Todd Lander

Todd Lander is an intellectual property and complex business litigator.  Mr. Lander is licensed in California, Washington and British Columbia, and has a wide array of trial and appellate experience in trademark and copyright disputes, entertainment matters, real estate and commercial litigation, securities related litigation, and labor/employment and probate issues.  Among other things, he has handled jury and bench trials in both the state and federal courts, and has arbitrated many disputes before numerous tribunals, including the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appellate Board, the NASD (now FINRA) and the Independent Film and Television Alliance.  Mr. Lander also has shepherded numerous matters before the California and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal, resulting in three published opinions.

Prior to coming to Ezra, Brutzkus &  Gubner, Mr. Lander was with, among others, Freeman, Freeman & Smiley in Los Angeles.

Education

  • Whittier Law School
    Juris Doctor received 1994, cum laude
    • Dean's Merit Award Scholarship (given to top 10% of first year class)
    • Law Review
    • American Jurisprudence Award
    • Honor Roll, Dean's List.
  • University of British Columbia
    Bachelor of Arts, Political Science received 1990

Representative matters:

  • Handled major trademark related dispute concerning rights to a mark in the direct marketing industry. The dispute specifically involved competing applications for the same mark to the USPTO and, by extension, questions regarding the priority of use of the mark in connection with pre-sale activities by the user of a mark. The case was ultimately settled on very favorable terms for the client.
  • Arbitrated companion cases concerning the foreign distribution rights of an American motion picture and, specifically, the shifting of the risk of loss where the picture was not released in the United States in a timely manner.
  • Defended complex copyright infringement dispute involving previously un-decided issues concerning the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the extent to which a foreign-based copyright owner must establish appropriate chain of title, and whether, and under what circumstances, the foreign owner is entitled to the presumption of validity of its copyright.
  • Took case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, involving the efficacy of California's 2003 arbitration disclosure requirements to self-regulating organizations such as the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers. The case implicated sophisticated issues of federal preemption, particularly concerning the application of the 1975 revisions to the Securities and Exchange Act, and generated significant media attention.
  • Handled case of first impression before the California Court of Appeal concerning the application of the Uniform Principal and Income Act. The Act prescribes the manner in which trustees are to allocate distributions received from corporations. Case was of particular importance because it coincided with the issuance of Microsoft’s first ever dividend, and the adjudication of the dispute directly affected the distribution of the proceeds of that dividend by California trusts.
  • Represented trustees of trust in dispute involving the management and allocation of a multi-million gift made to the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace. The gift was conditional and imposed a specific mechanism for distributing the funds to the Library. That mechanism led to conflict between competing camps of the Library's leadership and within the Nixon family, and resulted in litigation in both California and Florida.