James Sammataro is a partner at Pryor Cashman and co-chair of the firm’s Music Group and Media + Entertainment Litigation Practice: James has been repeatedly recognized by Billboard as one of the nation’s top music lawyers, and the “go-to” litigator in the Latin music space. Eminem, Enrique Iglesias, Don Omar, the Estate of Chris Cornell, Chris Brown, Dr. Dre, Luis Fonsi, Pitbull, Paulo Londra, Karol G, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music, Spotify, and Kobalt are among the many clients that James has represented in music-related matters. James has prevailed in a number of copyright infringement trials, including (i) securing a zero-dollar defense verdict where liability was undisputed and the plaintiff sought more than $8 million in damages; and (ii) a complete defense verdict plus an attorneys’ fees award of nearly a million dollars (recently affirmed by the Second Circuit). Variety has also hailed James as one of the most impactful entertainment attorneys in Hollywood, based on his representation of leading media entities and A-List celebrities in delicate, high-profile copyrights, trademarks, defamation, and profit participation disputes. Leading concert and event promoters rely on James to successfully realize their concert events, music festivals, exhibitions, and Broadway and off-Broadway shows.

Pamela Samuelson is the Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law and Information at the University of California, Berkeley. She is recognized as a pioneer in digital copyright law, intellectual property, cyberlaw and information policy. Since 1996, she has held a joint appointment at Berkeley Law School and UC Berkeley’s School of Information. Samuelson is a director of the internationally-renowned Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. She is co-founder and chair of the board of Authors Alliance, a nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in access to knowledge. She also serves on the board of directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as on the advisory boards for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Democracy & Technology, and Public Knowledge. Samuelson began her legal career as an associate with Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York. She began her career as a legal academic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, from which she visited at Columbia, Cornell, and Emory Law Schools. While on the Berkeley faculty, she has been a distinguished visiting professor at University of Toronto Law School as well as a visiting professor at the University of Melbourne and Harvard Law Schools. She was named an honorary professor at the University of Amsterdam in 2002. Since 1990, Samuelson has been a contributing editor of Communications of the ACM, a computing professionals journal respected for its coverage of existing and emerging technologies, for which she has written more than seventy “Legally Speaking” columns. From 1997 through 2002, Samuelson was a fellow of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is also a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery. The Anita Borg Institute honored Samuelson with its Women of Vision Award for Social Impact in 2005, and the public interest organization Public Knowledge awarded her its IP3 Award for her contributions to Internet law and policy in October 2010.

Matthew D. Asbell, Principal, Offit Kurman: With background in information technology, entertainment and medicine, and a love for global language, culture and food, Matthew Asbell works comfortably with clients in diverse industries. Matthew’s passion for his work in intellectual property arises from a deep appreciation for creativity, whether in the form of invention, design, expression or marketing. He assists clients in clearing, obtaining, enforcing and defending trademark rights in the United States and throughout the world, and advises on utility and design patents, copyrights, domain names and related areas. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Matthew managed emerging singer-songwriters and recording artists, trained corporate employees of a pharmaceutical company to use software applications and studied medicine. Matthew is certified as a software Master Instructor and a Social Media Strategist. He serves as an adjunct professor of law and frequent guest lecturer at Fordham University and has taught at The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (Yeshiva University), Columbia Universit and the Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economia (ISDE) in Madrid, Spain. He regularly mentors new lawyers and law students.

Scott J. Sholder, Co-Chair of the firm’s Litigation group, focuses his practice on litigation, counseling, and dispute resolution in connection with entertainment, media, and intellectual property matters. Scott represents and advises clients across various industries in copyright, trademark, right-of-publicity, unfair competition, domain name, and commercial and business disputes, as well as defamation defense. He has appeared in federal and state courts around the country as well as administrative and arbitral tribunals and has handled cases from pre-suit negotiations through trial and post-trial procedures. His clients range from major media and entertainment companies and A-list talent to closely held and startup businesses and individuals in need of advice on intellectual property or guidance concerning brewing or existing legal conflicts. Scott is a skilled advocate and understands the risks, benefits, and practical considerations inherent in these cases and knows how to make use of available leverage and industry knowledge to reach a favorable conclusion. He utilizes a principled yet practical approach to litigation with an eye toward efficient resolution in line with the client’s business needs and financial realities. A frequent writer and speaker on issues related to copyright and trademark in the entertainment and digital media space, Scott is a regular contributor to the CDAS legal blog as well as other major legal publications and has published several law review articles. He has also authored several amicus briefs in the Courts of Appeal and U.S. Supreme Court addressing important and cutting-edge issues in copyright law.

Christopher Kenneally, Sr. Director, Content Marketing, Copyright Clearance Center: Christopher Kenneally develops programs covering issues facing scholarly publishing and the research community for Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). Kenneally created CCC’s award-winning podcast series, Velocity of Content, in 2006. He also hosts and produces CCC’s Town Hall series on LinkedIn Live. As a freelance journalist, Christopher Kenneally reported for the New York Times and Boston Globe, among many other publications as well as for WBUR-FM (Boston), National Public Radio, and WGBH-TV (PBS-Boston). He contributes opinion columns regularly to the Boston Business Journal. Kenneally is author of “Massachusetts 101” (Applewood Books), a history of the state “from Redcoats to Red Sox.”