Jenner & Block Partners Susan Kohlmann and Jake Tracer were recognized as 2023 Intellectual Property Trailblazers by the National Law Journal, which recognizes professionals who are agents of change in their designated practice areas.
Susan’s profile highlights her success securing a precedential Eleventh Circuit Opinion that upheld her previous trial court victory in a trademark dispute over the reality show “MTV Floribama Shore.” The judge in this case granted summary judgement to Viacom CBS, dismissing the case in full, writing that their First Amendment right to title its expressive work “MTV Floribama Shore” outweighed the plaintiffs’ rights under the Lanham Act. The ruling was unanimously upheld by the appeals court.
Following this work, Susan authored an amicus brief on behalf of the Motion Picture Association, Inc. to uphold Rogers and the decisions of the circuits that have upheld the Rogers First Amendment defense. The brief provided the unique perspective of content creators who regularly rely upon Rogers to create works and advocated that the First Amendment should afford adequate breathing room for artistic expression.
Jake’s profile highlights his former career as a journalist, where he learned many skills that translated into being an effective litigator and where he developed a profound respect for the work that goes into creating content, along with the importance of supporting systems that provide compensation for that work. When Jake became a lawyer, he set out to provide creators with the legal and financial protections they need. Jake has helped fight online music piracy, which depresses the value of the music that enriches our lives makes it harder for emerging recording artists break through.
As for the future, Jake writes, “While AI systems can themselves be engines of creativity, some of those systems do so by usurping the value of the work artists do to express themselves and enrich the public. Those artists should have the right to control whether their work is commercially exploited in such a manner and on what terms, and I am excited to work on these issues.”
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