Kenneth Kaufman's practice focuses on entertainment and media law, copyright, content and music licensing, Internet law, social media, sports law, and the evolving new technologies in the entertainment and computer fields.
Mr. Kaufman represents a wide range of clients in the entertainment, computer, online, sports and communications industries, including television networks, computer and Internet technology companies, media and technology investors, private equity firms, music publishers, television and video producers, new media entrepreneurs, telecommunications companies, website operators, theatre and live stage producers, directors and writers, songwriters, recording artists and authors.
Mr. Kaufman has extensive experience as both in-house and outside counsel in the entertainment and communications industries. Immediately prior to joining the firm, Mr. Kaufman was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Previously he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel of Showtime/The Movie Channel Inc. (now known as Showtime Networks Inc.); as Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and General Counsel of PolyGram Records, Inc.; and as General Counsel of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In two of those positions he was the first in-house attorney and organized the in-house legal department. In addition, for several years he served as a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School, teaching a course on copyright, entertainment and Internet law. He also served as assistant counsel of a U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee and as law clerk to Judge Warren J. Ferguson of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Mr. Kaufman is a frequent speaker and author on intellectual property, entertainment law, licensing, and issues involving the convergence of the entertainment, communications and computer industries. He has chaired programs and spoken at industry conferences for the Practising Law Institute, the American Bar Association, the Computer Law Association, the National Association of Broadcasters, the New York State Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the District of Columbia Bar, among others. He serves on the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries and on the Board of Directors of Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts. He is also a member of the Planning Committee for the annual Stanford E-Commerce Best Practices Conference, teaches an annual course on copyright law and litigation for the District of Columbia Bar, and has served as a Trustee of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.
Mr. Kaufman has been recently named the 2014 Washington, D.C. Copyright Law “Lawyer of the Year” by The Best Lawyers in America (where he is also listed in the practice areas of entertainment law-music, entertainment law-motion pictures and television and intellectual property litigation). He was also selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2013 (for both intellectual property and media & entertainment), The Legal 500 United States 2009 (for entertainment law), Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers 2014 (for intellectual property), and Washingtonian magazine’s 2013 Top Lawyers. Mr. Kaufman has been profiled by Legal Times as one of the leading intellectual property lawyers in the Washington, D.C. area. He is frequently quoted in the media, including in a National Law Journal article on copyright revision in 2013.
