Entertainment, Sports and Media

At Dickinson Wright, we believe effective legal advocacy requires both a thorough understanding of the law and a clear understanding of our clients’ businesses. Our Entertainment, Sports, and Media practice provides practical and decisive representation designed to protect creative assets, commercial interests, and long-term opportunities.

As a full-service law firm with offices and lawyers across the U.S. and Canada, including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Nashville, Fort Lauderdale, and Toronto, Dickinson Wright provides timely, practical guidance to clients in the entertainment, sports, and media industries.

Working closely with lawyers across the firm, we advise clients on a broad range of matters involving intellectual property, gaming and hospitality, immigration, contracts, and nonprofit organizations.

Our Team

Our entertainment, sports, and media lawyers are respected by their peers and recognized through industry honors, bar leadership positions, and judicial appointments. Members of the team have been recognized by Super Lawyers®, Best Lawyers®, Chambers, and other publications for their work in the industry. Most importantly, we value the trust we have earned from our clients. We approach each engagement with responsiveness, practical judgment, and a commitment to timely service.

Our Clients

Entertainment Clients

Our clients include recording artists, music publishers, record companies, performers, producers, and other entertainment businesses. Their work has generated more than one billion units in sales, including digital media. We also represent celebrities whose names, images, and brands support film, television, consumer products, and nonprofit initiatives.

Sports Clients

Our sports clients include athletes, teams, coaches, executives, and other professionals and organizations operating throughout the sports industry.

Media Clients

Our media clients include content developers and distributors, owners of intellectual property assets, advertising agencies, branding companies, and businesses operating across traditional and digital media platforms.

Our Services

• Entertainment, Sports & Media Litigation
• Launching new product lines
• Securing, enforcing, and licensing intellectual property
• Licensing entertainment rights
• Negotiating endorsement and sponsorship agreements
• Clearing titles for creative works
• Registering trademarks in foreign jurisdictions

Representative Matters

• Assisted clients with launching new product lines by preparing nondisclosure agreements, work-for-hire agreements, website terms of use and privacy policies, sweepstakes and contest rules, and domestic and international branding strategies. We also reviewed marketing materials and enforced intellectual property rights against unauthorized users.
• Advised entertainment businesses, casino operators, nightclub and restaurant owners, real estate developers, and property management companies on clearing property names, securing related rights, licensing intellectual property, and enforcing those rights against unauthorized users.
• Assisted production companies and artists with licensing and distributing rights in live and recorded performances, television programs, and sporting and entertainment events. This work included production agreements, talent agreements, rights of publicity and location releases, music licensing, and trademark and copyright registration.
• Counseled talent, entertainment companies, and sports organizations on licensing publicity rights and intellectual property for merchandising, endorsements, sponsorships, and private-label products and services.
• Advised authors and other artists on clearing titles for books and other creative works.
• Coordinated with foreign counsel to register trademarks in the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Macau, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, South Africa, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Australia, Belize, and other jurisdictions.
• Represented a large international sports entertainment company in commercial, trademark, and copyright enforcement matters before state and federal courts, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and international tribunals, resulting in favorable outcomes.
• Identified protectable aspects of clients’ products, services, and concepts and helped develop and manage intellectual property portfolios.
• Resolved contested trademark disputes before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and enforced clients’ intellectual property rights online.