Advertising, Marketing & Entertainment Law Practice Named “Media and Entertainment Group of the Year” by Law360

Winston & Strawn's advertising, marketing and entertainment law practice has been named Media and Entertainment Group of the year by Law360. The firm was selected based on their significant litigation wins and the amount of large and complex deals the group worked on over the course of 2010.

The article discusses the firm's representation of Yahoo Inc. and Veoh Networks, noting that these cases have helped determine the legal standard for copyright infringement and user-generated content. In a case that sparked a nationwide anti-piracy debate, the Ninth Circuit upheld a California court's ruling that Veoh, a video sharing site, was protected from the copyright infringement claims brought by Universal Music Group Inc. The appeals court found that despite the ability of Veoh users to download videos that may infringe on copyright, the safe harbor provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act protected the video-sharing site. Michael Elkin, managing partner of Winston & Strawn's New York office, said that this ruling could impact a dispute between Viacom International and YouTube Inc. that deals with allegedly infringing user-generated content. According to Mr. Elkin, "this is where the action is now in the Internet and digital media world because if the company is found liable for using copyrighted content under the DMCA, there's a $150,000 liability per work."