Fair Use: Narrative & Documentary Filmmaking

For over 20 years, James D. Pacitti, the founder, and the managing attorney has aggressively represented and assisted thousands of clients in entertainment, intellectual property, and business matters and in state and federal litigation. 

James D. Pacitti has been practicing law since graduating from Fordham University School of Law in New York City in 1995 and is licensed to practice in California, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. 

Born and raised in Philadelphia, James went to college at Northeastern University in Boston, graduating cum laude. After graduating from law school, James practiced in his hometown for three years prior to relocating to Florida where he headed a department in one of the largest litigation law firms in the country. In 2007, James relocated to California and started his own practice focused on entertainment law, business law, and litigation. 

James brings a broad base of experience that provides him with a unique perspective which he uses to help his clients avoid the many pitfalls awaiting in the often treacherous world of entertainment. In addition to practicing entertainment and transactional law, James has vast civil litigation experience and has tried dozens of cases during his career. With experience in both commercial transactions and the lawsuits that often follow, James is able to guide his clients to avoid those situations that will expose them to unnecessary liability and expenses.

Lou Petrich has been Senior Counsel at Ballard Spahr LLP in Los Angeles since August 2019. From 1966, he was an associate and then a partner at Leopold, Petrich & Smith, formerly Youngman, Hungate & Leopold. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and has litigated copyright infringement and related matters throughout the U.S. including arguing copyright issues to the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court in Stewart v. Abend, 495 U.S. 209 (1990) (the “Rear Window” case). He regularly vets movie, television and streaming projects and advises on “fair use”, chain of title, statutory termination and related matters.

Rami Yanni is an attorney with more than 25 years of experience advising multinational companies, emerging growth companies and individuals. His expertise comprises intellectual property transactions, licensing, portfolio strategy and management, enforcement and anti-piracy matters. He also has experience advising clients on consumer products licensing, entertainment transactions, content acquisition, licensing and distribution, FTC/consumer protection matters, multi-platform celebrity endorsement agreements, COPPA/CARU compliance and leading due diligence for mergers and acquisitions. Over the course of his career Rami has negotiated hundreds of license, distribution, purchase and sale agreements for clients from a wide range of industries, including motion picture, television, music, e-commerce, apparel, footwear, cosmetics, consumer electronics, food and beverage, software, video game, publishing, toys, theme park and sporting goods, and has represented major motion picture studios and television networks in copyright and trademark matters. 

Rami Yanni was previously Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at Saban Brands LLC, where he was responsible for transactional, intellectual property, enforcement, litigation, licensing, distribution, music, regulatory and compliance matters. Prior to that, Rami was Chair of the Trademark Practice Group at Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger and was previously a partner at McDermott Will & Emery. 

Rami has published numerous articles on U.S. intellectual property law in legal, trade and consumer publications. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at USC Gould School of Law and is often tapped to speak on intellectual property issues to various universities and professional organizations. Rami is a member of the International Trademark Association and sits on the Executive Committee of the Entertainment Law and Intellectual Property Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He also sits on the Board of Project Mexico & St. Innocent Orphanage, on the Advertising Complaint Review Panel of the Brewers Association, and on the Board of Guitars in the Classroom.

Mr. Lifschitz has spent his career specializing in copyright and\ entertainment law. While in law school, he earned the top grades in his class for both Copyright Law and International Copyright Law, was awarded the 2012 Paul Miller Scholarship from the Los Angeles Copyright Society, had his scholarship on intellectual property published in Loyola’s International and Comparative Law Review, and graduated with honors from Loyola’s Entertainment Law Concentration. In practice, he has litigated industry-leading cases on a variety of copyright law issues, including pre-1972 sound recordings, mechanical licenses, and anti bootlegging protections. He has also taken analytical lead on a number of class actions involving underpayment or non-payment of royalties to artists.