Katten's Gail Migdal Title and David Halberstadter Named Among 100 Most Influential Attorneys in Entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter

LOS ANGELES – Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is pleased to congratulate Gail Migdal Title, chair of the firm’s Entertainment and Media Litigation Practice and managing partner of its Los Angeles office, and David Halberstadter, a partner in its Entertainment and Media Litigation Practice, on their selection to The Hollywood Reporter’s list of the “100 Most Influential Attorneys in Entertainment.” They are recognized in the entertainment trade’s July 16 Power Lawyers issue, spotlighting the 100 most influential outside counsel in entertainment.

The Hollywood Reporter selected its “100 Most Influential Attorneys” by soliciting nominations from the entertainment community. It supplemented the industry’s recommendations with its own research, analyzing the year’s top stories, looking at the attorneys involved, and asking the industry’s most plugged-in executives which lawyers they consider the most influential in five distinct categories: talent dealmakers, litigators, entertainment-finance dealmakers, intellectual property and tech specialists, and labor experts.

In selecting Ms. Title for its list, The Hollywood Reporter notes, “Title is adept at being relentless and paying careful attention to details, especially for her star client, NBC Universal. Last month she won an important appeals court ruling in a case brought by two individuals who claimed they conceived the Syfy hit ‘Ghost Hunters.’ She's also recently handled profit participation and copyright claims over ‘Hercules,’ ‘Quincy, M.E.’ and ‘The Biggest Loser.’”

Of Mr. Halberstadter, the publication writes, “This year he settled a dispute for CBS with sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison over an episode of ‘Star Trek’ he wrote 30 years ago, and he won summary judgment for DreamWorks after the studio was sued by writers alleging the TV series ‘Las Vegas’ had been stolen from them. He's repping Summit in the suit brought by an Army sergeant who claims the Oscar-winning ‘The Hurt Locker’ was lifted from his life story.”

A high-profile entertainment industry client has described Ms. Title as “one of the finest entertainment litigators in the nation,” based on her “strong, aggressive advocacy, razor sharp intellect and innate sensitivity to the business needs of the client.” These accomplishments are supported by Ms. Title’s record of success. In the past two years she has obtained outright dismissals of a number of intellectual property and contract cases brought against her clients on motions for summary judgment. Most recently, she won a key victory for producer Craig Pilgrim and SyFy in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, when the court declined to reinstate a lawsuit accusing her clients of stealing the idea for the television show “Ghost Hunters,” and affirmed the trial court’s finding that the claims were preempted by the Copyright Act.

Ms. Title’s practice includes all aspects of the entertainment industry, from motion picture and television development, finance and production, to distribution in all media worldwide. Her representation covers a broad range of legal and business issues that arise in the entertainment and technology industries, including copyright, trademark, unfair competition, contract and business torts.

Mr. Halberstadter is one of the entertainment industry’s leading litigators, who both prosecutes and defends claims of copyright infringement, idea misappropriation, trademark infringement and unfair competition on behalf of motion picture studios and production companies, television networks and producers, and Internet/new media companies. Mr. Halberstadter’s practice involves the defense of claims by motion picture and television “profit participants” respecting the manner in which they have been accounted to for contingent compensation. Mr. Halberstadter regularly provides pre-litigation and non-litigation counseling on intellectual property issues, such as fair use and parody, First Amendment rights vs. rights of publicity, the analysis of potential rights acquisitions and transfers, licensing matters, chain-of-title documentation and copyright termination. He also frequently reviews books, films, screenplays, motion picture and television treatments, magazine articles and other works in order to assess and reduce the risks of third-party claims based upon the publication of such works, including potential claims of copyright and trademark infringement, defamation, and violation of the rights of privacy and/or publicity.

Katten’s Entertainment and Media Litigation Practice is composed of seasoned litigators who truly understand the business of entertainment. The practice’s attorneys work closely with the firm’s transactional entertainment and media, intellectual property, music and advertising attorneys to provide a full-service, multi-disciplined approach to dispute resolution and avoidance.