Kelly M. Klaus

Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP

Los Angeles, San Francisco

Copyright litigation

In a golden age of digital piracy, top Hollywood studios consistently put Klaus in command of their efforts to make the infringement schemes sink.

Klaus, a go-to litigator for industry leaders, has won major legal campaigns on behalf of companies like The Walt Disney Co. and FX Networks LLC in some of the most recently significant and cutting-edge copyright and IP matters.

Klaus was lead plaintiff counsel in a case brought by Disney and a group of top studios against VidAngel Inc., a company offering streaming content that had marketed itself primarily as a family-friendly filtering service.

But Klaus convinced U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. of Los Angeles in the first portion of a bifurcated trial that the method VidAngel used to offer newly released films from Disney and others for as low as $1, which required the purchase of physical DVDs and questionably legal decryption software, violated the plaintiffs' copyrights hundreds of times.

The damages portion of trial followed in June 2019, in which counsel for VidAngel argued the company had believed its services were entirely legal under the Family Home Movie Act of 2005.

Klaus argued the piracy was willful, pointing to numerous attempts by Disney and other companies to interact with VidAngel's owners and notify them of the copyright violations.

A federal jury ruled in July for Disney and other media companies, awarding the company $62.4 million in damages. Disney Enterprises LLC et al. v. VidAngel Inc., 16-CV064109 (C.D. Cal., filed June 9, 2016)

Most importantly, Klaus said, the case confirmed the laws' protections for the rights of copyright owners against unauthorized copying and streaming of their works.

"We were very pleased with the result," Klaus said.

Klaus also represented Disney as plaintiff against Redbox Automated Retail LLC in a precedent-setting case, which marked the first time a California court ruled that unauthorized resale of digital movie redemption codes is copyright infringement.

In August 2018, a Central District of California judge issued an injunction, concluding that Disney and its related studios would succeed on claims that Redbox knowingly contributed to its code customers' infringement of copyrights.

His recent high-profile wins go beyond the realm of infringement, most notably with a successful defense on behalf of FX Networks in a case brought by centenarian actress Olivia de Havilland.

De Havilland claimed she was owed compensation for FX's use of her likeness in a fictionalized drama. In March 2018, a 2nd District Court of Appeal panel ruled the depiction of de Havilland was protected under the First Amendment.

Klaus said that while "he has great respect for Miss de Havilland and her remarkable career," the decision in the case was important for the First Amendment.

"The events portrayed in Feud are matters of enduring public interest. Where a person has played an actual role in history, it is important that docudramatists have the ability to create their works," Klaus said.

-- Steven Crighton