David R. Singer

As the co-chair of Jenner & Block's content, media and entertainment practice, David Singer handles many copyright infringement cases. They are "a staple of my work," he said.

Since the "Peak TV" boom in television and films content, he has defended many film studios and networks against infringement cases. For example, in September he won the dismissal of a somewhat unusual lawsuit by a woman who claimed her memoir was the source for the character Cookie on "Empire."

Singer said the show's creators did not copy from her book. But he got rid of the case by citing precedent holding "that one's life story ... is not copyrightable, it is a fact. And facts are not copyrightable." Eggleston v. Twentieth Century Fox Corp., 2:21-cv-11171 (E.D. Mich., filed May 20, 2021).

In addition to copyright matters, he also handles trade secrets, First Amendment, right of publicity and especially antitrust cases.

In a different vein, he represents Apple in cases claiming it should be liable for some allegedly damaging content posted on the social media and messaging apps it sells on its App Store. He defends in part by citing Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, which declares social media sites aren't responsible for content posted by third parties.

Most cases generally are "a function of plaintiffs going after the wrong defendants," Singer said. But in the App Store cases, "you sort of have a Section 230 claim within a Section 230 claim."

In one such case last June, he won the dismissal of a suit by minors who claimed they were sexually exploited by predators who groomed them on Snapchat. L.W. v. Snap Inc., 3:22-cv-00619, (S.D. Cal., filed May 2, 2022).

On April 29, Singer and co-counsel won the dismissal without leave to amend of a somewhat different case accusing Apple and many social media companies of suppressing conservative speech. Jackson v. Twitter, Inc., 2:22-cv-09438 (C.D. Cal., filed Dec 29, 2022).

"These sorts of claims we see getting brought from plaintiffs on both sides of the political spectrum," he noted.

Lately, of course, clients have asked him to advise them about copyright issues and artificial intelligence. Most aren't opposed to AI, he said. "It's just content owners making sure that just because there's a new technology doesn't mean that existing intellectual property rights can be bulldozed."

He also is advising a sports betting technology company about "micro bets" and whether IP rights can protect statistics from games in progress. "When you start layering in the world of sports betting and all of the commerce and money that goes along with it, it's like injecting adrenaline into this IP issue," Singer said.

-- Don DeBenedictis