Kenneth M. Kaufman is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. His practice focuses on entertainment and media law, copyright, Internet law, content and music licensing, social media, sports law, and the evolving new technologies in the entertainment and computer fields.
He represents a wide range of clients including television networks, international media companies, music publishers, digital media and technology companies, photographers, television and video producers, media and technology investors, telecommunications companies, universities, foundations, new media entrepreneurs, Broadway theatre producers, social media websites, private equity firms, songwriters, recording artists, and authors.
Ken has extensive experience as both in-house and outside counsel in the entertainment and communications industries. Immediately prior to joining Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, he was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel of Showtime Networks Inc. in New York; as Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and General Counsel of PolyGram Records, Inc. in New York; and as General Counsel of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. In two of those positions, he was the first in-house attorney and organized the in-house legal department. In addition, for several years he served as a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School, teaching a course on entertainment, copyright and Internet law, and also served as Assistant Counsel of a U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee.
Ken is a frequent speaker and author on entertainment law, copyright and issues involving the convergence of the entertainment, communications and technology fields. He has chaired programs and spoken at industry conferences for the Practising Law Institute, the American Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, the Computer Law Association, the National Association of Broadcasters, the New York State Bar Association, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association, among others. He serves on the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries and on the Board of Directors of Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts. He is also a member of the Planning Committee for the annual Stanford E-Commerce Best Practices Conference, teaches an annual course on copyright law and litigation for the District of Columbia Bar, and chairs the Online Education Committee of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. (where he has also served as a Trustee).
Ken has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2013 in four categories (entertainment law-motion pictures and television, entertainment law-music, copyright, and litigation-intellectual property), and in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2012 (for media & entertainment), The Legal 500 United States 2009 (for entertainment law), Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers 2012(for intellectual property), and Washingtonian Magazine's Best Lawyers 2011. In addition, he was profiled by Legal Times as one of the leading intellectual property lawyers in the Washington, D.C. area.
Ken is a graduate of Harvard College (magna cum laude) and Yale Law School (where he was an Editor of the Yale Law Journal), and is admitted to practice in New York, California and the District of Columbia.