Coordinated Representation Across Disciplines
Companies active in the Media, Internet and Technology sectors face many challenges, including disruptive business models, an uncertain regulatory climate, policy disputes, new technologies and distribution modalities, and ensuring effective brand and content protection. Businesses and investors in these sectors need counsel with wide-ranging experience and deep industry knowledge.
A hallmark of Covington’s Media, Internet and Technology industry practice is our ability to integrate and configure the firm’s extensive regulatory and policy, transactional, intellectual property and litigation expertise in order to meet the specialized needs of clients in highly regulated industries, both domestically and internationally. Our lawyers bring together industry knowledge, cross-disciplinary coordination and international experience including in Europe, Asia, Latin America and other emerging markets. This multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional approach enables us to respond quickly and help clients achieve creative and cost-effective solutions.
We provide scalable products and services to Fortune 100 multinational companies and entrepreneurs alike. Our clients include Internet and telecommunications companies, leading application developers, national broadcast television networks and stations, satellite-delivered cable programming networks, sports leagues, video game publishers and film studios.
Areas of Particular Focus:
Social Media. We work with the creators and developers of social networks, and those who use them for marketing, brand development and communications. Our expertise includes privacy and data security, advertising agreements, and the creation of special-purpose and white-label social-networking sites. We have experience in social media transactions ranging from the purchase and sale of entire businesses to the negotiation of service and licensing agreements with major providers. We deal routinely with content liability and litigation issues relating to social networks, wikis, blogs and other online media.
Cloud Computing. We have deep experience in cloud-computing issues, from negotiating agreements with major cloud providers to active engagement in legislative and policy matters relating to distributed storage of data in both the United States and Europe.
Mobile Digital Media. Our work in the mobile industry includes representing emerging joint ventures among media companies to provide new nationwide mobile video services, negotiations with all major mobile application distributors concerning the distribution of apps and content, and deep involvement in spectrum and other policy and regulatory matters central to the development mobile digital media.
Protecting Innovation. Our intellectual property protection practice extends to all disciplines and is global in scope. Our clients have the benefit not only of highly experienced copyright, trademark and patent lawyers in the United States, Europe and Asia, but also a highly effective team of Internet investigators who work seamlessly with our attorneys to protect the IP of software publishers, gaming companies, sports leagues, and other digital publishers. The relationships we have established in the online ecosystem and with law enforcement, over more than a decade of Internet investigative practice, enable us to work hand-in-hand with our clients to maintain the integrity of product launches and protect and enhance revenue streams.
Creation of Digital Industry Standards. We represent trade associations, business ventures and companies jointly establishing the standards on which the digital industries are based. As a consequence, we are intimately familiar with patent, copyright and trademark policy issues surrounding the development of industry standards. We have had a leading role in content protection technology standards, digital media standards (including Blu-Ray, DVD, Mobile DTV and others) and major software standards.
Areas of Focus:
- Advertising
- Antitrust
- Brand Building & Protection (Patent, Trademark, Copyright, Domain Names, Internet Monitoring & Enforcement, Cybersquatting, Phishing & Pharming, IP Rights & Policy)
- Broadcasting
- Content Licensing
- Data Protection & Security Breaches
- E-commerce & M-commerce
- Film Finance
- Gaming
- Legislative/Policy/Regulatory (Executive Branch, U.S. Congress, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice; Europe; China)
- Online anti-piracy & anti-counterfeiting
- Privacy
- Social Media
- Spectrum
- Transactions (M&A, Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances, Investments, Outsourcing)
- Telecommunications
Representative Matters
- We represent major pharma companies, consumer products companies, retailers and airlines in online advertising and social media matters, including blogging and user-generated content, avatars and other features.
- We represent telecommunications carriers in connection with behavioral advertising matters.
- We represent online and “brick and mortar” businesses in privacy and data security matters, including the development of privacy policies, marketing, fraud prevention and data protection.
- We assist clients across multiple industries in negotiating software licenses.
- We represent all the major US sports leagues in connection with the launch and distribution of cable television and satellite radio programming channels, online distribution agreements and digital downloads, sponsorship and licensing agreements, Internet monitoring and enforcement and broader brand protection issues.
- We represent major digital media companies on a variety of content matters, including issues relating to Internet video services and social networking.
- We represent national broadcast television networks and local television stations in a variety of strategic matters, including station sales and acquisitions and joint ventures, legislative and policy matters and spectrum strategy, and in regulatory compliance.
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