Kelli L. Sager

For a long time, Sager thought she wanted to be a journalist. She majored in journalism as an undergraduate and went to law school thinking she'd develop expertise in legal reporting.

But, she said, "When I found out in law school that there were lawyers who represent journalists and publishers, I knew that was what I wanted to do."

Since her first day as a lawyer, Sager has worked with media companies, including The New York Times Co., Conde Nast Publications Inc., Los Angeles Times Communications, Discovery Communications, Inc., E! Entertainment Television and many others. And she's seen the news industry go through massive changes during her career.

"That's one of the fun and interesting things about this practice," she said. "The legal issues, and the industry evolves, but you have long-standing relationships with folks who you've worked with for many years."

This year, her longstanding client, the LA Times, benefitted from that depth of expertise when Sager successfully defended the newspaper against trademark claims launched by 1-800-GET-THIN LLC. The plaintiff, a lap band surgery company, argued that newspaper stories covering the risks of the surgical procedure disparaged the company's trademark. A judge granted Sager's motion to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, and 1-800-GET-THIN voluntarily dismissed its appeal this past February. 1-800-GET-THIN LLC v. Michael Hiltzik et al, CV11-00505 (C.D. Cal., filed Jan. 18, 2011).

This coming July, Sager will argue once again in two cases before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. Both raise the issue of whether the use of athletes' "personas" in videogames is protected under the First Amendment. The appellate court scheduled a second round of oral arguments after the judge who served on the original panel died. Brown v. Electronic Arts, Inc., 09-56675 (9th Cir., filed Mar. 6, 2009) and Keller v. Electronic Arts Inc., 10-15387 (9th Cir., May 5, 2009).

Sager said her practice has evolved in recent years to become nearly 70 percent intellectual property, including so-called "idea theft" cases.

"Part of it is the economic reality that IP is so important to all of the companies we represent," she said. "They're very interesting and fun people to work with."

- ERICA E. PHILLIPS

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