Robert A. Jacobs

Robert Jacobs is leader of Manatt’s entertainment litigation practice and handles complex copyright and other intellectual property disputes nationwide for some of the biggest names in entertainment.

Clients have included electronic music producer and DJ Marshmello; Cuban reggaeton band Gente De Zona; Roger Hodgson, former lead singer of the group Supertramp and music publisher and record label BMG Rights Management.

Jacobs recently served as lead counsel for BMG in a lawsuit filed last September by Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic and The Tiger King. Maldonado v. BMG Rights Management (US) LLC, 3:22-cv-18229-TKWZCB (N.D. Fla., filed Sept. 19, 2022).

The lawsuit asserts copyright infringement and other violations arising from BMG’s supposedly unauthorized use of six songs allegedly owned by Maldonado and featured in the hit Netflix series about him.

“[Tiger King] decided to file a lawsuit from prison challenging BMG’s rights in certain musical compositions he claims to have written,” Jacobs said. “The issues were very complex. This is a guy who’s in prison, I believe, in Colorado, filing suit in Florida; there was a question about whether he was actually a Florida resident, there was a question about whether he actually owned the rights, on and on.”

“We ended up getting a very speedy resolution,” he added. “We were able to get BMG out of it before having to file any papers whatsoever or participating in discovery of any kind.”

Jacobs secured a dismissal for BMG before its initial case filing deadline and prior to any discovery.

His practice also focuses heavily on the music industry, where massive changes in the way music is made and consumed in recent decades has affected copyright law. These days, the use of artificial intelligence is raising a host of ethical and legal questions.

Jacobs cited the AI-created song replicating Drake’s voice and style that hit the internet in April and went viral. The release of the song “Heart on My Sleeve” highlighted how copyright law will likely need to evolve in response to new technologies.

“People are paying a lot of attention to AI. It raises a host of issues, under copyright laws, but also under the rights of publicity many states recognize,” Jacobs said. “The issues we’re seeing now with AI show that there is bit of a gap between traditional copyright concepts and where technology is moving.”

—Jennifer Chung Klam