Print

Email this page

Vcard

Attorneys  

William L. Charron

William Charron is a general commercial litigator who is also engaged in a wide variety of intellectual property disputes, including representing plaintiffs and defendants in Copyright and Lanham Act cases, right of publicity cases, defamation and First Amendment defense, and cases involving claims of art theft.

Bill has also represented clients in complex cases involving antitrust and civil RICO prosecution and defense, civil rights prosecution and defense, securities fraud and class action defense, and international law-property rights defense. In addition, Bill has represented clients in many kinds of contract, real estate, shareholder, and LLC membership disputes.

Some of Bill's recent court victories include:

• Bakalar v. Vavra (S.D.N.Y. 2011): Obtained final judgment after trial in favor of owner of Egon Schiele artwork alleged to have been stolen during World War II on basis of "laches" defense. Previously successfully opposed rare motion seeking defendant-class certification.
• Kernel Records Oy v. Timothy Mosley p/k/a Timbaland, et al., (S.D. Fla. 2011): Obtained summary judgment dismissal of music copyright infringement claims against internationally renowned singer Nelly Furtado in matter of first impression ruling that foreign copyright owners who first publish their works overseas but over the Internet must register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to maintain a lawsuit in the U.S.  Previously obtained dismissal of same claims against Ms. Furtado’s music publisher on personal jurisdiction and “indispensable party” grounds.
• Levi v. Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co. (S.D.N.Y. 2011):  Obtained summary judgment award for client of $1 million, plus nearly $200,000 in prejudgment statutory interest, against title insurance company, where insurer refused to cover loss arising out of a fraudulently executed mortgage and claimed instead that it should be entitled to mitigate its payout from the perpetrator of the fraud (and other allegedly liable third parties) before it had to cover its insured’s loss.
• Bishop v. Velocity at Greystone, LLC, et al. (S.D.N.Y. 2011):  Obtained pleadings-based dismissal of rare federal civil rights claims brought against private developer of property.
• ChampionsWorld LLC v. United States Soccer Federation, Inc., et al., (N.D. Ill. 2010): Successfully represented former promoter of international professional men’s soccer matches in obtaining landmark sports and antitrust law decision denying motion for judgment on the pleadings brought by U.S. Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer, which contended that U.S. Soccer Federation, as national governing body for soccer in the United States, was immune from federal antitrust and racketeering liability with respect to the performance of professional soccer matches pursuant to authority granted by Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, 36 U.S.C. §§ 220501, et seq.
• Joan Banach v. The Dedalus Foundation, Inc., (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County 2010): Successfully represented foundation for internationally renowned artist Robert Motherwell in dismissing claims by former board member and employee for alleged “lifetime employment” and for wrongful removal and defamation.
• Parker Waichman Alonso LLP v. The Orlando Firm, P.C., (S.D.N.Y. 2010):  Successfully represented plaintiff in opposing motion to dismiss by defendant law firm in trademark infringement case and demonstrated that defendant was susceptible to personal jurisdiction in New York, notwithstanding the defendant’s primary location in Georgia, because the defendant’s Internet website purposefully availed itself of the New York marketplace.

To read about some of Bill's other successful representations, please click here.

In April 2010, Bill won a 2010 Burton Award for Legal Achievement. The Burton Award is one of the highest literary honors in law, with just 30 authors chosen each year out of entries submitted from the nation’s 1,000 largest law firms. Bill was selected as a recipient of the prestigious national award for his article, States Turn a Deaf Ear to the Constitution in an Effort to Promote "Truth in Music.” 

Bill is a 1998 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a Moot Court competition semifinalist, a Dillard Fellow and an Editor of the Journal of Law and Politics. Bill graduated magna cum laude from Colby College in 1993 with a B.A. in Government. He was Phi Beta Kappa and won the Albert A. Mavrinac Prize for Best Senior Thesis in Government: The Presidential Precampaign and the Press.

Previous Positions

• Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Associate (1998-2000)

Publications

• Author, FCC v. Fox Television: The ‘Steven Spielberg Exception’ To Broadcast Television Indecency Rules?, The Wrap (February 2012)
• Author, States Turn a Deaf Ear to the Constitution in an Effort to Promote “Truth in Music,” BNA Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal (August 28, 2009) and University of Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal (Fall 2009)

Teaching Positions

• Columbia University School of Law, Adjunct Faculty, Instructor of Appellate Advocacy and Legal Writing

Professional Affiliations

• American Bar Association
• New York State Bar Association

Distinctions

• Burton Award For Legal Writing 2010
• Named a “Rising Star” in General Litigation by New York Super Lawyers – Metro Edition magazine (2011 edition)

Other Activities

• Assisted in obtaining landmark political asylum ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a case involving claims of female genital mutilation
• Represented the City of New York in a civil rights action after the City requested pro bono assistance from area law firms following 9/11