Keep in mind that in the business of intellectual property rights, which is the business you are in no matter what your product or service, quality legal services are the absolute foundation of your business.  Without thorough legal protection in this complex legal environment, the amounts you spend on the other areas of your business may be put at substantial risk.

I practice preventative law and try to advise my clients in this regard so that they may possibly be able to avoid the usually very significant costs and fees of remedial law.  Preventative law is about doing proactive, effective and thorough legal work in a manner that seeks to avoid problems that can arise later on.  Preventative law is when rights are well-documented, agreements are well-drafted and when a longer term view is used.  Remedial law is what takes place when such rights are not well-documented or such agreements are not well-drafted or when parties have failed to see with vision and is about seeking to fix a transaction after legal disputes or other problems have arisen.  Often this takes the form of very expensive and time consuming litigation or other such formal proceedings.  Often as well it occurs when a sale or other transaction is about to take place and the party discovers that it does not have the rights it thought it had.

In my experience, preventative law is almost always cheaper than remedial law.  Help me is almost always cheaper than fix me.   If you see things as an entrepreneur, then you will understand this approach.
 

Among the wide variety of transactions I have handled in my career (now in its 35th year) are the following:

· Affiliate Program Agreements
· Designation of Agent Forms for DMCA
· Privacy Policies including COPPA compliance
· Terms of Use
· Web Design Agreements
· Web Designer/Independent Contractor Agreements
· Web Hosting and Maintenance Agreements
· Licenses for Use of Protected Materials
· Web Site Copyrighting
· Content Licensing
· Electronic Publishing Agreements including acquisition and licensing agreements
· Software and Shareware licenses
· Domain Name Disputes
· Domain Name Transfer/Lease Agreements
· Nondisclosure and Confidentiality Agreements
· On Line Dating Subscription Agreement and Privacy Policy
· On Line Financial Web Site Membership Agreement and Disclaimer
· Electronic Retailing Agreements
· Employment and Independent Contractor Agreements
· Mobile Phone Game Agreements

· Author-Publisher Agreements including computer book publishing agreements
· Publisher Distributor Agreements
· Foreign Publishing Agreements including single and multiple territory agreements, translation and reprint agreements
· Cover Artist/Illustrator Agreements
· Editor Agreements
· Subsidy Publishing Agreements
· Copublishing Agreements
· Agency Agreements
· Ghostwriter Agreements
· Motion Picture/Television Rights Agreements
· Copyright Assignments and Copyright forms
· Collaboration Agreements
· Model Releases and Permission Licenses
· Interview Releases
· Rights Reversion Agreements
· Purchase/Sale of Publishing Company
· Analysis of Old Copyright and Contract Issues Including Out of Print Issues

· Applications, search reviews
· Post application filings
· Domain Name Disputes
· Domain Name Transfer/Lease Agreements

· Songwriter Agreements
· Recording Agreements
· Foreign Publishing Agreements
· Copublishing Agreements
· Master Lease Agreements
· Film and Television Scoring Agreements
· Agency and Management Agreements
· Television and Motion Picture Synchronization Licensing Agreements
· Copyright Issues Regarding Old Musical Composition Renewals
· Film and Television Agreements and Negotiations
· Trademark Issues
· Domain Name Issues
 
 

· Product Endorsement Agreements and Negotiations
· Name And Likeness Uses
· Sports Agent Licenses

· Articles of Incorporation, Minutes, By Laws etc.
· Limited Liability Company Operating Agreements etc.
· Non-Profit Formation
 
 

· Business, Management, and Legal Programs Forum of UCLA Extension
· UCLA Extension (MCLE Self Assessment Articles)
· DevWebPro Newsletter
· Mill Creek Partners
· El Sitio Maestro.com
· Institute of Chartered Financial Analyst of India Journal of Intellectual Property Rights
· ADSlogans Unlimited
· Illinois Woman's Press Association
· Women's National Book Association/Los Angeles Chapter and National
· The DevWeb Web Magazine
· JurisNotes.com
· Site Point Network (multiple articles)
· BarBrief Newsletter of the Beverly Hills Bar Association
· Opportunity Update Online Magazine
· Virtual University Business Digest
· Distance-Educator.com
· The Daily Profitstream
· Freelancehelp.com
· Independent Publisher Online
· Direct Marketing Association Interactive
· Rightsworld.com
· Gigalaw.com (multiple articles)
· Author'sDigest.com
· Brazos Writers
· St. Louis Publishers Association
· The Rock, A Weekly Electronic Magazine for Writers
· International Association of Computer Professionals web site
· The Web Site of the Government of Hong Kong
· Microtimes Magazine
· The Intellectual Property Newsletter of the State Bar of Georgia
· Publishers Marketing Association (multiple articles)
· Romance Writers of America, Austin Chapter
· Writers Edge On Line Magazine
· Mesh Magazine
· BookZone
· Studio B On Line
· SPAN (Small Publishers and Authors Network)
· Honolulu Writers Conference
· International Interactive Communications Society Oregon Chapter
· Keystrokes On Line Magazine
 
 

· Independent Writers of Southern California (2005, 2006)
· Entrepreneurship and the Internet-UCLA Extension
· Copyright In the 21st Century: Lecture as Part of Seminar of Prof. David Nimmer-UCLA Law School
· Publishing and Writing Law-UCLA Extension
· Principles of Intellectual Property Law-UCLA Extension
· Judge, Intercollegiate Competition on Ethics and Business Center for Ethics and Business, Loyola Marymount University
· California Writers Club-May, 2002
· Sacramento Publishers Association-April 28, 2001
· Keynote Speaker-Temple University Virtual Conference on Intellectual Property and Digital Information in
          Higher Education-April 18, 2001
·  HorizonLive.com Online Lecture on Legal Issues in Distance Education-January, 2001, May, 2003

Interviews about law and the Internet and cited as an expert in:

·   ABCNews.com June 2007
·  DHL Business Watch Newsletter June, 2006
·  San Francisco Chronicle, May 14, 2006
·  "The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days"  by Fern Reiss
·  Pages Magazine
·  PR Intelligence Report
·  Bloomberg Television News Service
·  The Beautiful Plan
·  Folio: FIRST DAY
·  CommVerge Magazine
·  Computer and Internet LAWCAST
·  Business Week Online (multiple interviews)
·  Mac Design Magazine, March/April 2001
·  The Charlotte Austin Review, Ltd.
·  Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2000
·  "Understanding Computers in Healthcare" by Ben Weinstock, P.T.
· "To Protect Serve" by Denise Dubie (Publish Magazine, September 2000)
·  "Writerspeaker.com" by Carmen Leal
·  Writers Digest Annual Childrens Writers and Illustrators Market 2001
·  Training Magazine (March, 2000)
· "The Complete Idiots Guide to Macromedia Flash 5" by David Karlins
·  "Webmastering for Dummies"
·  "Mastering FrontPage 98"
·  "Mastering Netscape Communicator"
·  "Surfing the Internet with Netscape Communicator"
            (all by Brenda Kienan)
· "HTML For The World Wide Web" by Elizabeth Castro
 "deconstructing web graphics" by Lynda Weinman
· "Cyberscribes" by Anne Hart
·  I/O Magazine
· www.newmedia.com
· About.com
· Music Connection (twice)
· Microtimes Magazine
· Wordsmith (http://www.aw-wrdsmth.com)
· "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About POD Publishing But Didn't Know Who To Ask" by John Harnish
· Momwriters On Line Chat
· Radio Shows

·  Mycoolcareer.com
·  The Business/High Tech Hour with Bob McCormick-KNX Radio (Multiple Interviews)
·  Web Talk Guys
·  "Talking About This Week" on About.com
·  "Inside The Net"
· "On Ramp with John Levine"
· "Net Talk"
· "Computer Radio"
· "Entertainment On Line"
· "The Cyber Advocate Radio Show"

      · Florida Coastal School of Law
      · College Franois-Xavier-Garneau, Ontario Canada
      ·  Finger Lakes Community College
     ·  Arts Council of Indianapolis
     ·  Society for Marketing Professional Services
     ·  NYU Center for Publishing ("Profitability in Book Publishing").  Master's Level Class.
    ·  New Hampshire Technical Institute
    ·  Griboedov Institute of International Law and Economics (Moscow, Russia)
    ·  Yavapai College
    ·  InsideSessions (Penguin Putnam Publishing)
    · University of Missouri-Kansas City
    · The 1999 Stanford Conference on E-commerce
    · The Ragan Communications Technology for Communicators Conference
    · The 2000 Stanford Conference on E-commerce
·     San Jose State University E-commerce Management program; two courses:
        · Content Development
        · Staffing, Insourcing, and Outsourcing
·  College of The Canyons, Santa Clarita, California
·  San Diego State University
·  Southwest Tennessee Community College
·  Open University of Hong Kong
·  University of Aarhus, Denmark
·  University of North Alabama
·  State University of New York College at Oneonta
·  Kansas State University
·  Case Western Reserve School of Law

·  Justice, UCLA Law School Moot Court Competition 2006
·  Judge, Project Echo Business Plan Competition 2005, 2006
·  Judge, Intercollegiate Competition on "Ethics and Business," Center for Ethics and Business, Loyola Marymount University 2004, 2005

 

EDUCATION AND PRACTICE

UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOL:  UCLA, 1961-1965.

PRACTICE:  1969-present (now in my 35th year not including 5 years off from 1990-1995): Entertainment Law, Internet Law and Intellectual Property Law (music, records, films, television, Internet Law, authors, publishers, web site designers, site owners etc.)