We have represented clients in copyright matters for the music, entertainment, television, publishing, advertising, gaming and software industries. With over 100 lawyers focusing on intellectual property law, we try numerous copyright cases in courts throughout the country. Sidley can take on the most complex litigation matters and provide effective and efficient legal service for our clients, both defending and prosecuting copyright claims.
We represented 80 media defendants in an action where the plaintiff maintained that his copyrighted photographs were used in advertisements displayed in newspapers and magazines throughout the country. This action involved defending individual media organizations in multiple states. The cases were ultimately consolidated and transferred to the Nevada federal district court by the judicial panel for multidistrict litigation. Our motions to dismiss were granted, and the dismissals were affirmed on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a pair of cases in federal court in Chicago, we won dismissal or summary judgment on claims that a television series was based on a documentary filmed in the Chicago housing projects. We are also active in counseling clients and litigating issues arising out of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including both the safe harbor and anti-circumvention provisions of that Act.