Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Year Joined Organization: 1971

Lawyer Overview

Russell J. Frackman’s expertise is litigation concentrating in the areas of copyright, trademark, unfair competition, and entertainment in state and federal courts and before the arbitration tribunals of the Writers Guild, Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild, American Film Marketing Association, and American Arbitration Association. His practice focuses primarily on motion picture, record, and music publishing companies; recording artists, actors, producers, agents, and writers. Some of Mr. Frackman’s accomplishments include successfully representing a major record company in a trademark suit over the song "Barbie Girl" brought by the manufacturer of the Barbie doll, Mattel, Inc.; Former Chair, MS&K Litigation Department Representation of Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. in record piracy litigation; lead counsel for the record company plaintiffs in their landmark copyright infringement lawsuits against Napster, Aimster, KaZaA, Grokster, and Morpheus; representation of the Motion Picture Association of America in DMCA litigation against 321 Studios; representation of a record company against a swap meet where vendors offered counterfeit recordings for sale in an appeal involving significant issues of vicarious and contributory copyright infringement; representation of the owner of master recordings in an appeal involving a question of first impression as to the scope of the rights encompassed in a sound recording copyright; representation of prominent author in litigation involving the motion picture rights to a best-selling book and issues of first impression relating to the Copyright Act statute of frauds; and representation of the International Olympic Committee during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Mr. Frackman was the recipient of the honorary Gold Record Award from Recording Industry Association of America for work in antipiracy litigation. He was named one of Los Angeles' Top 50 Litigators by the Los Angeles Business Journal; named Entertainment Lawyer of the Year for 2001 by the Beverly Hills Bar Association; and was a 2001 CLAY (California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year) Award Recipient. Mr. Frackman is Co-author, "Back to the Future: The Napster Decision Confirms the Applicability of Traditional Copyright Principles to the Internet," 2 Sedona Conference Journal 31, 2001 and has lectured extensively on subjects relating to intellectual property and entertainment law, for Practising Law Institute; Los Angeles and San Francisco Copyright Societies; USC School of Law, Entertainment Law Institute; Georgetown University Law Center, Corporate Counsel Institute; American Film Marketing Association; California Copyright Conference; The ABA Section on Insurance; The ABA Forum Committee on Sports and Entertainment; The New Music Seminar; The Los Angeles Music Network; The Society of Professional Journalists; The Beverly Hills Bar Association; Digital Hollywood (panel).

Areas of practice

• Copyright
• Trademark
• Unfair Competition
• Entertainment in State and Federal Courts
• Arbitration Tribunals

West Practice Categories

Alternative Dispute Resolution, Unfair Competition, Entertainment, Sports & Leisure Law, Entertainment, Copyrights, Trademarks, Litigation & Appeals, Federal Trial Practice, State Trial Practice

Bar Admissions

California
U.S. District Court Northern District of California
U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court

Professional Associations and Memberships

American Bar Association (Former Chair, Copyright Subcommittee)
American Bar Association (Intellectual Property Committee)
Twitty Milsap Sterban Foundation (Past Member, Board of Trustees)
CARE Foundation (Trustee)
American Film Marketing Association (Member, Arbitration Tribunal)

Honors and Awards

• Top 50 Litigators by Los Angeles Business Journal, 1998
• Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by the Beverly Hills Bar Association, 2001
• CLAY (California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year) Award Recipient, 2001
• Honorary Gold Record Award

Classes and Seminars

• Litigating Copyright, Trademark and Unfair Competition Cases, Practising Law Institute, 1983 - 1997

Education

Columbia Law School, New York, New York
J.D.
Honors: cum laude
Law Review: Columbia Law Review, Member, Board of Editor
Northwestern University
B.A.

Published Works

• Co-author, Back to the Future: The Napster Decision Confirms the Applicability of Traditional Copyright Princip, Sedona Conference Journal 31, 2001

Address

11377 W. Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Phones

(310) 312-3119

Faxes

(310) 231-8319

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.msk.com