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John D. Parker

John Parker serves as the Coordinator of the Cleveland Office Litigation Group and concentrates his litigation practice primarily in complex commercial disputes.

Mr. Parker has handled a wide variety of commercial disputes. His commercial litigation practice involves contractual disputes, particularly disputes between manufacturers and their distributors or representatives and licensors and their licensees, and sales disputes governed by the Uniform Commercial Code.

Mr. Parker has successfully defended several manufacturers and licensors charged with breaching contractual relationships with their distributors and licensees. In addition, he has successfully represented numerous distributors in actions against their manufacturers for breach of the distribution contract between the parties. In one such case, Mr. Parker obtained a jury verdict of approximately $2.8 million. Mr. Parker has handled numerous sales disputes arising under the UCC both in court and arbitration. In one arbitration, Mr. Parker’s client was awarded an amount in excess of $4 million. In another recent AAA arbitration, Mr. Parker’s client received an award valued in excess of $160 million.

Mr. Parker also has extensive antitrust experience, focusing his antitrust practice in two primary areas: counseling and litigation. He advises a wide cross section of the firm’s clients on matters involving pricing, distribution arrangements and exclusive agreements. For example, he provides advice to firm clients on the prices which clients may legally charge for their products at different levels of distribution. In addition, with Mr. Parker’s guidance, several of the firm’s manufacturing clients have successfully imposed new downstream restraints on their distributors in a manner which does not run afoul of antitrust laws. He has spoken before industry groups on pricing and distribution issues.

Mr. Parker has experience representing companies and individuals in shareholder suits. In 2010, he successfully tried to verdict a shareholder suit brought against a former chairman and CEO of a publicly traded company.

Mr. Parker has extensive antitrust litigation experience, both in government and private sector actions. He has litigated newspaper antitrust cases, including matters involving circulation, advertising and exclusive syndication arrangements. He has successfully tried a resale price maintenance case.

Mr. Parker also possesses particular knowledge of the retail industry. In addition to representing many of the firm’s retail clients, Mr. Parker served as the interim General Counsel of a FORTUNE 500 retail company. In that position, he obtained a uniquely close look at the issues confronting in-house counsel in the retail industry, which has allowed him to better respond to his client’s needs.

Mr. Parker also has a significant intellectual property practice. He has successfully prosecuted and defended numerous copyright and trademark infringement actions on behalf of dozens of clients. He has litigated before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in both opposition and cancellation proceedings.

Mr. Parker is a member of Baker Hostetler’s Policy Committee, the governing body of the firm. He has served on the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations, including The Gathering Place, Youth Challenge and the Berea Children’s Home & Family Services. Mr. Parker is a member of the American, Ohio and Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Associations, including the Litigation and Antitrust Sections. He is also a member of the International Trademark Association.