgment in a copyright infringement action brought by a photographer in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, as well as several trademark victories for eBay subsidiaries Bill Me Later and Where.com.
- Obtaining a number of victories in multiple jurisdictions for The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Comics in significant copyright ownership cases involving iconic Marvel characters including Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, and Ghost Rider.
- Representing a major social media platform and its subsidiaries in multiple matters, including successful defense and resolution of litigation in courts around the country involving allegations of contributory or vicarious copyright and trademark infringement.
- Successfully representing a major television programming company in litigation in California federal court involving copyright ownership and infringement issues.
- Representing eBay in its successful defense of a suit in which Tiffany had claimed that eBay was responsible for policing counterfeit merchandise offered on its site. In that matter, Weil represented eBay through trial in the Southern District of New York, on appeal before the Second Circuit, and through the denial of Tiffany’s petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Advising Verizon Communications Inc. in its agreement to purchase AOL Inc. for approximately $4.4 billion, in a deal that will further drive Verizon’s LTE wireless video and OTT (over-the-top video) strategy.
- Representing and counseling a wide array of technology companies, private equity firms, and corporates on privacy and cybersecurity issues arising in hundreds of acquisitions and licensing deals.
- Counseling a diverse range of clients in connection with the development and/or improvement of privacy policies and practices.
- Representing debtors such as Sears, Great Atlantic & Pacific and Golfsmith in connection with the sale or transfer of customer information in bankruptcy proceedings.
- Successfully defending a major distributor of consumer goods against claims of counterfeiting.
- Defending Procter & Gamble against an $80 million claim brought by Colgate-Palmolive. The suit stemmed from Colgate’s allegations that P&G’s advertising for its highly successful at-home tooth-whitening products, Crest Whitestrips and Crest Night Effects, were false under the federal Lanham Act. Obtained a complete defense verdict for Procter & Gamble after a three-week jury trial.
- Successfully representing the publisher of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of inspirational self-help books and Daymon Worldwide in trademark and trade dress litigation brought by Campbell Soup Company (CSC) in New Jersey federal court. CSC alleged that the publisher’s then-forthcoming line of soups came in packaging that infringed on Campbell’s protected designs and trade dress. The parties stipulated to a dismissal of the claims without costs.
- Defending GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) against a preliminary injunction motion based on allegations that GSK commercials for Nicorette gum and NicoDerm CQ patches were false and violated the Lanham Act. Successfully obtained a motion on GSK's behalf to preliminarily enjoin Pharmacia’s “Trying to Quit” commercial for Nicotrol due to violations of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act.
In addition to her active practice, Randi has taught a course on Trademarks and Unfair Competition Law as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law and is a popular speaker whose speaking engagements include panels and discussions concerning copyright, advertising, and other intellectual property issues for organizations such as the International Trademark Association (INTA), the Copyright Society, the National Advertising Division, the Practising Law Institute, the American Conference Institute, and the New York State Bar Association Section on Intellectual Property. Other professional affiliations include the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), the New York State Bar Association, the Private Advertising Litigation subcommittee of the ABA, and she has served on the Trademarks and Consumer Affairs Committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
Randi is a member of the global steering committee for Women@Weil, Weil’s women’s affinity group, the winner of Weil’s first ever mentoring award, and an inductee into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Leaders. In addition to her work as the General Counsel for the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, her pro bono work includes litigation successes for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and Sanctuary for Families, trademark and IP counseling for organizations such as The Joyful Heart Foundation and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, as well as extensive legal support and counseling concerning ambush marketing for NYC2012, New York City’s bid for the 2012 Olympics.
Randi graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. After receiving her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Randi clerked for the Honorable Richard Owen, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York.