Russell J. Frackman - Attorneys - Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP ~ Full service entertainment law firm

Legal Expertise

Mr. Frackman is a “go-to” lawyer for the entertainment industry through his stewardship of many of the most important copyright and trademark cases to have been litigated in recent years. Mr. Frackman is recognized as one of the nation’s leading entertainment and intellectual property litigators, having successfully represented clients in a number of landmark cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Mr. Frackman was lead counsel for the record company plaintiffs in the seminal Internet file sharing litigation, A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001), and 284 F.3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2002), In re Aimster Copyright Litigation, 334 F.3d 643 (7th Cir. 2003), and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, et al. v. Grokster, Ltd, et al., 545 U.S. 913 (2005). Mr. Frackman was also the lawyer in two precedent-setting decisions involving the scope of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Rossi v. Motion Picture Assn of America, Inc., 391 F.3d 1000 (9th Cir. 2004) concerning the notice and takedown provisions of the DMCA, and 321 Studios v. MGM, 307 F. Supp. 2d 1085 (N.D. Cal. 2004) concerning the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.

Representative Matters

Lead counsel in the Ninth Circuit for defendant in E.S.S. Entertainment 2000, Inc. v. Rock Star Videos, 547 F.3d 1095 (9th Cir. 2008), involving First Amendment issues concerning the use of trademarks in video games.
Obtained summary judgment dismissing for lack of standing copyright action against Jay-Z, Linkin Park, and others, because plaintiff did not possess an exclusive copyright interest: Nafall v. Carter, 540 F. Supp. 2d 1128 (C.D. Cal 2007); affd 2010 WL 2852571 (9th Cir. July 21,2010).
Lead counsel for record company and music publisher clients in more than 100 related copyright infringement cases arising from the alleged unauthorized “sampling” of musical works in musical compositions and sound recordings, most recently arguing in the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. WB Music, Inc., 520 F.3d 588 (6th Cir. 2008), involving recovery of attorneys’ fees under the Copyright Act.
Litigated actions in the state and federal courts on behalf of copyright holders against user-generated content websites: UMG Recordings v. Veoh, Supreme Court, New York No. 08/600558; and EMI v. Videoegg, District Court, New York, Case No. 08 CV 5831.
Was retained to represent NBC/Universal to police the Internet for unauthorized uses of material from the 2008 Olympic games.
Represented NBC/Universal in several copyright infringement actions involving motion pictures, including defeating a request to enjoin release of the motion picture “Death Race:” Stone v. Universal City Studios LLLP, et al., U.S. District Court, California, Case No. CV 08-5423 DSF.
Counsel for plaintiff in claim for copyright infringement against search engine “image search” function, Perfect 10 v. Google, Inc., 416 F. Supp. 2d 828 (C.D. Cal 2006); aff’d in part and rev’d in part 487 F.3d 701 (9th Cir. 2007).
Counsel for amicus NBC Universal in Tur v. YouTube, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50254 2007, WL 1893635 (C.D. Cal., June 20, 2007).
Successfully obtained summary judgment defending an infringement claim brought against a record company client and involving a hit recording of the rap artist 50 Cent, Lil’ Joe Wein Music, Inc. v. Jackson, 2006 U.S. Dist. Lexis 78367 (S.D. Fla. October 27, 2006); affd 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19165, 2007 WL 2274519 (11th Cir., August 8, 2007).
Counsel for defendant in litigation involving pre-emption of right of publicity claims based on use of recording artist’s voice fixed in a sound recording, Laws v. Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. 448 F. 3d 1134 (9th Cir. 2006).
Defense of claims of trademark infringement and unfair competition seeking damages and to enjoin the hit recording “Barbie Girl.” Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc. 296 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. 2002).

Partner - Los Angeles

Email Russell J. Frackman

Phone:

(310) 312-3119

Fax:

(310) 231-8319

Practice Area

Industry Focus

Motion picture, record, and music publishing companies; recording artists, actors, producers, agents and writers

Education

Columbia University School of Law, J.D., 1970; cum laude
Member, Board of Editors, Columbia Law Review
Northwestern University, B.A., 1967

Court Admissions

California, 1971
USDC, Central District of California, 1971
USDC, Eastern District of California, 1984
USDC, Northern District of California, 1980
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1980
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1971
U.S. Supreme Court, 1980

Professional Recognition

“Leading Lawyers in Intellectual Property and Media and Entertainment Litigation,” Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2005-2011)
"Leading Lawyer" in Intellectual Property Litigation nationwide, Legal 500 (2011)
“Best Lawyers in America,” Best Lawyers (2006-2012)
"Top 100 Power Lawyers" list, The Hollywood Reporter (2007-2011)
"75 Leading Intellectual Property Litigators," Daily Journal (2011)
"Top 5% of lawyers in Southern California," Southern California Super Lawyers (2004-2011)
"One of the Decade's Most Influential Lawyers," National Law Journal (2010)
"California's Ten Most Influential Lawyers of the Decade," Daily Journal (2010)
"Who's Who in Entertainment Law," Los Angeles Business Journal (2010)
"Top Media & Entertainment Attorneys," Los Angeles Business Journal (2009)
“Top 50 California IP Litigators," Daily Journal (2008-2009)
Recognized by Legal 500 for his intellectual property and copyright litigation expertise (2007-2008)
“Top 10 California Entertainment IP Litigators,” Daily Journal (2008)
“Top 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America," National Law Journal (2006)
"CLAY, California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year in Intellectual Property," California Lawyer (2001)
“Entertainment Lawyer of the Year,” the Beverly Hills Bar Association
“Top 100 Most Influential Lawyers in California," California Law Business
"Los Angeles' Top 50 Litigators," Los Angeles Business Journal
“Top 100 Lawyers in California," Daily Journal
“Hollywood Law Impact List," Daily Variety
Mr. Frackman is the recipient of two honorary Gold Record Awards from the Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. for antipiracy litigation
AV® Preeminent™ Rating, Martindale-Hubbell

Publications and Presentations

Mr. Frackman was chair of the USC Gould School of Law 2009 and 2010 Intellectual Property Institutes. Mr. Frackman’s expertise has made him a popular lecturer and panelist before industry and academia. For a decade he Co-Chaired the Practicing Law Institute’s program, “Litigating Copyright, Trademark and Unfair Competition Cases.” He also has lectured extensively on subjects relating to entertainment law and intellectual property, including at the International Consumer Electronics Show, International Trademark Association (INTA), ABA Section on Intellectual Property Law, UCLA Entertainment Law Symposium, USC Intellectual Property Institute, Georgetown University Law Center, University of Michigan Law School, University of Santa Clara Law School, and the California Copyright Conference. For the past three years, he has participated in the Entertainment Law Year in Review for the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section.
Co-author, Trademarks, Video Games, and the First Amendment: An Evolving Story, Oct/Nov 2010, World Trademark Review 63 (October 2010)
Participant in Symposium, Make it Available at Your Own Risk: A Look Into Copyright Infringement by Digital Distribution , 30 Loyola Ent. L. Rev. 1 (2009)
Participant in Symposium, Sony v. Universal: The Betamax Decision Twenty Years Hence, 34 Southwestern University Law Review 179 (2004)
Co-author, Back to the Future: The Napster Decision Confirms the Applicability of Traditional Copyright Principles to the Internet, 2 Sedona Conference Journal 31 (2001)
Co-Author, The Chess Catalog Litigation, Los Angeles Lawyer Vol. 16, No. 2, p. 28 (April 1993)
Author, The Failure to Pay Wages and Termination of Entertainment Contracts in California: Some Implications of the Labor Code, 52 U.S.C.L. Rev. 333 (1979)

Mr. Frackman was chair of the USC Gould School of Law 2009 and 2010 Intellectual Property Institutes. Mr. Frackman’s expertise has made him a popular lecturer and panelist before industry and academia. For a decade he Co-Chaired the Practicing Law Institute’s program, “Litigating Copyright, Trademark and Unfair Competition Cases.” He also has lectured extensively on subjects relating to entertainment law and intellectual property, including at the International Consumer Electronics Show, International Trademark Association (INTA), ABA Section on Intellectual Property Law, UCLA Entertainment Law Symposium, USC Intellectual Property Institute, Georgetown University Law Center, University of Michigan Law School, University of Santa Clara Law School, and the California Copyright Conference. For the past three years, he has participated in the Entertainment Law Year in Review for the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section.
Co-author, Trademarks, Video Games, and the First Amendment: An Evolving Story, Oct/Nov 2010, World Trademark Review 63 (October 2010)
Participant in Symposium, Make it Available at Your Own Risk: A Look Into Copyright Infringement by Digital Distribution , 30 Loyola Ent. L. Rev. 1 (2009)
Participant in Symposium, Sony v. Universal: The Betamax Decision Twenty Years Hence, 34 Southwestern University Law Review 179 (2004)
Co-author, Back to the Future: The Napster Decision Confirms the Applicability of Traditional Copyright Principles to the Internet, 2 Sedona Conference Journal 31 (2001)
Co-Author, The Chess Catalog Litigation, Los Angeles Lawyer Vol. 16, No. 2, p. 28 (April 1993)
Author, The Failure to Pay Wages and Termination of Entertainment Contracts in California: Some Implications of the Labor Code, 52 U.S.C.L. Rev. 333 (1979)