Fred von Lohmann

Fred von Lohmann is a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in intellectual property matters. In that role, he has represented programmers, technology innovators, and individuals in a variety of copyright and trademark litigation, including MGM v. Grokster, decided by the Supreme Court in 2005. He is also involved in EFF's efforts to educate policy-makers regarding the proper balance between intellectual property protection and the public interest in fair use, free expression, and innovation. Before joining EFF, Fred was a visiting researcher with the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology and an associate with the international law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, ABC's Good Morning America, and Fox News O'Reilly Factor and has been widely quoted in a variety of national publications. Fred has an A.B. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Extended Bio

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Fred von Lohmann is a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in intellectual property matters. In that role, he has represented programmers, technology innovators, and individuals in a variety of copyright and trademark litigation, including MGM v. Grokster, decided by the Supreme Court in 2005. He is also involved in EFF's efforts to educate policy-makers regarding the proper balance between intellectual property protection and the public interest in fair use, free expression, and innovation.

In 2008, Fred was named one of the 50 leading intellectual property lawyers in California by the Daily Journal, a leading legal newspaper, which also honored him as among the 100 most influential lawyers in California from 2004-07. He has also been recognized as a Northern California "SuperLawyer" for 2008 and received a 2003 CLAY (California Lawyer of the Year) award from California Lawyer magazine. He has appeared on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, CNBC, ABC's Good Morning America, Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, C-SPAN, and TechTV's ScreenSavers and has been widely quoted in a variety of publications, including in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Billboard, US News & World Report, CNET News, Wired News, TIME magazine and a number of leading legal newspapers. His opinion pieces have appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and San Jose Mercury News.

The EFF matters in which he is involved include:

• You Bought It, You Own It: going to court to stop the use of "label licenses" to undermine the first sale doctrine in both patent and copyright contexts involving printer cartridges, promo CDs, or patented semiconductors.
• Protecting Fair Use in User-Generated Content: representing individuals whose online free expression has been targeted for censorship by bogus "takedown" notices and working with content owners like Viacom and service providers like YouTube to develop best practices that protect fair use.
• File-Sharing Lawsuits: assisting and filing briefs on behalf of music fans in the recording industry's national litigation campaign against file-sharers, including briefs addressing the misguided "making available" theory being pressed by recording industry lawyers against unrepresented defendants.

Before joining EFF, Fred was a visiting researcher with the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, where his research focused on the impact of peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies on the future of copyright. Prior to his research fellowship, Fred was an attorney with the international law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP, concentrating on transactions and counseling involving the Internet and intellectual property.

Fred also served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Thelton Henderson, of the US District Court for Northern California, and Judge Betty B. Fletcher, of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford University.

He serves as an advisor to the American Law Institute's (ALI) Principles of the Law of Software Contracts project. He also serves on the board of directors for The Tor Project, as well as on the advisory boards of Public Knowledge and the Future of Music Coalition.

Fred posts frequently to EFF's Deep Links blog. For the story of his "conversion moment" leading to his involvement with EFF issues, read his EFF15 Blog-a-thon post.

His recent EFF publications include:

• Motion for Summary Judgment in Universal Music v. Augusto
• EFF Amicus Curiae Brief in Atlantic v. Howell.
• EFF Amicus Curiae Brief in Quanta v. LG Electronics.
• EFF Amicus Curiae Brief in Perfect 10 v. Google
• YouTube's Balancing Act: Making Money, Not Enemies, The Hollywood Reporter Esq., July 10, 2006.
• EFF Amicus Curiae Brief in Fonovisa v. Alvarez.
• Death by DMCA (with Wendy Seltzer), IEEE Spectrum Magazine, June 2006.
• EFF Amicus Curiae Brief in Elektra v. Barker.
• DMCA Triennial Rulemaking: Failing Digital Consumers and EFF's reply comments to the Copyright Office in the 2006 triennial rulemaking.
• Could Future Subpoenas Tie You to 'Britney Spears Nude'?, Law.com, Feb. 6, 2006.
• How Hollywood Has Been Trying to Disrupt Disruptive Innovation, Great Minds, Great Ideas Project, EE Times.
• Letter to Warner/Chappell regarding pearLyrics software that annotates iTunes tracks with song lyrics.
• EFF Amicus Curiae Brief in StorageTek v. Custom Hardware.
• Sony-BMG's Copy- Protection Quagmire, Law.com, Dec. 19, 2005.
• Remedying Grokster, Law.com, July 25, 2005.
• Publius, RIP?, Law.com, Feb. 22, 2005.
• Measuring the DMCA Against the Darknet: Implications for the Regulation of Technological Protection Measures, 24 Loyola Entertainment Law Review 635 (2004)
• Is Suing Your Customers a Good Idea?, Law.com, Sept. 29, 2004.
• Tech Dodges a Bullet, Law.com, Aug. 27, 2004.
• Letter to attorney for Ludlow Music regarding JibJab's "This Land" animated political parody.
• EFF Comments and Reply Comments to the FCC regarding the proposed broadcast flag for digital radio.
• Ninth Circuit brief and oral argument in MGM v. Grokster.
• EFF Amicus Curaie Brief in ACRA v. Lexmark
• EFF Amicus Curaie Brief in 1-800 Contacts v. WhenU
• Betamax Was a Steppingstone, San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 25, 2004.
• Amnesty for Music File Sharing is a Sham, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 10, 2003.
• Consumer Success: It Comes Down to Innovation, EE Times, April 2003.
• EFF Comments and Reply Comments to the FCC regarding "Cable-CE Plug & Play" agreement.
• Digital Rights Management: A Skeptic's View
• EFF comments to U.S. Copyright Office re DMCA 1201 Rule-Making
• EFF comments, reply comments, and further comments to the FCC re Broadcast Flag mandate for digital television devices.
• J.K. Harris v. Kassel, Motion of Amicus Curiae EFF in Support of Reconsideration
• ReplayTV: Get Ready for the Next Big Copyright Battle (from California Lawyer Magazine, June 2002)
• The BPDG Final Report: That Which We Call the CBDTPA, by Any Name Would Smell as Foul (PDF)
• Unintended Consequences: Four Years Under the DMCA
• Fair Use and Digital Rights Management: Preliminary Thoughts on the (Irreconcilable?) Tension between Them
• EFF Comments to U.S. Copyright Office re Record-Keeping Requirements for Webcasters (PDF)
• EFF Amicus Curaie Brief in Kelly v. Arriba Soft
• IAAL: What Peer-to-Peer Developers Need to Know about Copyright Law

Contact:

Fred von Lohmann
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
fred@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x123