Stanton “Larry” Stein and Diana A. Sanders were selected for inclusion in Billboard‘s ‘2021 Top Music Lawyers’ list, which was published on April 05, 2021. This issue of Billboard recognizes the biggest names and most prominent legal minds in the world of music and entertainment law. Click here to view Billboard’s ‘2021 Top Music Lawyers’ List.
Stanton “Larry” Stein is a partner and the head of Russ August & Kabat’s Media & Entertainment group. Larry’s clients include actors, writers, directors, producers, musicians, high-net-worth individuals, entertainment guilds, talent agencies, personal and business management companies, independent production companies, and interactive gaming companies. Larry is widely known in the entertainment industry for his work taking on Hollywood studios. Throughout the last decades, Larry created legal theories for challenging the film and television accounting practices of vertically integrated studios and media conglomerates through litigation. He is literally the father of vertical integration accounting lawsuits. His efforts have changed the face of talent and rights holders’ contract negotiations with studios, networks, and their affiliated production companies, seeking to more evenly allocate revenue to profit participants including actors, directors, writers, and producers. Larry has brought countless lawsuits on behalf of his clients against companies that were self-dealing on licensing fees and a variety of other revenue streams. In addition to his groundbreaking litigation in the profit participation space, Larry has also fought to establish copyright protection for formats in reality television, bringing the seminal lawsuit in that area of law.
Throughout his career, Larry has been recognized by leading legal, business, and entertainment industry publications and organizations for the successes he has achieved on behalf of his clients. He is ranked as a “Top Media and Entertainment Litigator” by Chambers USA, regularly recognized as a “Power Lawyer” by The Hollywood Reporter and recently recognized as a Legal Legend, named to Billboard’s “Top Music Lawyers” in 2020 and 2021, rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, and has been named a “Southern California Super Lawyer” from 2004-2009 and 2011-2021 by the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine. In 2019, Larry was recognized as a Southern California Top 100 Super Lawyer. The Daily Journal named Larry one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in California,” while the Los Angeles Business Journal profiled him in “Who’s Who in LA Law,” and California Lawyer featured him as a top-five “A-list Entertainment Lawyers.” Nationally, Larry has been recognized as a “Best Lawyer” by The Best Lawyers in America and in “Lawdragon 500: Leading Lawyers in America.” Larry has received the “Entertainment Lawyer of the Year” awards from both the Beverly Hills and Century City Bar Associations, as well as the ACLU Foundation’s “Pro Bono Civil Liberties Award.” For additional information, https://www.raklaw.com/attorney/stanton-larry-stein/.
Diana Sanders is a senior associate at Russ August & Kabat. She represents clients in the media and entertainment industry, including songwriters, producers, musical artists, actors, production companies, and other high-profile individuals and executives. A classically trained singer with a depth of understanding of music, Diana advises clients on diverse music-related matters ranging from transactions to litigation. Her practice also includes matters involving copyright, trademark, breach of contract, and defamation.
Diana is a proud member of the Recording Academy and is admitted to practice law in both California and New York.
In 2020 and 2021, Diana was recognized among Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers.’ And in 2020, Diana was included in Billboard’s ‘Women in Music Executives’ list. From 2018-2021, Diana has been chosen as a SuperLawyers ‘Rising Star’ by the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine. She was also selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch (2021 Edition) for Entertainment and Sports Law. For additional information, https://www.raklaw.com/attorney/diana-sanders/
Russ August & Kabat attorneys Marc Fenster, Reza Mirzaie, Adam Hoffman, Neil Rubin, Jacob Buczko, and James Tsuei won a jury verdict for their client, Solas OLED Ltd., confirming infringement by Samsung of two of Solas’s key patents on OLED display and touch sensor technology.
The patents asserted in trial against Samsung were U.S. Patent Nos. 9,256,311, which relates to flexible touch sensors; and 6,072,450 and 7,446,338, both of which relate to improved designs for organic light-emitting diodes.
The jury agreed with Solas that Samsung’s Galaxy phones and tablets infringed two of Solas’s asserted patents, and awarded $63M in damages. Additionally, the jury found that Samsung willfully infringed the ‘311 patent, after Solas showed Samsung to have not only learned of the patent soon after it issued, but also that Samsung received from confidential technical information from the ‘311 patent’s inventors for five years prior to releasing its first infringing device. Based on the jury’s willful infringement finding and the evidence Solas presented at trial, the Court awarded Solas an additional $15M in enhanced damages.
The jury verdict vindicates years of effort by Solas in confirming the value of its OLED and touch sensor patent portfolio. After the verdict, Solas’s co-founder, Gerald Padian commented in a press release: “We are humbled that a jury of our peers recognized the efforts and ingenuity of the inventors of the patents-in-suit, grateful to the Court and the jurors for their service; thrilled for the inventors; and, incredibly proud of the years of work and dedication of our own team to make this happen. Thanks to our team and our counsel Russ August & Kabat and Ward, Smith & Hill, for their hard work.”
The case is Solas OLED Ltd. v. Samsung Display Co. Ltd., Case No. 2:19-cv-00152-JRG (E.D. Tex.).
On February 16, 2021, Judge Staton of the Central District of California ordered an additional $3.7 million in enhanced damages for client Pavo Solutions, LLC against defendant Kingston Technology, Co. The Court awarded the enhanced damages based on an earlier jury verdict finding that Kingston willfully infringed Pavo’s ‘544 Patent relating to a portable memory drive. The Court faulted Kingston for “a cursory and legally deficient internal investigation into the validity of, and Kingston’s infringement on, the ‘544 Patent.” Critically, the Court also found that “the line between zealous advocacy and litigation misconduct was crossed” by “Kingston’s gamesmanship with respect its noninfringement arguments and its production of cost data on the Accused Product.” Pavo is represented by Russ August & Kabat attorneys Benjamin T. Wang, Andrew D. Weiss, Adam S. Hoffman, Jacob R. Buczko, and Minna Y. Chan. Read the Opinion.
Russ August & Kabat proudly announces that we have added a new Appellate Practice Group. Robert J. Gajarsa will Chair the practice group, which also includes Marc Fenster, Paul Kroeger, Brian Ledahl, Nathan Meyer, Reza Mirzaie, and Jean Rhee.
Robert J. Gajarsa is a partner and Chair of the Appellate Practice at Russ August & Kabat. He is a seasoned first-chair appellate lawyer who has assisted clients in matters at every appellate level, including as principal counsel before the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Gajarsa is also one of only a few attorneys nationwide specializing in high-stakes intellectual property appeals before the Federal Circuit. Since clerking twice at the Federal Circuit, Mr. Gajarsa has become a go-to choice for the most complex appeals at the Court. He has handled over sixty Federal Circuit matters and authored dozens of briefs and key motions before the Court. Mr. Gajarsa is also routinely tapped for oral argument by his clients and is among only a handful of advocates to have argued three patent cases to the Federal Circuit in the same court week. Other appellate advocates also regularly rely on Mr. Gajarsa’s appellate counsel, and they have retained him dozens of times to shadow their Federal Circuit appeals and prepare them to present oral argument. In addition, Mr. Gajarsa has become a trusted source to handicap Federal Circuit appeals for parties, investors, and litigation funders. Prior to joining Russ August & Kabat, Mr. Gajarsa was an appellate and trial litigator at Latham & Watkins LLP.
Russ August & Kabat is proud of Irene Y. Lee and Benjamin T. Wang, who have been named to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2021 list of ‘Minority Leaders of Influence: Attorneys’. The list “highlights stellar minority attorneys who are considered to be particularly impactful on the legal scene, while serving as trusted advisors, along with maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards.” Read the article.
Russ August & Kabat is proud of Larry C. Russ, Jules L. Kabat, Marc A. Fenster, Bennett A. Bigman, Adam S. Hoffman, Paul A. Kroeger, Brian D. Ledahl, Irene Y. Lee, Matthew A. Rips, Stanton “Larry” Stein and Benjamin T. Wang, all of whom have been recognized as 2021 Southern California Super Lawyers by the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine. In addition, Larry C. Russ, and Brian D. Ledahl, have been recognized as Top 100 Super Lawyers, and Irene Y. Lee has also been recognized as a Top 50 SuperLawyer in the Southern California Women’s Edition. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.
