Legal Expertise

Intellectual property and entertainment law, including copyrights, trademarks, unfair competition, piracy, trade secrets and patents. Extensive experience with regard to the procurement of trademarks and prosecution and defense of inter partes proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, drafting and negotiating license and assignment agreements, and counseling and civil litigation, including in connection with First Amendment media cases, right of publicity matters, defamation issues, royalty disputes, and a variety of new technology issues, including the safe-harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Representative Matters

• Successfully opposed trademark registration on grounds of likelihood of confusion and dilution.  UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Mattel, Inc., 100 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1868 (T.T.A.B. 2011).
• Litigated issue of whether use of musical composition was outside of scope of license.  Fahmy v. Jay-Z, 788 F.Supp.2d 1072, 2011 WL 1661518 (C.D.Cal. 2011).
• Obtained summary judgment on plaintiff’s standing to bring copyright infringement lawsuit in connection with musical compositions. Nafal v. Carter, 540 F. Supp.2d 1128 (C.D. Cal. 2007), aff'd, 2010 WL 2852571 (9th Cir. 2010).
• Obtained summary judgment on likelihood of confusion under Lanham Act and litigated differing legal requirements for claims under the Lanham Act and the Federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. Rexel, Inc. v. Rexel Int’l Trading Corp., 540 F. Supp.2d 1154 (C.D. Cal. 2008).
• Litigated the application of the Copyright Act to foreign copyrights. Lahiri v. Universal Music & Video Distribution, Inc., 513 F. Supp.2d 1172 (C.D. Cal. 2007).
• Litigated the availability of extraterritorial damages under the Copyright Act. Rondor Music Intern., Inc. v. TVT Records LLC, 2006 WL 5105272 (C.D. Cal. 2006).
• Obtained favorable decision on the famous mark exception to the territoriality limitations of trademark law. London Regional Transport v. Intershoe, Inc., 2006 WL 2032540 (T.T.A.B. 2006).