Mr Benjamin Marks > Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Offices
767 5TH AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10153
NEW YORK
United States
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Mr Benjamin Marks
Position
Head of Weil’s Intellectual Property/Media practice
Career
Benjamin Marks is Head of Weil’s Intellectual Property/Media practice. He has served as lead counsel in copyright, music licensing, misappropriation, trademark, unfair competition, First Amendment, and media law cases for clients such as Pandora Media, Sirius XM Radio, Getty Images, S&P Global, the North American Concert Promoters Association, West Publishing, and Morgan Stanley, among others. For many years, Ben also has represented the Association of American Publishers in a wide variety of intellectual property matters. He has litigated several leading cases involving “hot news” and other common law misappropriation claims. Ben also frequently represents streaming services, television broadcasters, concert promoters, and other music consumers in connection with the acquisition of, and litigation over, rights to publicly perform musical compositions and sound recordings and secondary liability claims for performances by others.
Memberships
Adjunct Professor at NYU Law School, and serves on the Advisory Board of NYU’s Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy.
Education
University of Pennsylvania (BA, 1993, magna cum laude); New York University School of Law (JD, 1997).
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP fields a strong team in the music litigation space, with rate-setting proceedings standing out as an area of particular strength. The unit is additionally proficient in handling complex commercial litigation for publishers and televisual content creators and distributors. First amendment and music licensing specialist Benjamin Marks leads the practice; in August 2022, his representation of Pandora Media in the long-running Phonorecords IV proceedings, which were argued in front of the Copyright Royalty Board, resulted in an industry-shaping settlement. Fellow music licensing expert Todd Larson frequently appears alongside Marks, he co-led on the aforementioned proceedings and is also representing Kano Computing Limited in a copyright infringement case that lies on the intersection of music copyright litigation and new technology. Yehudah Buchweitz specializes in antitrust matters and recently represented Paramount Global in a compensation dispute. Randi Singer , whose representation of Meta has included a broad array of IP-related matters, is another name to note. All advocates mentioned are based in New York with the exception of Singer, who divides her time between the practice’s New York and Silicon Valley offices.
United States > Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
Backed by the bench strength of its global network and noted by clients for its ability to bring ‘experience in dealing with complex and novelty trademark infringement cases’, the team at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP advises on issues of secondary liability and represents major players across sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals, e-commerce and tech, through to electronics, entertainment, and publishing. The team is led by Benjamin Marks, a specialist in pre-litigation, and trademark and music licensing disputes. Randi Singer brings expertise to acting in infringement litigation and Landham Act false advertising matters, acting for major brand owners, internet entities and e-commerce platforms in the process. Jessica Falk brings experience to disputes in fashion, media, and tech. All lawyers mentioned are in New York.
United States > Intellectual property > Copyright
(Leading lawyers)Backed by a global network, the copyright team at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP represents and advises social media platforms, digital music streamers, book publishers, and e-commerce companies on a diverse spectrum of copyright issues, including infringement and licensing disputes, secondary liability, and DMCA compliance. Benjamin Marks leads the team, bringing expertise to music copyright royalty cases, having recently helped music streamer Pandora secure a major settlement in August 2022 with US music publishers before the Copyright Royalty Board. Randi Singer represents clients in publishing, social media and e-commerce, including Meta and eBay, involved on complex infringement matters. Todd Larson specializes in the high-value negotiation of music publishing and sound recording performance licenses. In Washington DC, experienced litigator Mark Perry joined from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in May 2022. Unless noted, all lawyers mentioned work in New York.
Lawyer Rankings
- Leading lawyers United States > Intellectual property > Copyright
- Copyright United States > Intellectual property
- Media and entertainment: litigation United States > Media, technology and telecoms
- Trademarks: litigation United States > Intellectual property
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Advertising and marketing: litigation
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- Tax > Financial products
- Tax > International tax
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices
- Real estate > Real estate
- Industry focus > Sport
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: transactions
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense