David A. Grossman

Grossman successfully defended DreamWorks Animation LLC from a defrauding scheme by a man who said the company stole his original ideas and character sketches for the animated movie “Kung Fu Panda.”

Shortly before the trial of that lawsuit, the defense team discovered the evidence that got the case dismissed — a Disney coloring book that the plaintiff copied and then maintained Dreamworks ripped off.

Though the civil case wrapped up three years ago, the defendant was convicted of wire fraud and perjury in November over an attempt to defraud DreamWorks. In May, the defendant was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution on the related criminal charges. United States v. Gordon, 15-CR10390 (D. Mass. Nov. 18, 2016).

“This was a very unusual situation, where the U.S. attorney indicted a civil plaintiff for perjury and fraud related to a civil claim for damages. That ended up being the final piece of evidence in the mountain of evidence that we had that convinced him and his lawyers to drop his case,” said Grossman, a Loeb & Loeb partner.

He has litigated numerous copyright and trademark cases for major film studios, producers, recording companies and publishing companies, including many of the entertainment industry’s most notable intellectual property court battles in recent years.

Grossman is currently representing numerous defendants, including The Steve Harvey Show, Deep Dish Productions, NBC Universal Television, and others against claims for copyright infringement made by music production company We 3 Kings Inc.

He usually ends up on the defense side of cases, and said he is very lucky to work on interesting matters.

“I always tell younger lawyers that they should really get to know their judge. Judges will increasingly tell you they have a different way of giving you their guidelines. They do that for a reason. I do tell young lawyers that ‘you’ve got to focus on that and respect that,’” Grossman said.

— Justin Kloczko