Overview
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell understands the significant changes affecting the entertainment, media and sports industries during the last decade. This is because the Firm is on the cutting edge of major legal issues facing the multimedia environment, and our entertainment, media and sports attorneys have earned a top-notch reputation for skillful representation in this arena. We are well versed in acquiring, selling and licensing of media properties and assets, including television stations, newspapers and radio stations. We have developed a strong and loyal network of clients, many of whom find us so integral to their success that they consider us to be a part of their companies.
The firm has expanded its practice to include representation of talent in all of major entertainment markets, litigated high-profile issues confronting producers in the reality programming genre and handled complex matters in the area of online music distribution. We provide the entertainment and media industry the knowledge, practical experience and creative thinking to solve problems, protect rights and consummate unprecedented transactions. Our clients range from high-profile actors and musicians to some of the premier professional athletes that have the privilege of playing in the NBA, NFL, MLB, and other professional sports leagues. Whether the firm is representing an actor in his/her actor agreement or in acquiring real estate, our clients have come to expect Locke Lord’s sound counsel, negotiating skills and protection in their fast-paced careers.
Before joining the Firm, many of our attorneys have enjoyed successful careers as in-house counsel for entertainment and media concerns and have worked with major entertainment guilds. Additionally, Locke Lord attorneys are frequent speakers on entertainment panels for events including NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives), the Berlin Film Festival, the Winter Music Conference and the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyer’s Association’s (BESLA) Annual Conference. Our lawyers also serve on the board of governors for the National Recording Academy of Arts and Sciences and BESLA.
Few firms can match our ability to afford the entertainment and sports community a combination of talent representation on the one hand and general corporate, regulatory, tax, foundation/ non-profit, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation and real estate counsel on the other hand. As a result, we are the “go to” firm for many within the entertainment and sports world.
Talent
Our attorneys provide legal services for the motion picture, television, stage production, music, literary and sports industries. These services include, among other things, negotiating employment agreements for actors, writers, producers and directors in the motion picture and television business; representing actors in negotiating contracts for their appearances in Broadway and Off-Broadway stage productions; recording, producer and publishing agreements for recording artists, producers and lyricists in the music business; negotiating publishing agreements for prominent authors; and representing professional athletes in a variety of sports matters including league arbitrations. We have also handled, on behalf of our clients, high profile endorsement deals with companies such as Adidas, Hennessy, Boost Mobile and many others.
As a result of the breadth of our experience, we have been called upon to represent award-winning actors and, recording artists, critically acclaimed authors and some of the nation’s premier athletes, including three of the last seven players selected with the first pick in the NBA’s draft.
Intellectual Property/Copyright/Trademark/Right of Publicity
We help build and protect our clients’ intellectual property portfolios with experienced trial and appellate counsel who have extensive experience representing clients in copyright, trademark and trade dress infringement litigation, right of publicity disputes and idea submission/misappropriation, as well as trade secret, unfair competition and restrictive covenants claims. In addition, we provide domestic and international trademark and domain name registration, prosecution and dispute resolution services.
Motion Picture, Television and Cable
Our attorneys have worked with actors, writers, producers, directors and others on a variety of issues in the motion picture, television and cable space. In addition to representing actors, writers, producers and directors on scripted television shows, talk shows and motion pictures such as “Judge Judy”, “Everybody Hates Chris”, “The Hills Have Eyes 2”, “House of Carters”, “Snakes On A Plane”, and “The Tyra Banks Show”, producers of a number of reality shows have sought our assistance. Those shows include “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “The Bachelorette,” “Punk’d,”, “The Benefactor,” and “Dancing With The Stars.”
Our entertainment and media practice also draws on the background of our attorneys in Canadian and international co-production. We have cultivated an extensive network of contacts in the international production and financing communities, with experience in Canadian contract and production services tax credits, sale leasebacks and other international incentive programs. We also represent television and radio station group owners, television networks, production and distribution companies in all aspects of these businesses. We handle acquisitions, divestitures, financings, union issues, cable system negotiations, FCC issues, strategic alliances, production rights and syndication contracts.
Film Finance
Locke Lord's extensive history and experience in finance help make our representation an essential part of many film financing ventures in the entertainment industry. Our entertainment attorneys collaborate regularly with our corporate and tax attorneys and other colleagues specializing in financial transactions to provide comprehensive service in every variety of project financing. Our thorough understanding of the strategies needed to develop capital structures and raise the forms of capital needed to launch new projects has positioned us to represent clients that range from financial institutions and borrowers to accredited investors.
Our attorneys also understand the complexities involved with foreign financing. As a result, we handle equity investments and joint venture financing for clients around the world and have developed an impressive network of international relationships. We are skilled at insurance financings and term-credit and a variety of lines-of-credit-based financings.
Stadium Finance
Our attorneys have considerable experience representing clients in connection with the acquisition, ownership and operation of sports franchises and the development, financing, construction and operation of sports stadiums. The scope of our experience extends across all major sports and our clients include team owners and investors, professional athletes, ticket and suite buyers and team or stadium sponsors. Our representation of sports clients frequently requires a collaborative effort involving many of our practice specialties, including corporate and tax law, real estate, commercial contracts, insurance, labor and employment, intellectual property and antitrust.
Sports
Like the athletes, agents and managers we represent, Locke Lord attorneys have years of training and conditioning to work in the sports business arena. Whether our client is an NBA, NFL or MLB rookie or an individual sports agent, we have decades of experience and cover all the business bases they may face on and off the field (or court). We have practical experience in all major sports and a thorough knowledge of the rules and laws governing these sports.
We strive to know our clients' short-term and long-term business goals and work on winning strategies to meet those goals. Sports clients come to Locke Lord for advice on recruiting and negotiating. They sometimes need general business advice or help to understand and meet state and national sports industry regulations. We help individual agents and sports management firms comply with these sometimes overlapping regulations, and we are skilled at registration and certification, insurance and bonding requirements and annual disclosures.
Our sports clients know they can count on us from one season to the next -- and between seasons. Locke Lord attorneys help negotiate player contracts and marketing contracts and also help develop and launch business opportunities that provide financial rewards to athletes long after their playing days are over. We represent athletes and other sports industry clients with their business and corporate interests. Our sports attorneys collaborate with other firm attorneys to provide a broad base of knowledge in many fields, including corporate and tax law, real estate, insurance, labor and employment, intellectual property, antitrust and many others. We have helped develop and build new sports venues and have represented companies and individuals involved in every major sport.
When it comes to disputes and litigation, Locke Lord has a stellar team capable of handling everything from high profile courtroom trials to low key dispute resolutions. Our counseling is discrete and our advice sound. With Locke Lord on the team, players, agents and managers can focus on the game while we take care of the outside business with skill, speed and solid know-how.
Internet and New Media
From the Internet to cell phones and PDAs, content is being digitized, manipulated and re-used in ways never imagined by its creators. Today, we can see Fred Astaire dancing with a vacuum cleaner, the gait of John Wayne replicated through “motion capture” and a motion picture like Jurassic Park “re-purposed” into a theme park ride. We assist clients with domain name selection and protection, online trademark misuse, electronic and other direct marketing privacy policies and issues. We also represent interactive title designers, producers, publishers and distributors, as well as producers and exhibitors of location-based entertainment.
Corporate and Securities/Finance
Company growth in the quick-changing multimedia industry demands innovative and reliable strategies for corporate and financial decisions. Locke Lord’s entertainment, media and sports attorneys routinely handle the structuring and formation of business entities for a myriad of ventures. We understand the tax aspects, control issues and risk management involved in these transactions and counsel on numerous public and private debt and equity offerings for media and telecom companies, including Initial Public Offerings (IPO) and venture capital investments.
Our attorneys prepare and negotiate network services, interconnection, billing and collection, factoring, advertising, equipment, tower, office and studio leases, vendor, software, consulting, sales representative and employment agreements, and confidentiality, non-disclosure and non-competition agreements.
We advised one of the first major operators of private satellite television networks on network, subscription and installation agreements, satellite uplinking and microwave transmission agreements, satellite transponder and space segment leases.
For media clients, we have handled financial and technology matters, environmental issues, legislative initiatives, employee benefits and disputes, real estate and collection matters. From handling an IPO for a national Internet access company to drafting and negotiating contracts to buy newspaper printing presses and television studio equipment, our corporate and securities and financial successes for entertainment, media and sports clients are extensive.
Litigation
We provide sensible and cost-effective solutions to our entertainment, media and sports clients. We defend newspapers against libel suits, government restrictions and restraint of trade allegations. Our client case load in the entertainment, media and sports industries is extensive and comprehensive.
We have also represented telecommunications companies in cases alleging tortious interference, breach of contract, conspiracy and other types of tort and contract claims. Such cases frequently involve state and federal regulatory issues, as well as a variety of technical points relating to the industry. Locke Lord provides results in these cases because of our attorneys’ thorough understanding of the most recent technology, how it is used and what technological trends will dictate the development of the telecommunications industry in the future.
We played a key role in precedent-setting and closely watched litigation involving a major telecommunication company’s attempts to use its eminent domain powers to condemn the spaces in office buildings through which our client’s cables pass and where its equipment is stored. We provide antitrust counseling to wireless telecommunications companies on various issues, including distributorship contracts, pricing programs and joint site acquisitions.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Locke Lord attorneys have negotiated and completed many mergers and acquisitions in entertainment, media and sports. In environments full of roller-coaster changes and complex rules and regulations, our experience helps clients complete these transactions through accurate and sound advice and counseling on specific corporate, securities, tax, real estate, employment and environmental issues. Many transactions are cross-border, and we work closely with legal counsel in foreign countries, including Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Australia.