Bela G. Lugosi
Of Counsel

Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:
  213-629-7400
213-629-7408
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Mr. Lugosi practices in the areas of intellectual property, entertainment, licensing, and business law, including both transactions and litigation.

Mr. Lugosi's litigation experience includes jury and non-jury trials, as well as appeals, in both state and federal courts. He has served as lead or co-lead counsel in numerous cases tried to a verdict, including a successful four and one-half month jury trial in The Three Stooges case entitled DeRita v. Scott. Mr. Lugosi is a past chairman of the Trial Lawyers and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Mr. Lugosi's transactional and other non-litigation experience in the entertainment field includes negotiating and drafting a wide range of agreements and legal instruments, such as, for example, contracts and licenses for the exploitation of intellectual property rights; motion picture, television, animation and merchandising contracts; trademark and copyright assignments; and publishing contracts.

As an entertainment executive, Mr. Lugosi negotiated licensing transactions and managed litigation relating to The Three Stooges' rights of publicity, both as licensor and as third party representative. His responsibilities and activities covered a wide variety of areas within the entertainment industry, including a theatrical motion picture, a television movie, a television special, direct to video films, a syndicated television series, a fan club, a convention, a mall-based retail store, book publications, look-alikes, a branded beer, a mail order catalog business and fulfillment center, and an e-commerce web site.

In 2004, Mr. Lugosi was appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors as an Alternate Member of the Assessment Appeals Board.  Recently, Los Angeles Magazine selected Mr. Lugosi as a 2005 Southern California Super Lawyer. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

Areas of Practice:
    Business Litigation
    Corporate Transactions
    Intellectual Property Law

Bar Admissions:
    California
    U.S. District Court for the Central, Southern
        and Eastern Districts of California
    Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
    United States Supreme Court

Education:
    Juris Doctorate/LL.B
    
University of Southern California

    Bachelor of Science
    University of Southern California

Affiliations:
    Los Angeles County Bar Association
       Sections: Intellectual
       Property, Environmental
       Law and Taxation (Member, State and
       Local Taxation Committee)
   California State Bar Association
       Intellectual Property Section
   Association of Business Trial Lawyers
   Beverly Hills Bar Association
       Sections: Entertainment Law, Litigation,
       Intellectual Property, Internet and
       New Media (Member, Executive
       Committee)
   Chancery Club
   Million Dollar Advocates Forum

Business Experience:
   Lugosi Enterprises - President (1963-Present)
       Licensing and enforcing the rights of
       publicity of Bela Lugosi.
    C3 Entertainment, Inc. - Director and
       Executive Vice President, Corporate
       Acquisitions & Development
       (1995-Aug 1999)  

Articles:
    The Commercial Value Of Rights Of
       Publicity: A Picture Is Sometimes
       Worth A Million Dollars,
ABA
       Entertainment and Sports Lawyer
       (Spring 2005) (co-authored with
       Robert C. O'Brien)
    United States Right of Publicity Law,
        Legalinterview, The Newsletter of the
        Euro-American Lawyers Group, Issue 11
        (October 2004)
    California Statutory Right of Publicity For
    Deceased Celebrities And The First
    Amendment,
        Study Materials, Legal Problems of
        Museum Administration, Smithsonian
        Institution/ALI-ABA (March 2002)
   
California Expands The Statutory Right of
    Publicity For Deceased Celebrities While Its
    Courts Are Examining The First
    Amendment Limitations Of That Statute,
        De Paul University College Of Law,
        Journal of Art and Entertainment Law,
        Volume X, No. 2, p. 259 (Spring 2000)
     Life After Death,
 
       (co- authored with Caroline H. Mankey)
         (April 1999)
     Misappropriation of Licensing and
     Merchandising Rights of Celebrities

        Syllabus for Consumer Attorneys
        Association of Los Angeles,
        Annual Las Vegas Convention
        (September 1998)
   
 
    Licensing Guidelines, La Fluers’s
        Lottery World Magazine (April 1998)

Speaking Engagements:
   Euro American Lawyers Group
      California Right of Publicity Law

      (Los Angeles, CA - June 2004)
   J. Reuben Clark Law Society
      Celebrity Right of Publicity Law

       (Kirkland & Elllis, Los Angeles, CA
       May 2004)
   Whittier Law School
      Right of Publicity - Pushing the First Amendment Frontier
       (Costa Mesa, CA, February, 2004)
   California State Bar, I.P. Section
      
The PTO Come to California
       (San Francisco, CA, April 2003)
   Smithsonian Instituion/ALI-ABA Program
      Legal Problems of Museum Adminstration

       (March, 2002)
   Phi Beta Kappa, So. Cal. Alumni Assn
   John Marshall School of Law
 
       (Chicago, IL, March, 1999; Oct. 2001)
  The Federalist Society Conference
      Free Speech, Right of Publicity and
      Property Rights in Private Information
  Whittier Law School - Summer Session     
 
      (Costa Mesa, CA - June, 2000 )
   DePaul School of Law
       (Chicago, Illinois - March, 2000)
    American Association of Law Schools
       (Washington, D.C., January, 2000)
    ABA, Litigation Section, Committee on
    Corporate Counsel
        (Century City, CA - November, 1999)
    Los Angeles County Bar, Intell. Prop. Section
        (October, 1999)
    Beverly Hills Bar Association,
    Entertainment Law Section
        (July, 1999)
    Promotion Marketing Association (PMA) -
    Star Law Day
        (Universal City, California - May, 1999)
    Consumer Attorneys Association of
    Los Angeles - 16th Annual Las Vegas
    Convention
       (September, 1998)
     Los Angeles Estate Planning Council
       ( May, 1998)

Published Decisions:
   Comedy III Prods., Inc. v. Saderup,  
      
25 Cal.4th 387 (2001)
   Wasyl, Inc. v. First Boston Corp.,
        813 F.2d 1579 (9th Cir. 1987)
    Myers v. Mobil Oil Corp.,
        172 Cal. App. 3d 1059 (1985)
    
Tenneco West, Inc. v. Marathon Oil Co.,
        564 F. Supp. 318 (D.C. Mid 1983)
    S. Jon Kreedman & Co. v. Meyers Bros.
        Parking-Western Corp.
,
        58 Cal. App. 3d 173 (1976)
    No Oil, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles,
        13 Cal. 3d 486 (1975)
    No Oil, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles,
        13 Cal. 3d 68 (1974)
    
Union Pacific R.R. Co. v. City of Long Beach,
        24 Cal. App. 3d 594 (1972)
    Department of Agriculture v. Tide Oil Co.,
        269 Cal. App. 2d 145 (1969)