Litigation

We have successfully represented technology, media, and design clients in high stakes litigation concerning antitrust, appellate, class action, commercial, and intellectual property matters in both state and federal courts, including in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Antitrust

Antitrust law can often be a critical tool to protecting our technology, media, and design clients’ business interests. A burgeoning film distributor may be boycotted by a handful of larger competitors, which is a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Alternatively, a larger film distributor may unlawfully extend its patent over a distribution technology in order to keep the burgeoning film distributor out of the market, which is a violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act

Regardless of the cause of your particular problem, our litigation and counseling has involved the full spectrum of antitrust and unfair competition issues, including price fixing, market allocation, exclusive dealing, exclusive territories, tying arrangements, monopoly leveraging, essential facilities, trade associations, patent abuse, and the full range of antitrust exemptions and immunities, including the Noerr-Pennignton doctrine, which is a qualified privilege for private entities who petition the government.

Appellate

In light of the uncertainty inherent in litigation at the trial court level, having the ability to successfully appeal lower court decisions that adversely affect your interests is essential. On numerous occasions, we have successfully represented technology, media, and design clients on appeal in federal and state courts in connection with matters as varied as entertainment, unfair competition, and antitrust, in the following courts: the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department; the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department; the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Commercial

Our technology, media, and design clients often call upon us to represent them in connection with their important complex commercial disputes, whether they are in federal court, state court, or arbitration. Such disputes involve inherent uncertainty, are expensive, and divert much needed psychic energy away from our clients’ businesses. As a result, we aggressively seek to favorably settle disputes in their nascent stage before they proceed to litigation or arbitration. We have done so on many occasions. At the same time, we have successfully litigated a myriad of commercial disputes, including:

  • Breach of management, distribution, recording, co-publishing, licensing, and promissory note agreements;
  • Trade secret, non-competition, non-solicitation and/or confidentiality agreements; and
  • Wrongful termination, detrimental reliance, and breach of employment agreements.

Intellectual Property

The breadth and depth of our experience litigating trademark and copyright disputes on behalf of our clients is extensive. We have prosecuted trade dress and trademark claims on behalf of large fashion houses, in addition to defending independent magazines against claims of trademark infringement. Grammy® award winning recording artists and songwriters also often rely on us to represent them in connection with their copyright and trademark infringement disputes, whether they arise in court or arbitration. Many of the intellectual property disputes we have worked on involved related issues concerning antitrust, regulatory compliance, and licensing.