Housed on historic Music Row in a quaint three-story house where the dress code for the lawyers matches the dress code of our clients and scattered throughout the South in our offices from New Orleans to Houston, as members of the Adams and Reese Entertainment and New Technology Team we passionately dedicate ourselves to meeting the challenges and achieving the goals of our diversified client base through sound practical advice based on years of results-driven experience.
We are a boutique team, which keeps us nimble, accountable and able to customize our work for each client, we serve our clients not only on the local level, but also on a national and international basis in matters ranging from complex deals and transactions, to nationally relevant litigation, to legislative issues impacting the entertainment industry. With the diverse practice teams of Adams and Reese, we provide our clients not only entertainment industry specific services, but also a broad base of skills and experience in other areas such as protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights, business structuring and governance, labor and employment law issues, litigation, patents, governmental affairs, tax law matters (including incentives to help create projects and properties within various States), and wealth management through trusts and estate planning. Our aim is to be an invaluable member of our clients’ team, to bring new and exciting opportunities to our clients and to serve our clients in the manner we would like to be served.
Our Attorneys
We have more than 100 years of combined experience and strength in both the law and the business of entertainment. We concentrate our work in the growing and ever-changing entertainment, intellectual property, new technology, multimedia and e-commerce and social media practice areas. We all became lawyers to make a positive difference in our clients’ lives.
Core Practice and Clients
Representative clients range from internationally-known celebrities who are household names, to Grammy and other award winning songwriters, recording artists and producers, creators of other works, music publishers, digital media ventures, Churches and ministries, estates and trusts associated with deceased creators, personal managers, celebrities, brands, trademark and domain name owners, authors, illustrators, graphic designers, and other visual artists, inventors, merchandisers, infomercial marketers, banks that provide entertainment industry financing, and artist-related unions. We help our clients with a broad range of legal and business issues, and our main areas of practice include:
Contract Negotiation and Preparation: including not only the transactional and business details associated with recording, music publishing, merchandising, personal management, touring, endorsement, sponsorship, producer and talent agreements, but also the highly specialized protection needed for intellectual property rights acquisitions and disposition, protection and enforcement, as well as compensation for our clients’ services, brands and products.
Intellectual Property Protection and Litigation: including all aspects of evaluation, prosecution, licensing and the protection of domestic and international patents, trademarks as well as copyrights and the comprehensive enforcement of such rights in trial and appellate courts, as well as pursuing legislative or judicial resolutions for unique intellectual property issues.
Intellectual Property Asset Valuation and Management: representing and coordinating valuations of intellectual property assets for banks, estates, sales, digital media businesses as well as negotiating the purchase and sale of these assets.
Business Advice: ongoing general counsel on legislative matters, intellectual property compliance and corporate and asset strategies, including band agreements, partnership matters, joint ventures, and investments.
Tax Incentives: including securing recording and film tax credits for work done in Louisiana.
Marketing Opportunities: including the naming of companies, products or brands, introduction of industry personnel and investment opportunities to clients, and providing of marketing ideas and strategies from a legal standpoint.
Representative Matters:
- Licensing, clearance and maintenance of the business and technical aspects of one of the world’s largest digital music service providers.
- Licensing and clearance of thousands of musical works and sound recordings for a national restaurant chain music compilation business.
- Highly specialized advice associated with the termination and recapture of United States and Canadian copyrights, allocation of post-recapture monies and administration of new rights.
- General business, marketing and legal counsel in connection with one of the world’s largest music distributors.
- Drafting, negotiation and counsel in connection with multiple one-of-a-kind deals between recording artists/songwriters and record labels, investors and on-the-cusp music businesses for the exploitation of works and brand development and marketing.
- Intellectual property protection in connection with roll out of worldwide perfume product on behalf of legacy artist brand.
- Counseling the Trust of a deceased legacy artist on intellectual property matters and introducing opportunities to increase revenue and value of assets.
- Handling and negotiating sponsorship and endorsement agreements for a leading guitar manufacturer.
- Handling matters associated with internationally-acclaimed evangelical ministries related to production of DVDs and other products.
- Production agreements for and licensing of rights in connection with an Australian animated television and DVD series.
- Full representation of all aspects of the production and protection of and international licensing of a New York Times award winning educational curriculum.
- Negotiation of employment contracts for key executives in highly compensated music industry positions.
- Celebrity endorsement deal for roll out of new infant “green” laundry and cleaning products.
- Advising internationally known celebrity on rights of publicity, defamation, and First Amendment issues, and enforcing the client’s rights.
- Procurement of unpaid royalties for a Grammy Award winning recording artist.
- Obtaining permanent injunctive relief for a sculptor under the Visual Artist Rights Act.
- Successful defense of internationally known celebrities in copyright infringement cases where clients were wrongly accused of infringing musical works and sound recordings.
- Winning the dismissal of a music publisher from a copyright infringement case in a decision that was affirmed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in which the Court adopted the “stream of commerce plus” test for the Circuit.
- Acquired ownership of dozens of infringing domain names on behalf of celebrities and other trademark owners.
- Preparation of contest and sweepstakes rules for advertisers operating in an online environment.
- Celebrity endorsement deal for a major satellite television service provider.
- Live performance and touring agreements for international celebrities.
Our team believes strongly in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s definition of success: “To laugh often, and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a redeemed social condition, or a job well done; to know even one other life has breathed because you lived… this is to have succeeded.” –