Streaming Media

Haynes and Boone works with a wealth of clients in the streaming media industry from major media franchises and television networks to online gaming and sports. Our experience involves intellectual property (IP), business transactions and litigation related work.

In the IP realm, we have conducted trademark counseling, prosecution, and enforcement; inter partes review (IPR), technology transactions, including drafting and negotiating use and licensing agreements; patent prosecution; copyright (including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act); merchandising counseling; and advising on advertising and branding issues.

We have provided a broad spectrum of counseling and litigation services related to media and First Amendment law (including anti-SLAPP statutes), Communications Decency Act, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, libel, defamation, royalties, and FTC investigations.

We also provide a full complement of services for domestic and international media and entertainment transactions, including private equity and capital markets transactions as well as commercial finance and corporate governance matters for clients operating within the industry. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures are also a key part of the firm’s capabilities in assisting clients in their strategic planning. We have broad experience in handling industry specific transactions such as live event productions; television, video, and user-generated content transactions; television and motion picture production and distribution; transactions involving intellectual property; and digital media transactions.

Further we have focused experience with issues and technology that are specific to streaming media such as:

• Data security
• Privacy concerns
• Encryption
• First Amendment law
• Standard essential patent and FRAND licensing
• Multijurisdictional IP/ Licensing
• Streaming media standards, delivery and service platforms
• Video coding
• Industry specific transactions and financing

Our recent experience in the streaming media space includes:

• Handling several domestic and international television production and distribution transactions for media and entertainment programming that consistently reached millions of people around the world on many media platforms in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, and South America
• Drafting and prosecuting patents related to streaming media technologies
• Representing clients in IPRs and other post-grant proceedings
• Counseling clients in over-the-top (OTT) issues and regarding SEP/FRAND codec licensing
• Managing trademark counseling, prosecution, and enforcement for global entertainment companies
• Handling domestic and international event production transactions for several large-scale events produced by an influential media and entertainment company with each event attracting from 30,000 to 100,000 attendees and maintaining multiple production sites
• Negotiating multiple talent agreements, releases, and related transactions with world renowned artists for influential media and entertainment company
• Managing licensing agreements and digital media distribution transactions between content providers and streaming media platforms

Among our team there are several lawyers who were formerly in-house with media and entertainment companies, including the former General Counsel and COO for T.D.J. Business Affairs and the former chief trademark counsel for Time Warner.