For clients whose livelihoods depend on the protection of their creative output, Hogan & Hartson attorneys provide effective and knowledgeable representation on copyright matters. Our depth of experience, together with our worldwide scope and network of local counsel, allows us to help clients acquire, protect, and enforce copyrights throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. If a threat of infringement endangers a company's copyrights, our litigation attorneys respond swiftly and decisively. We have a proven record of accomplishment in prosecuting and defending significant and often precedent-setting copyright cases, protecting rights in a range of works, from software to books, and from film to cartoons.

Our copyright attorneys regularly counsel clients on the availability and scope of copyright protection in the United States and in other countries. We enhance clients’ copyrights through the registration of their works and we assist clients in securing transfers of copyright in works prepared by their employees and in works commissioned from independent contractors. 

Our clients include some of the most significant companies in the media and technology sectors. Our lawyers are experienced in a broad range of print, electronic, and visual media, including broadcast and cable entertainment, motion pictures, computer software, the Internet, and multimedia, as well as more traditional works such as books, art, characters, and graphics. We regularly provide advice on associated issues that arise in these industries, such as idea submission; individuals’ publicity and privacy rights relating to publications; endorsements and advertisements; content licensing and rights disputes; character licensing; profit participation; and accounting disputes. We frequently assist companies in establishing comprehensive, strategic IP planning and portfolio development.

Related Experience

• In a precedent-setting victory, we persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to confirm that the first-sale defense under Section 109 of the Copyright Act applies to importers and prevents copyright owners from treating unauthorized re-importation as an act of infringement.
• On behalf of a major motion picture studio and production company, our lawyers successfully protected the exclusivity of the studio's rights in a film franchise and well-known film character, applying copyright and trademark law to enjoin another studio from commencing in a competing franchise.
• In a case concerning the release of a well-known animated motion picture in video format, we won a seminal decision in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals addressing the scope of “old” copyright licenses in the context of new uses.
• We obtained summary judgment on behalf of a major news network in a copyright infringement claim involving a photograph used in a print advertisement, alleging that the image violated a photographer’s copyright in a famous photograph.
• When a publisher and magazine reporter faced a copyright lawsuit claiming that they unlawfully copied and published portions of a manuscript about well-known public figures, we defended them and obtained dismissal of the case.
• We have successfully handled numerous copyright infringement cases involving computer technologies, such as microcode, search engines, database management systems, and computer diagnostics.