Kelly M. Klaus

Copyright piracy is a major threat to Hollywood, and Kelly M. Klaus, a Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP partner who’s been at the firm for 25 years, is in the thick of the fray repelling pirates for leading entertainment companies such as The Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Netflix, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, the Motion Picture Association and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.

“Almost from the beginning, copyright is what I’ve done,” Klaus said. He credits the inspiration of his Stanford Law School Professor Paul Goldstein, an international expert on intellectual property law, for shaping his career. “I continue to tell him how grateful I am,” Klaus said.

In one case, he laughs, he’s actually on the pirates’ side— that would be Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Klaus is defending Disney against infringement claims by plaintiffs who allege the film incorporates basic elements of a screenplay that Disney declined to purchase. Alfred et al. v. The Walt Disney Co., 2:18-cv-08074 (C.D. Cal., filed Sept. 18, 2018).

Klaus obtained a dismissal, but in December 2021, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded the case for further factual development. “We’re back in active litigation,” Klaus said.

Additionally, he serves as lead counsel for ACE, a global consortium of 31 studios and networks, in a massive copyright infringement and breach of contract lawsuit against an individual who runs three infringing subscription streaming platforms. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. et al. v. Tusa et al., 2:21-cv-05456 (C.D. Cal., filed July 6, 2021).

Defendant Jason Tusa had previously settled with ACE and signed an agreement to stop operating services such as Singularity Media, Digital Unicorn Media and Altered Carbon—but he breached the agreement and resumed infringing. In late 2021, the court granted a default judgment with a permanent injunction.

“The other side didn’t show up,” Klaus said. “Now, with the judgment, he appears to have stopped. The court order worked.”

The cycle of infringers defying lawsuits and eventually facing court judgments is very familiar to Klaus’ experienced eye. “After 20 years of anti-piracy litigation dating from the Napster era, this is still a significant part of my practice,” he said.

The infringers have updated themselves for the streaming era. The ACE suit against Tusa is a good example. “Users can get unlimited movies and TV shows, and they remain a significant threat. It’s hard to compete with free or a small fee. Legitimate streaming services are the way the system is supposed to work, because the copyright owner gets paid for the work. Fortunately, that side of things is doing well and growing.”

– John Roemer