As John Genga describes it, specializing in copyright cases happened by pure accident. While working for a mid-size firm in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, Genga had some free time after reaching a settlement on another matter and was given a copyright case by the head of the firm’s litigation department despite not having any experience handling such cases. He prepared himself by spending a week reading up on copyright law. “I was the copyright guy at the firm after that,” Genga said. “I did many, many copyright cases.” In the most well-known case in which Genga took part, game show hostess Vanna White sued Samsung Electronics America for unauthorized use of her image in an ad. The case set law allowing celebrities to manage their persona and image for personal gain. Genga also successfully defeated a $100 million claim that the movie “Die Hard” had infringed a movie that the plaintiff had done; and represented Sony in its copyright fight with MGM over the James Bond character that resulted in Sony receiving a $15 million settlement. Now the name partner of Genga & Associates in Sherman Oaks, Genga continues to represent entertainment and media clients in copyright and contractual disputes. Louis Meisinger, the attorney who gave Genga his first copyright case, said he’s always had a high regard for Genga’s intellect and legal skills. “I didn’t distinguish between copyright cases or any other type of case,” said Meisinger, who now works in the Century City office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. “I went to John because I thought he would be a valuable member of the team.” Meisinger thought enough of Genga’s legal skills that when Meisinger was general counsel for The Walt Disney Co., Genga was used as an outside counsel. “He’s an honest evaluator and tells clients what they need to be told and not simply what they would like to hear,” Meisinger said. “Those are important attributes when choosing a lawyer.” Genga’s practice also includes handling other intellectual property such as trademarks and domain names. He estimates recovering thousands of domain names for clients over the past several years. It’s an area open to smaller firms because the large firms find it highly specialized and not high margin enough, Genga said, adding that it’s a service he offers clients because of its success rate that can then lead to other legal work. “We have a very active enforcement program,” Genga said. “We recover the domain names using a procedure specifically set up for this purpose.” Genga decided on pursuing a legal career while still an undergrad at Stanford, although admitting that at the time he had only a vague notion of what lawyers did. But he did have a general sense that being a lawyer would be challenging and never dull. He finds that to still be true. “I’m constantly doing new things, getting more expert in the new areas of the law and learning more about the Internet than I ever wanted to know,” Genga said. Mark R. Madler
