Evan Everist

Representative Matters

• Represented seller in the sale of one of the most popular user-created islands in Fortnite, one of the largest online multiplayer battle royale games in the video gaming sector, to a large video game developer headquartered in Europe.
• Drafted content license agreement relating to court decisions and legal research materials.

Technology, Internet, and Social Media Matters

• Counsel clients on various AI (artificial intelligence) issues, including drafting AI policies, considering copyright infringement and ownership issues (including federal complaints regarding the same), and filing removal requests with AI platforms, such as OpenAI.
• Advise clients on domain name cybersquatters using trademarks and personal names.
• File domain name disputes under various policies, including the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP).
• Prepare and negotiate software license agreements and end-user license agreements.
• Advise clients on intellectual property issues relating to emerging technologies, such as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and cryptocurrency, including advise related to infringing “meme coins”.
• Devise and implement strategies to deal with and prevent “housing pirates” that attempt to defraud attendees of large conferences and events that require hotel bookings.

Trademark Clearance, Prosecution, and Maintenance

• Provide counsel on the development, availability, registrability, and strength of proposed trademarks.
• Conduct trademark clearance searches.
• Coordinate international trademark portfolios for market-leading clients.
• Work with local counsel to prosecute and maintain international trademark portfolios.
• Prepare and negotiate trademark license agreements.

Trademark and Intellectual Property Enforcement

• Protect world-famous brands and develop international trademark enforcement strategies for institutional clients.
• Advise clients on enforcement measures for misappropriation of trademarks, including demand letters, litigation, and trademark coexistence agreements.
• Represent clients before Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings.
• Successfully leverage new reexamination and expungement proceedings under the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA).

Copyright Matters

• Provide counsel on the creation and use of copyrighted works.
• Prepare copyright applications for various types of works, including videogames and videogame maps, product packaging, secure tests, photographs, collections of unpublished works, units of publication, serials, software, artwork, books, magazines, etc.
• File and respond to takedowns under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), including counter notifications, on various platforms and online stores such as Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, Etsy, Facebook, Instagram, Redbubble, TikTok, and Walmart.
• Protect copyrighted works and advise clients on defending claims of copyright infringement, including those from well-known copyright “trolls”.
• Prepare copyright assignment and work-made-for-hire agreements.

Entertainment Law Matters

• Assist record labels with IP registration and licensing issues, including related to strategic partnerships with some of the most well-known musicians in the world.
• Advise world-famous musicians on various aspects of intellectual property protection, including developing trademark and copyright filing strategies.
• Advise clients on rights-clearance issues.
• Prepare and negotiate publishing, recording, and music licensing contracts.
• Assist clients with navigating performing-rights organizations such as BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC.
• Prepare and negotiate film production agreements.
• Represent musicians in royalties disputes with record labels and former bands.
• Negotiate name, image, and likeness (NIL) merchandising deals on behalf of professional athletes and their estates.

Cannabis Intellectual Property

• Conduct intellectual property due diligence for cannabis company mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs, including for cross-border matters.
• Develop and deploy federal, state, and international trademark prosecution strategies for cannabis-related trademarks and successfully argue against refusals based on unlawful use in commerce.
• Develop alternative protection strategies for cannabis brands and creative collateral, including seeking copyright registrations and design patents.
• Respond to and send cease and desist letters leveraging the nuance of geographic trademark rights in the cannabis context.