The rapid growth of digital media and information-based industries has increased the role of copyright as a crucial form of legal protection for products, services and competitive strategies. Covington offers comprehensive copyright advice in litigation, transactional, counseling and legislative matters. In litigation, Covington has broad experience in prosecuting, defending and settling significant and unique copyright infringement claims as well as designing and executing comprehensive anti-piracy strategies both domestically and internationally. In transactional matters, Covington handles complex copyright creation, ownership and licensing issues as well as all copyright-related matters arising in connection with the firm’s corporate practice.
As with all of the copyright practice, our copyright counseling and legislative practices are informed by our long experience with the technological forces and economic and legal currents that are reshaping this dynamic area of law. Covington’s copyright expertise extends to each of its domestic and international offices, giving the practice both breadth and depth as we strive to find creative and efficient solutions to the issues that our clients face in the global copyright marketplace.
Representative Matters
- Supervision of civil and criminal copyright and Internet anti-piracy enforcement for various software publishers, sports leagues, and luxury goods makers, including the Business Software Alliance, Microsoft, the National Football League, and Parfums Givenchy. Over the past decade, Covington has brought or supervised hundreds of copyright-related actions, including litigation and notice and takedowns, against thousands of infringers throughout the United States and in over 50 countries.
- The National Football League in its $17 billion, 8-year US network television programming agreements and in its agreements with AOL, SportsLine.com and others for the joint production of the official NFL websites.
- UBS Warburg in obtaining an exclusive license from Enron to the dozens of proprietary software systems constituting EnronOnline and related back-office functions for online trading of natural gas and electric power.
- General copyright and fair use advice and counseling to publishers such as the National Geographic Society, the Washington Post Company, and Zomba Music Publishing, to various television broadcast stations, and to a number of leading online business and media ventures including The Microsoft Network, USA Interactive, and the National Football League. Covington is also special intellectual property counsel to the Smithsonian Institution.
- The Business Software Alliance in most of the major domestic and international copyright law reform efforts resulting from the advent of the digital age, including the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the WIPO Treaties, the EU Copyright Directive, the EU Software Directive, implementation of the TRIPS Agreement, and amendments to existing copyright laws in over 30 countries worldwide.
- The Public Broadcasting Service in negotiations and administrative proceedings relating to the distribution of statutory copyright royalties by the United States Copyright Office.
Accolades
Covington's intellectual property attorneys have been recognized by:
- The National Law Journal - Recognized on the Intellectual Property Hot List (2012)
- Inaugural European Women in Business Law - One attorney recognized as "Best in Copyright" (2011).
- The Best Lawyers in America (2007-2013)
- Chambers USA's - America's Leading Business Lawyers (2006-2011)
- Chambers Europe (2012)
- Legal 500 US - Copyright (2011)
- Legal 500 UK - IP (2011-2012)
- Legal 500 EMEA - Intellectual Property (2011-2013)
- U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers, Copyright: National and Washington, DC, first tier ranking (2011)
- WORLDLeaders IP Awards, shortlisted in the worldwide category "Excellence in Domain Name Policy Implementation" (2008).
- European Legal Experts (2006)
- The Practical Law Company (PLC) - Which Law Firm?, Intellectual Property, Commercial Intellectual Property (2009)
- PLC - Life Sciences, Which Lawyer? - One attorney recognized for Intellectual Property (2005-2009).
- PLC Global Counsel 2006 - Global Counsel Magazine for “The Life Sciences Industry Super League”- ranked number one in the world, 23 Covington lawyers were recommended as leaders in their fields, including seven lawyers in Europe.
- Two of our Covington partners are Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers and one was elected a Vice Chair of the Complex Litigation Committee.
- Another partner served as a United States District Court Judge for the District of Delaware for ten years presiding over 200 patent infringement cases.
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