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The Digital Media Group focuses primarily on cutting-edge Internet and technology litigation, licensing, rate-setting, counseling, and transactional work, on behalf of entertainment clients and other content owners, as well as digital and emerging media companies.

Pryor Cashman, widely-respected as one of the preeminent law firms in the areas of entertainment, media, intellectual property and litigation, has a long and storied history of advising content developers – artists, actors, authors, musicians, music publishers, book and magazine publishers, record companies, motion picture companies and producers – on protecting, leveraging and monetizing the value of what they create. The Digital Media Group applies the firm’s 50 years of experience serving the entertainment industry to guiding clients through the legal issues presented by the evolving area of digital media.

The attorneys in the Digital Media Group bring high levels of skill, knowledge and experience to the issues faced by those who do or wish to disseminate content on new media platforms, and those who wish to protect their content from unauthorized dissemination. Our attorneys are or have been involved in numerous seminal cases establishing the boundary of liability in connection with the copying and distribution of copyrighted content via such platforms, including:

Each of the landmark peer-to-peer "file sharing" cases – Napster, Aimster, Grokster, Kazaa and Limewire
One of the first litigations filed against MP3.com
The first case to challenge DVR functionality (ReplayTV)
Ground-breaking litigation involving the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA (UMG v. Reimerdes)
Cases against websites that collect and index infringing music files
Litigations against a so-called "social networking" site, an online karaoke site and a major provider of ringtones

The attorneys in Pryor Cashman’s Digital Media Group have also been at the vanguard of licensing and counseling with respect to the wide-scale and global distribution of music and other copyrighted content on the Internet and in mobile and other emerging media platforms.

For example, they negotiated and drafted the ground-breaking "New Digital Media Agreements," which became the music industry’s template for the licensing of musical compositions for a broad range of new technological exploitations of music. These agreements grant rights to the exploitation of music on or in such platforms by record companies, third-party service and content providers, and aggregators. They have also negotiated and drafted landmark agreements with:

Major user-generated content sites
Social-networking sites
Lyric aggregators
"Cloud" music services
Various ad-supported, subscription and/or pay-per-use streaming and download services

The attorneys in the Digital Media Group have also been actively involved in hearings, proceedings and industry-wide settlements to set rates for various forms of exploitation of music on and via new media platforms, including rates for permanent digital downloads, ringtones, and subscription streaming and limited download services.

While the firm has a long history working on behalf of content owners and creators, Pryor Cashman attorneys understand the business realities of parties on both sides of the content equation, and have represented and counseled websites, online video services, gaming companies, social networking sites and other digital media companies who are helping to create the future of the digital media industry, including in numerous areas, including copyright, privacy and terms of use.

Areas of Focus

New York | Los Angeles