Joe Bogdan

Joe Bogdan is an experienced executive and lawyer who for more than twenty years has been at the forefront of developments in intellectual property and the businesses that rely upon it. A seasoned intellectual property, corporate and commercial transactions attorney experienced in a range of roles, business sizes and leverage balances, who knows how to catalyze, and then close, complex and mission-critical transactions.

He strives to address the legal needs of entrepreneurial clients, both individual and corporate, and both large and small, by providing the maximum value for the fewest dollars, and he is committed to providing legal services and achieving results that are both fairly priced and exceed clients’ expectations.

Joe provides comprehensive intellectual property law services, including: trademark and copyright prosecution; trade secret protection; patent, trademark and copyright licensing; intellectual property counseling; and internal intellectual property audits and external intellectual property due diligence.

He also provides a broad array of legal services under the “corporate” banner, including everything from the formation and periodic maintenance of closely held businesses to sophisticated merger and acquisition activity for publicly traded companies and other related transactions (e.g., shareholder agreements, employment contracts, and office and equipment leases).

Joe also represents companies of all sizes with information technology and software legal advice and services, including representing and advising both software vendors and other IT, internet and cloud service providers and the users of their products and services in a wide variety of contractual and intellectual property matters.

With extensive experience in the live events, music, motion picture/television, publishing, consumer products and video game industries, Joe also provides a unique depth of insight into legal matters relating to entertainment and media. Finally, Joe handles all facets of civil litigation in state and federal courts, as well as arbitrations, for both plaintiffs and defendants.

EDUCATION:

• University of Southern California, J.D.
• University of Southern California, M.A. in Communications Management
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.A. in English Literature

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

• Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
• World Wrestling Entertainment ,Inc. (Sr. VP Legal and Business Affairs)
• Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP (formerly Gardner, Carton & Douglas, LLP)

BAR ADMISSION : Illinois

MEMBERSHIPS:

• Chicago Bar Association
• Association of Media & Entertainment Counsel
• Association of Corporate Counsel

Representative Experience & Transactions:

• Representing one of the highest-selling musical acts of all time regarding the rights issues raised by the live webcast of their concerts.
• Leading an aggressive, 18 month intellectual property acquisition strategy for a NASDAQ company.
• Representing an American multinational publicly held technology corporation headquartered in New York, as a part of a team responsible for managing an acquisition strategy targeted towards acquiring a variety of assets with an aggregate value of $2 billion over a period of two years.
• Representing a leading, global consulting firm with respect to both its marketing activities and its corporate events.
• Representing the leader in entertainment industry merchandising with respect to nationwide temporary restraining/seizure orders relating to counterfeit goods infringing trademarks.