Pizzi Moderates NYSBA Panel on Online Piracy, with Disney and Major League Baseball Representatives Presenting

 

Roseland, NJ, May 4, 2009 — Connell Foley partner Peter J. Pizzi moderated a panel on “Strategies for Protecting Sports, Music and Publication Content on the Internet, Litigating against Domestic and Foreign Content Pirates,” at the Spring Meeting of the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial and Federal Litigation section on May 1-4, 2009. Given the venue of the meeting at The Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, NY, all of the continuing legal education panels for the weekend had a sports theme. 

 

Mr. Pizzi’s Online Piracy panel included Michael J. Mellis, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Major League Baseball’s media unit, MLB Advanced Media, L.P.  Mr. Mellis described the explosion of online piracy of live video content of sporting events.  Lance R. Griffin, Executive Counsel of The Walt Disney Company, addressed the technological measures that may be implemented to create obstacles to online piracy.  John Curran, Esq., with the consulting firm Stroz Friedberg, discussed technological techniques used to track down perpetrators of online piracy. Joseph Demarco, a New York lawyer and former federal prosecutor, spoke about Elsevier Inc.’s success in stopping a Vietnam-based ring engaging in counterfeiting and distributing online medical textbooks and journals.

 

Mr. Pizzi is a member of the firm’s Business Litigation and Internet and Information Technology practice groups. He is on the Executive Committee of the NYSBA’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and Co-Chair of the Section’s Internet and Litigation Committee. He also serves as Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Internet and Computer Law Committee.

 

For more information, please contact Mr. Pizzi at (973) 535-0500 or ppizzi@connellfoley.com.