Buckhead attorney builds an empire around protecting intellectual property.
To Marcy Sperry, it’s not about the song, the invention or even the idea. The intellectual property attorney says her job is really about protecting people’s dreams, whether it’s to be a rock star or a business owner.
“I call myself the intellectual enforcer,” says the Peachtree Hills resident. “I am passionate about protecting my clients’ products, trademarks and copyrights.”
Sperry was introduced to the world of intellectual property when she left her native Detroit in 2002 for Atlanta’s warmer climate and Emory’s law school, where she outshone her peers with top marks in copyright law because she found the intricacies of protecting the creative works of companies, individuals and artists fascinating. After banking litigation experience at King & Spalding, one of the state’s most elite firms, she shifted to working on trademarks for the Atlanta office of Womble Bond Dickinson. The move also led to Sperry’s discovering she was “a natural born rainmaker.”
“They sent me out to conferences, meetings and events because I was good at closing the deal,” she says. “They don’t teach you about bringing in business when you’re in law school, but I loved that part. I soon was asking why I wasn’t doing it for myself and developing my own brand.”
After working a year at a boutique firm while she ironed out the kinks of managing her own business, Sperry took a leap of faith in 2017 and launched Vivid IP. Today, the Buckhead-based, eight-woman firm specializes in trademarks, copyrights, patents and any form of intellectual property. “I’m very proud of being women- led, and it’s been my intention to support women and minorities,” Sperry says. “My goal is to grow to a 10- to 15-person firm over the next 10 years.”
The firm is also growing with the city’s burgeoning entertainment industry, taking on artists, producers and production companies from the Marvel movies as well as clients in the fashion, hospitality and technology industries.
“We now get major referrals from existing clients, other attorneys and companies that know we’ve developed a name for vigorously protecting our clients’ intellectual property,” she says. The “vigorous” element is possible because, as the boss, Sperry says she can make calls bigger firms can’t or won’t. And the word applies to her crew as well. “I believe in hiring only those who have an entrepreneurial spirit and the moxie to go after clients. One of my core values is true grit.”
That spirit has inspired Sperry to launch Invincible Ink, a onestop shop for clients who want to brand or rebrand without using multiple agencies. Sperry says it’s a game-changer since no one else in the industry is offering the combination of deep background research and naming/creative legal protection under one roof.
While Sperry is prepping for Ink’s August launch, she’s also busy raising three sons, ages 9, 12 and 15, who share her love of sports and travel. She plays tennis at Brookhaven’s Blackburn Tennis Center, goes bowling almost every week, loves to get away to St. Thomas and recently rediscovered her love of skiing, a sport she hadn’t tried since college.
“I am very high energy,” she says. “I have to find outlets for it.”
VIVID IP
404.474.1600
vividip.com
@vividiplaw
