Accepts Credit Cards
Shareholder at the firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Areas of Practice
Intellectual Property & Technology; Internet and Computer Software
Admitted
1986, Maryland (inactive); 1989, California
Law School
The George Washington University Law School, J.D., 1986; Georgetown University Law Center, LL.M., 1998
College
Tufts University, B.A., Economics/Political Science, magna cum laude, 1983; Articles Editor, 1985-1986; and Member, 1984-1985, The George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics
Membership
American Bar Association (Council Member, Science and Technology, 2003-2005; Former Co-Chair, Computer and E-Commerce Division; Co-Chair, Internet Subcommittee, Intellectual Property Litigation Committee, 1997-2000 and Programs Chair, 1995-2001, Computer and Online Litigation Committee, Litigation Section).
Biography
Ian Ballon represents technology, media and entertainment companies in complex copyright, Lanham Act, trade secret, and Internet-related litigation and counseling.
Mr. Ballon, who splits his time between the firm's Silicon Valley and LA offices, is the author of the four-volume legal treatise, E-Commerce and Internet Law: Treatise With Forms 2d Edition (West 2009) and the earlier first edition, which has been cited in state and federal court opinions. He is also the author of The Complete CAN-SPAM Act Handbook (West 2008) and The Complete State Security Breach Notification Compliance Handbook (West 2009). Mr. Ballon also serves as Executive Director of Stanford University Law School's Center for E-Commerce (http://lawtech.stanford.edu/ecommerce/) and previously served as an Adviser to the American Law Institute's Intellectual Property: Principles Governing Jurisdiction, Choice of Law, and Judgments in Transactional Disputes (ALI Principles of the Law 2007).
Mr. Ballon was recognized by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal in 2009 for obtaining the third largest plaintiff's verdict in California in 2008 in MySpace, Inc. v. Wallace in a judgment of over $230,000,000. He was also named one of the top 100 lawyers in California in late 2008 by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal. Mr. Ballon previously has been recognized as one of the top new media lawyers in the United States by CyberEsq. magazine, one of the 100 most influential lawyers in California by California Law Business, one of the top 50 IP Litigators in California and one of the top 25 copyright, trademark and patent lawyers in California by The Daily Journal. He has continued for several years to hold a position as a top intellectual property litigation lawyer in the annually released Northern California Super Lawyers (published by Law & Politics and San Francisco Magazine) and Southern California Super Lawyers (published by Law & Politics and Los Angeles Magazine). Mr. Ballon is listed in the 2008, 2007 and 2006 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of intellectual property and information technology and in the 2008 edition of Chambers and Partners USA Guide in the areas of copyright litigation and privacy and data security.
Areas of Concentration
· Copyright litigation and counseling
· The Digital Millennium Copyright Act's service provider liability limitations and anti-circumvention provisions
· Trade secret litigation and counseling
· Secondary copyright and trademark liability
· Trademark and domain name infringement and dilution litigation
· Litigation and counseling regarding social networks, blogs and user generated content
· Litigation and counseling related to sponsored links
· Database protection and litigation
· Internet advertising and unfair competition litigation (including claims for wrongful diversion of Internet traffic)
· Idea submission and right of publicity litigation and counseling
· Privacy and security litigation and counseling
· Spamming, phishing and identity theft litigation
· Suing anonymous and pseudonymous Internet infringers and tortfeasors
· Copyright and Internet class action suits
· Service provider liability limitations and exemptions (including the Communications Decency Act
· Technology, media and entertainment litigation
· Software performance and licensing litigation
· Internet litigation and counseling
· User generated content
Significant Representations
· Lead counsel to MySpace, Inc. in MySpace, Inc. v. Wallace, 498 F. Supp. 2d 1293 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (enjoining a defendant under the CAN-SPAM Act and resulting in 2008 in a judgment of over $230,000,000).
· Lead Counsel to The McClatchy Co. (and formerly to Knight-Ridder) in the In re Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation, 509 F.3d 116 (2d Cir. 2007), putative class action suits brought by freelance authors against database companies and newspaper publishers in the Southern District of New York. The case presently is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court as Reed-Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick, 77 U.S.L.W. 3059 (U.S. Mar. 2, 2009).
· Lead Counsel to MySpace, Inc. in MySpace, Inc. v. TheGlobe.com, Inc., 2007 WL 1686966 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (granting summary judgment under the CAN-SPAM Act, California's anti-spamming statute and for breach of MySpace's Terms of Use, including its $50 per email liquidated damages clause). The case settled on confidential terms in 2007.
· Represented Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. in a copyright infringement suit involving user generated content. Lead Counsel to clients in sponsored link cases brought under the Lanham Act in federal courts in California and Virginia.
· Lead counsel to the prevailing plaintiff in Garden of Life, Inc. v. Letzer, 318 F. Supp. 2d 946 (C.D. Cal. 2004) (granting injunctive relief in connection with the defendants' operation of a counterfeit website and cybersquatting).
· Lead IP Trial Counsel to Hewlett Packard Co. in FoodMarketPlace.com, Inc. v. Hewlett Packard Co., a case brought in the Central District of California in which the plaintiff sought $100 million for the alleged copyright infringement of the source code for a web-based business, among other claims. The case eventually settled.
· Lead Counsel to the prevailing party in MCSi, Inc. v. Woods, 290 F. Supp. 2d 1030 (N.D. Cal. 2003), which is the only reported decision in California where a company prevailed in defense of an anti-SLAPP motion brought by a DOE defendant in a case involving anonymous Internet misconduct.
· Represented Fox Group and Vivendi Universal Entertainment LLLP (and briefly Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. and Columbia Tri-Star Film Distributors Int'l, Inc.) in the defense and settlement of Not the Enemy Media v. Universal Studios Consumer Products, Inc. in federal court in San Francisco.
· Lead counsel to eBay, Inc. in copyright infringement, DMCA, and Lanham Act cases in the Central District of California.
· Amicus counsel to a group of organizations of copyright owners in MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 380 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2004), vacated, 545 U.S. 913 (2005).
· Litigated disputes involving anonymous and pseudonymous Internet tortfeasors and infringers, phishing, Internet and computer privacy rights, the First Amendment and deleted e-mail communications and other electronic evidence.
· Represented GTE Service Corp. (now Verizon) in defeating a nationwide injunction in a copyright infringement suit alleging infringement of hundreds of alleged works. The case settled on confidential terms.
· Lead Counsel in litigating novel, Internet-related claims in Visto Corp. v. Benchmark Print Supply (pernicious spoofing and spamming) and San Jose Mercury News, Inc. v. Royal (wrongful diversion of Internet traffic).
· Lead Counsel for GTE Government Systems in GTE Government Systems v. Patrick (Santa Clara County Superior Court, 1998) in obtaining one of the only temporary restraining orders ever entered in California based on the inevitable disclosure doctrine.
· Represented clients in numerous computer software copyright and trade secret cases, and copyright and internet class action suits.
Professional & Community Involvement
· Advisory Board, Stanford University Law School's Program in Law, Science and Technology, 2007 to present
· Executive Director, Stanford University Law School Center for E-Commerce, 2002 to present
· Advisor, American Law Institute International Jurisdiction Project, 2002 to 2007
· Council Member (and previously Computer and E-Commerce Division Co-Chair), American Bar Association Section of Science and Technology, 2003 to 2005
· Member and contributing author, American Bar Association Cyberspace Jurisdiction Project. The committee's "Report on Global Jurisdictional Issues Created By Information Technology Networks" and proposals for new international standards were published in London, England in July 2000
· Co-Chair, Internet Subcommittee, ABA Section of Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation Committee, 1997 to 2000
· Programs Chair, ABA Section of Litigation, Computer and Online Litigation Committee, 1995 to 2001
· Member, GRAMMY® Foundation's Entertainment Law Initiative Advisory Committee, 2005 to present
· Editorial Board, The Cyberspace Lawyer
· Editorial Board, The Journal of Internet Law
· Editorial Board, Privacy and Information Law Report
· Editorial Board, E-Commerce Law Report
Awards & Recognition
· Named one of the 75 Top IP Litigators in California by the Daily Journal, 2009
· Selected, IAM 250 - The World's Leading IP Strategists, 2009
· Listed on the Los Angeles Daily Journal's list of 2008 Top Verdicts for obtaining the third largest plaintiff's verdict in California
· Named one of the Top 100 Lawyers In California by the Daily Journal, 2008
· Named one of the 50 Top IP Litigators in California by the Daily Journal, 2008
· Listed, Chambers & Partners USA Guide, an annual listing of the leading business lawyers and law firms in the world, 2008 and 2009 editions
· Listed, The International Who's Who of Internet & e-Commerce Lawyers, 2008
· Listed, Legal 500 US, 2007 and 2008 editions
· Listed in the Best Lawyers in America in the areas of intellectual property and information technology, 2006-2010
· Selected by Super Lawyers magazine, 2004-2008
· Listed as one of the Top intellectual property litigation lawyers in the annually released Northern California Super Lawyers published by Law & Politics and San Francisco Magazine since 2004
· Named as one of the world's leading lawyers in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Expert Guide, 2005 and 2006
· Named one of the top 25 copyright, trademark and patent lawyers in California by the Daily Journal, 2003
· Named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in California by California Law Business, 2001
· Listed as one of 16 top new-media lawyers in the United States by the Daily Journal's CyberEsq. magazine, 2001 Named one of the top 20 California Lawyers under the age of 40 by California Law Business, 1999
Articles, Publications, & Lectures
Books
· Author, four-volume legal treatise, E-Commerce and Internet Law: Treatise With Forms, 2d (West 2009)
· Author, The Complete State Security Breach Notification Compliance Handbook (West forthcoming 2009)
· Author, The Complete CAN-SPAM Act Handbook (West 2008)
· Author, four-volume legal treatise, E-Commerce and Internet Law: Treatise With Forms, (LegalWorks/WestPublishing 2001 & Annual Supplements) (Also published in Chinese in the P.R.C.)
Articles
· National Guard Photo Leads to New Decision on Privacy, Publicity and the CDA," Spring 2008 (with Wendy Mantell)
· "Virtual Litigation: Why Internet Business Disputes End Up as IP Litigation," Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, September 2006
· "Reconsidering the Winners and Losers in MGM Studios v. Grokster," Los Angeles Lawyer, September 2005
· "Ninth Circuit Grokster Decision Changes the Law of Secondary Copyright Liability," California Copyright Conference Newsletter, September 2004 (also published in Mealy's Litigation Report, September 2004)
· "Ninth Circuit Grokster Case Challenges the Applicability of Traditional Copyright Principles to Digital Media and the Internet," Intellectual Property Today, February 2004 (with Robert Begland)
· "Assessing and Limiting E-Commerce Liability Through Website Audits," California Business Law Practitioner, Fall 2001
· "Bots, Screen Scraping, Content Aggregation and the Evolving Doctrine of Database Trespass," The Cyberspace Lawyer, May 2001
· "Napster Ruling Clarifies and Expands the Law Governing Third Party Copyright Liability in Cyberspace," The E-Commerce Law Report, May 2001
· "Spoliation of E-Mail Evidence," Committee on Pretrial Practice & Discovery, American Bar Association, Vol. LX, No. 1, Winter 2001
· "Rethinking Cyberspace Jurisdiction in Intellectual Property Disputes," University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law, Fall 2000
Born
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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