The powerhouse boutique New York firm Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, PC remains a leader in the marketplace, advising major multinationals across such sectors as music, publishing, video games, sports, and retail on high-stakes copyright prosecution and litigation. Jonathan King heads the practice, representing key music recording and publishing clients, such as Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music and Atlantic Records. Seasoned litigator Richard Mandel brings over three decades of experience in the practice space to the team. Publishing sector expert Richard Dannay acts for Penguin Random House and other major market players, on high-stakes infringement cases and issues of fair use. Counsel Thomas Kjellberg specializes in the field of copyright licensing and enforcement. Eric Shimanoff, a veteran copyright lawyer with extensive experience at the federal and state levels, handles matters concerning web sites, social media, and NFTs. Joel Karni Schmidt provides key support on clearance, registration, and enforcement matters for a wide-ranging base of clients, which spans the video games, media, and retail sectors. Joelle Milov was promoted to partner in January 2023. Maria A. Scungio joined from Robinson & Cole LLP in February 2023. All the lawyers mentioned work in New York.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The team is very responsive and creative, and will always go the extra mile so the client will be happy.’

Key clients

  • Atlantic Recording Corporation
  • Dover Publications Inc.
  • Eli Lilly
  • Hanky Panky Ltd.
  • HarperColllins
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
  • House of Skye LLC
  • Magic School Bus authors
  • Materialize N.V.
  • McGraw Hill Education
  • Norman Rockwell Family Agency
  • Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc.
  • Penguin Random House
  • Practising Law Institute
  • Rick Riordan
  • Rosen Publishing Group Inc.
  • Sony Music Entertainment
  • Sotheby’s
  • Star of Hope
  • Teachers College Press, Columbia University
  • The First Church of Christ, Scientist
  • The Forward Fund, Inc.
  • The Promotion in Motion Companies, Inc.
  • Trebco Specialty Products (WUBBANUB)
  • Universal Music Group
  • Warner Music Group
  • Writers House

Work highlights

  • Representing Universal Music Group and other music publishers in an action that alleges a “systematic and widespread infringement“ of copyrighted song lyrics by the artificial intelligence company Anthropic through its available AI chatbot Claude.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Jonathan King

Other key lawyers

Thomas Kjellberg, Richard Mandel, Richard Dannay, Eric Shimanoff, Joel Karni Schmidt, Joelle Milov