PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES

Thomas is an experienced trial attorney who focuses on complex commercial, intellectual property, and defamation claims and whose clients include Oscar^®, Emmy^® and Grammy^® award winners, financiers of motion pictures, and technology entrepreneurs. Thomas recently secured a favorable jury verdict in a defamation case in Los Angeles following a two week jury trial, obtaining significant damages for the plaintiff, which included an award of punitive damages. Thomas has also successfully handled numerous arbitrations (including IFTA arbitrations), through full hearings and final awards. Thomas also has significant experience both prevailing on, and defeating, anti-SLAPP motions. Thomas handles international intellectual property matters, which currently include trademark disputes venued in Switzerland, the European Union, and Mexico. In motion pictures, Thomas has handled numerous disputes on behalf of financiers, producers, writers and creators of motion pictures, including in relation to the collection of backend, the infringement of copyrights, and in the area of idea submission “Desny” claims (winning a lengthy appeal in a major Desny case). In music, Thomas has handled disputes involving artist and talent agreements, the collection of publishing and royalties, and copyright infringement, for some of the most popular music artists in the world. In tech, Thomas has handled copyright, trademark and trade secret claims, including obtaining and defeating TROs and injunctions for some of the world’s largest financial institutions and technology companies.

Thomas is also an experienced transactional attorney who advises producers of motion pictures and television series, as well as clients in fashion, fine art, photography and media. Thomas specializes in structuring the financing of independently financed motion pictures, including his recent work on the film May December which featured at the Cannes film festival. Thomas further serves as production counsel for motion pictures and provides services for the development and packaging of television series. Thomas also represents technology companies in connection with their intellectual property and licensing needs. Thomas has handled numerous Trademark filings and office actions in the United States Patent and Trademark Office as well as in the European Union, the U.K., Mexico, Central America Canada, China, Japan, Singapore, Australia and other territories.

Thomas obtained his J.D. from Fordham University Law School in 2001 and lived and worked in New York City until 2017. He is admitted to practice in New York and California.

BAR ADMISSIONS

State

California & New York

Federal

Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Central District of California, Eastern District of California and Northern District of California.

EDUCATION

2001

Fordham University School of Law, New York, NY., J.D.

Editor for the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal.

1998

George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, B.A.

PUBLICATIONS

Thinking Thresholds, Intellectual Property Magazine (November 2016)

When First Place Is Still Not Good Enough -- Understanding The Exceptions to the First-Filed Rule, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel (December 2013)

Building a Better Dispute Resolution Provision, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, co-authored with Joshua Leader (May 2008)

The Future of Dilution After Victoria’s Secret, Promotion Marketing Association’s 2003 Law and Forms Guide (3rd Ed.), (with Barry Werbin).

Proving Secondary Meaning in a Post Wal-Mart Product Configuration World, IP Litigator, June/July 2001, co-authored with Barry Werbin, vol.7, no.6, p.1-7.

The Internet and Decisional Institutions: The Structural Advantages of Online Common Law Regulation, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal, Spring 2000, Vol. X, no. 3.