Kelli L. Sager

When most people won't think twice before reposting a copyrighted work on the web, infringement happens all the time. When Sager goes on the offensive, she said it's typically to address the most egregious forms of copyright infringement.

"These aren't cases where someone might have a legitimate fair use. It's someone who is systematically taking intellectual property and stealing it," Sager said.

Well known for her work on behalf of news media companies, Sager - who is the Daily Journal's attorney - has won prominent victories of late on behalf of traditional media companies. She negotiated the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against NBCUniversal, Blumhouse and others by a screenwriter who claimed the film "The Purge" infringed on his own work. Douglas Jordan-Benel v. Universal City Studios Inc. et al., 14-CV05577 (C.D. Cal., filed Feb. 27, 2015)

The defendants provided a trove of evidence showing creator James DeMonaco independently conceived of his idea for the film, Sager said, but that didn't stop the plaintiff from pursuing litigation for nearly another year. After nearly four years of litigation total, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the case in exchange for an agreement from Sager's clients to waive any right to recover fees from him.

"We showed that James DeMonaco had this idea for years before the plaintiff had ever written a word, that was repeated at every stage and we had thousands of pages of documents showing that," Sager said.

Sager's currently involved in a case headed for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals brought against the makers of the Oscar-winning film "The Shape of Water." The plaintiff in the case, a son of the acclaimed playwright Paul Zindel, claims the film ripped off his father's play "Let Me Hear You Whisper." Sager represents defendant MacMillan Publishers Ltd., the publisher of a book version of "The Shape of Water" released around the same time as the film. Zindel v. Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc., 18-cv-01435 (C.D. Cal., May 8, 2018)

Though bolstered by a lower court win in the case - with a federal judge dismissing the case - the stakes of the appeal are high, with the outcome potentially affecting how courts interpret substantial similarity. The plaintiff's legal team has even recruited former 9th Circuit Justice Alex Kosinski in their bid to reverse the dismissal.

"The case they rely on a lot is actually a decision he wrote," Sager said.