Entertainment
For more than 80 years, we have provided sophisticated expertise to the entertainment community in areas such as intellectual property, litigation, tax, employment and corporate law. Our founding partner, Louis Nizer, represented legendary Hollywood entertainers, media personalities and authors. Today, our Entertainment practice spans a broad range of client interests throughout the entertainment industry.
We are especially well known for our music practice in which we represent historic bands, performers, writers, and recording artists, as well as concert and event promoters, record companies, music publishers and talent and booking agents.
Our clients in the film and television industry include motion picture and television production companies and distributors as well as film financiers, actors, screenwriters, directors, producers, and talent agents and managers.
In the literary world, we represent authors, book publishers, designers, literary agents and illustrators. We also serve as personal counselors to individual performers and writers.
RANGE OF SERVICES
We structure, negotiate and implement:
- Rights and catalogue acquisitions;
- Talent representation and celebrity endorsement agreements;
- Concert and event production and venue agreements;
- Master licenses, product licensing and merchandising;
- Recording artist and songwriter agreements;
- Collaboration and co-publishing agreements;
- Touring agreements;
- Distribution agreements;
- Music publishing, foreign sub-publishing and foreign licensing agreements;
- Mergers, acquisitions and financing for concert producers, record companies, publishing companies as well as motion picture, production and distribution companies;
- Purchase and sale of copyright libraries;
- Motion picture and television program financing, production and distribution; and
- Domestic and foreign book publishing and distribution deals and literary agent agreements.
We also administer publishing catalogues and supervise the conduct of royalty audits on behalf of recording artists and writers.
We frequently counsel clients regarding international and domestic copyright and trademark matters including registration, copyright duration and ownership, neighboring rights, and licensing. We also litigate licensing and contract disputes, trademark oppositions, royalty disputes, guild arbitrations, infringement and unfair competition claims, and rights of publicity and privacy disputes. For more information on our intellectual property practice, please click here.
Practice Contacts
George R. FearonPartner
(212) 841-0571 email
Alan BehrPartner
(212) 841-0552 email
Helene M. FreemanPartner
(212) 841-0547 email