Archive for: Sports Law

Leaders in Law endorses Lynn B. Bayard as our exclusively recommended Sports Law expert in the USA. If you wish to get in touch with Lynn please use the contact information provided above.

A partner in the Litigation Department, Lynn B. Bayard has a diverse practice in the media, sports and entertainment industries. Lynn has represented major sports leagues in some of their most significant matters. She has also represented songwriters, television networks, and motion picture studios, among others, in copyright and trademark matters, and music publishers in royalty rate proceedings and other copyright matters. Lynn has been recognized by The Legal 500 in Intellectual Property: Copyright, Media & Entertainment: Litigation as well as Sports.

Experience

Lynn’s representations include:

• The National Football League in a variety of matters, including the litigation and class action settlement of hundreds of lawsuits filed by more than 5,000 former NFL players, who sought to hold the League liable for allegedly concealing the risks associated with concussions sustained while playing professional football. She continues to represent the League in the implementation of the settlement and in a variety of other health and safety and marketing matters.
• Another major sports league in connection with a variety of health and safety matters.
• Barefoot Contessa Pantry LLC, Ina Garten and Ina Garten LLC in obtaining a temporary restraining order and then a favorable settlement of a trade dress infringement suit against a large frozen food distributor, resulting in a permanent injunction barring the use by defendants of Barefoot Contessa’s intellectual property and requiring the destruction of the infringing products and payment to the client.
• Carnival Corp. in obtaining a dismissal of claims alleging infringement of copyrights in Broadway musicals in performances on cruise ships traveling outside of the U.S. waters.
• The National Music Publishers’ Association, Inc. (NMPA), the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) and theNashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) in a rate proceeding resulting in the setting of advantageous new rates and terms for the mechanical license under Section 115 of the Copyright Act.
• The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in proceedings and negotiations to set the royalty rate for public performances of musical compositions by the cable television, network television, local television and radio industries, as well as by numerous new media companies.
• A class of songwriters and music publishers in a copyright infringement action against Bertelsmann AG resulting in a $130 million settlement.
• Versace, which is owned by Capri Holdings Limited, in a copyright, trademark, and trade dress dispute against Fashion Nova.
• Weight Watchers International, Inc. in a false advertising suit against Jenny Craig, Inc. and in a variety of trademark infringement and franchise matters.
• The Huffington Post in an idea misappropriation claim brought by two individuals who claim the site was their idea.

In addition, she has extensive IP transactional experience including drafting and negotiating license agreements, and regularly represents on a pro bono basis non-profit organizations in connection with publishing and arts-related matters.

Lynn has authored or co-authored several articles on a range of intellectual property issues, including:

• “Intellectual Property Litigation: Preserving Rights Through Trademarks When Copyrights Expire,” in the March 13, 2013 issue of The New York Law Journal, which examines whether trademark law can be used to protect famous characters even after their copyright protection expires, citing the decision in Fleischer Studios A.V.E.L.A over the cartoon character Betty Boop.
• “Capitol Records Thomas: The Debate Over the ‘Making Available’ Theory of Copyright Infringement,” in the January/February 2010 issue of Landslide, the publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property, which discusses the piracy plaguing the music industry and explores the latest decision to tackle the “making available” issue, Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas.
• “A Losing Case for the Fair Use Defense,” in the August 17, 2009 edition of The National Law Journal on the decision in Salinger Colting, in which the parody defense was put to the fair use test, discussing the criteria to be considered in determining whether a work has made fair use of the copyrighted original.
• “‘Making Available’ Cases Still Making Trouble” in the January 7, 2009 edition of IP Law360, which discusses the piracy that has plagued the music industry for the past decade as a result of Internet peer-to-peer file-sharing sites and explores how courts have grappled with the question of whether users’ “making available” of copyrighted files on those sites for reproduction by other users constitutes “distribution” under the Copyright Act.
• “Mary J. Blige: No More Retroactive Copyright Licensing Drama,” an article in the Winter 2008 issue of Entertainment and Sports Lawyer on Davis Blige, an important Second Circuit decision interpreting the rights of co-authors under the Copyright Act in which plaintiff Sharice Davis brought a copyright infringement action against defendant Mary J. Blige and others over two songs on Blige’s album “No More Drama.”
• “A Well-Tailored Remedy,” which appeared in the December 2007 issue of IP Law & Business on a bill introduced by Senator Schumer to protect fashion designs under the Copyright Act. Fashion designers, unlike other creators of original works in the United States and unlike fashion designers abroad, are currently denied copyright protection in the United States.
• “9th Circuit Finds ‘Thumbnail’ Photos Display Fair Use,” published in the October 29, 2007 issue of The National Law Journal on a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Perfect 10 Inc. Amazon.com Inc., which addressed the closely followed question of whether the display of “thumbnail” versions of copyrighted photographs by Google’s image search engine constitutes copyright infringement or “fair use” under the Copyright Act.
• “Unsettled Territory,” published in the March 2006 issue of GC New York, explores issues relating to republishing collective works in new media.

Lynn also wrote a chapter titled “Settling Copyright and Trademark Disputes” in the leading treatise on the law of settlement agreements and the settlement process, Settlement Agreements in Commercial Disputes: Negotiating, Drafting and Enforcement, as well as a practice note titled “Copyright Infringement Claims, Remedies and Defenses” for Practical Law Company. She has spoken on topics including copyright infringement litigation as well as the advancement of women attorneys.

Lynn is a former member of the Trademarks and Unfair Competition Committee and previously served on the Civil Rights Committee and the Copyright and Literary Property Committee of the City Bar. She is currently a member of the City Bar’s Sports Law Committee and serves on its Intellectual Property Subcommittee.

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