David Halberstadter

A well-crafted letter can keep a lot of people out of court. It’s something Halberstadter, a copyright and trademark infringement lawyer, has been doing a lot of lately. As a defense attorney, he’s been on the receiving end of many claims letters.

“But right now, either our letters are so persuasive or plaintiff’s lawyers haven’t been getting paid because not many lawsuits have been filed,” said Halberstadter, partner and deputy general counsel at Katten Muchin Rosenman. “I’d like to think it’s because the letters are so persuasive,” he joked.

Last year, Halberstadter, who prosecutes and litigates cases for prominent entertainment companies, got notice the night before that a temporary restraining order would be filed across the country in New York federal court against his client STX Entertainment.

It was on the eve of Memorial Day weekend and the company, Sesame Workshop, claimed the company’s movie tagline, “No Sesame. All Street” infringed its Sesame Street trademark.

Halberstadter said the movie “The Happytime Murders,” which was actually directed by the son of Sesame Street creator Jim Henson, was too different to be mistaken for the iconic kid’s brand.

He and a New York colleague were able to get the judge to give them time to brief the matter. A few days later, they argued the movie was for adult audiences and nothing like the wholesome children’s product.

The judge denied the TRO and the Sesame Workshop soon after dismissed its lawsuit. Sesame Workshop v. STX Productions LLC et al., 18-CV04597, (S.D. N.Y., May 24, 2018).

As the demand for more content has grown with the proliferation of streaming services, clients are also increasingly asking Halberstadter to look at chain of title issues. With so many film remakes these days, studios have to make sure titles are properly transferred.

For example, if a studio wants to make a book into a film that was already once a film, typically they have to acquire the picture rights from the party that owns them.

“They want to make sure the party who they are using actually owns those rights and that there are no restrictions,” Halberstadter said.

— Justin Kloczko