Professional Experience

Mr. Kaufman’s practice focuses on entertainment and media law, copyright, Internet law, content and music licensing, e-commerce and the evolving new technologies in the entertainment and computer fields.

Mr. Kaufman represents a wide range of clients in the entertainment, computer, online, sports and communications industries, including television networks, computer and Internet technology companies, media and technology investors, private equity firms, television and video producers, website operators, telecommunication companies, new media entrepreneurs, music publishers, recording artists and authors.

Mr. Kaufman has extensive experience as both in-house and outside counsel in the entertainment and communications industries.  Immediately prior to joining the firm, Mr. Kaufman was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.  Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel of Showtime/The Movie Channel Inc. (now known as Showtime Networks Inc.); as Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and General Counsel of PolyGram Records, Inc.; and as General Counsel of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  In two of those positions, he was the first in-house attorney and organized the in-house legal department.  He also served as assistant counsel of a U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee and as law clerk to Judge Warren J. Ferguson of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Mr. Kaufman is a frequent speaker and author on entertainment law, intellectual property and issues involving the convergence of the entertainment, communications and computer industries.  He has chaired programs and spoken at industry conferences for the Practising Law Institute, the Computer Law Association, the National Association of Broadcasters, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the District of Columbia Bar, among others.  He also served as a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School, teaching a course on copyright, entertainment and Internet law.  Mr. Kaufman has been profiled by Legal Times as one of the leading intellectual property lawyers in the Washington, D.C. area.  He was also selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (for intellectual property and media & entertainment) and in The Best Lawyers in America (for entertainment law and intellectual property law).