Biography
Mr. Iser specializes in the areas of intellectual property, entertainment, music, real estate, commercial and employment litigation. He has handled significant, high profile cases for clients including Mattel, Inc., Yahoo! Inc., eBay, Inc., Roland Corporation, Watt Industries, and The Beatles. Mr. Iser is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, and was recently included in “Who’s Who in Entertainment IP” by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
In the area of intellectual property, Mr. Iser has undertaken transactional and litigation matters concerning copyrights and trademarks, patents, unfair competition, the right of publicity, defamation and contract matters involving the licensing of intellectual property rights. He served as lead counsel for Mattel, Inc. in the successful defense of a lawsuit in which the plaintiff, an animation company, alleged that Mattel breached a so-called “implied contract” to compensate the animation company in the event that Mattel utilized certain ideas from a proposed cartoon series. Mr. Iser serves as United States copyright counsel for Roland Corporation, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of electronic musical instruments. Mr. Iser was lead counsel in a case of first impression which established the validity of Roland's copyrights in sound recordings contained in various Roland musical instruments. Mr. Iser is a guest lecturer at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Business Management on the topics of intellectual property, copyrights and trademarks.
Mr. Iser has represented numerous artists and entities in a variety of matters involving the music business, including Yahoo! Music, StubHub!, Univision Music, ICM, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Wiggles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, Axl Rose, The Estate of Janis Joplin, The Bankruptcy Estate of M.C. Hammer, Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, Wixen Music Publishing, Spectrasonics, Maverick Records, and Fat Possum Records.
In the areas of motion pictures and television, Mr. Iser has advised and litigated cases on behalf of actors, directors, producers, distributors, personal managers, talent agents, television networks and motion picture studios. He represented the Fox Network in the successful defense of a lawsuit claiming that the reality television show “Boot Camp” infringed the copyright in the television show “Survivor.” He successfully defended the former personal manager of comedienne Roseanne, who claimed that the manager had acted as an unlicensed talent agent, obtaining a precedent-setting ruling for the manager, resulting in a widely-cited written opinion.
Mr. Iser has served for the past 20 years as outside litigation counsel for real estate developer The Watt Companies. On behalf of Watt and other real estate clients, he has advised and litigated disputes involving breach of contract, fraud, specific performance, broker’s commissions, landlord-tenant, construction defects and partnership disputes. Recent matters include the successful defense of a winery against a class action lawsuit concerning underlying water rights, and the successful defense of a popular public golf course against a landlord’s efforts to close the golf course in order to build condominiums.
Mr. Iser regularly represents clients in commercial and employment matters involving breach of contract, wrongful termination and sexual harassment, products liability, insurance coverage, bad faith and subrogation, securities fraud, partnership disputes and dissolution, and commercial torts. His clients have included manufacturers, importers, lending institutions, law firms, accounting firms, oil and gas companies, airlines and numerous entrepreneurially oriented companies. In one nationally publicized case, Mr. Iser obtained summary judgment in favor of Mattel, Inc. obtaining dismissal of a financial "whistleblowing" charge brought by a former Senior Vice President.
Mr. Iser is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A. 1976) and the University of California, Hastings College of Law (J.D. 1980). He is the President of the Board of the non-profit Reprise Theatre Company, and is a member of El Caballero Country Club.
Press, Awards & Publications
- Dale Kinsella, Howard Weitzman and Larry Iser were honored in the 2009 edition of "Southern California's Best Lawyers."
- Dale Kinsella, Howard Weitzman and Larry Iser named "Best Lawyers in America" for 2009.
- Larry Iser presented a lecture for the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC.
- Dale Kinsella, Howard Weitzman and Larry Iser named "Best Lawyers in America" for 2008.
- Dale Kinsella, Larry Iser, Howard Weitzman and Michael Kump were named "Super Lawyers" by Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine, a supplement of Los Angeles Magazine.
- Larry Iser and Chad Fitzgerald wrote an article that appears in the November issue of Intellectual Property Today.
- Eight KWIKA lawyers named "Super Lawyers" and "Rising Stars" by Los Angeles Magazine in the February 2007 issue.
- Dale Kinsella and Larry Iser named "Best Lawyers in America" for 2007.
- Larry Iser was quoted in the in the following publications commenting on the copyright implications of Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube
Mr. Iser specializes in the areas of intellectual property, entertainment, music, real estate, commercial and employment litigation. He has handled significant, high profile cases for clients including Mattel, Inc., Yahoo! Inc., eBay, Inc., Roland Corporation, Watt Industries, and The Beatles. Mr. Iser is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, and was recently included in “Who’s Who in Entertainment IP” by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
In the area of intellectual property, Mr. Iser has undertaken transactional and litigation matters concerning copyrights and trademarks, patents, unfair competition, the right of publicity, defamation and contract matters involving the licensing of intellectual property rights. He served as lead counsel for Mattel, Inc. in the successful defense of a lawsuit in which the plaintiff, an animation company, alleged that Mattel breached a so-called “implied contract” to compensate the animation company in the event that Mattel utilized certain ideas from a proposed cartoon series. Mr. Iser serves as United States copyright counsel for Roland Corporation, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of electronic musical instruments. Mr. Iser was lead counsel in a case of first impression which established the validity of Roland's copyrights in sound recordings contained in various Roland musical instruments. Mr. Iser is a guest lecturer at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Business Management on the topics of intellectual property, copyrights and trademarks.
Mr. Iser has represented numerous artists and entities in a variety of matters involving the music business, including Yahoo! Music, StubHub!, Univision Music, ICM, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Wiggles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, Axl Rose, The Estate of Janis Joplin, The Bankruptcy Estate of M.C. Hammer, Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, Wixen Music Publishing, Spectrasonics, Maverick Records, and Fat Possum Records.
In the areas of motion pictures and television, Mr. Iser has advised and litigated cases on behalf of actors, directors, producers, distributors, personal managers, talent agents, television networks and motion picture studios. He represented the Fox Network in the successful defense of a lawsuit claiming that the reality television show “Boot Camp” infringed the copyright in the television show “Survivor.” He successfully defended the former personal manager of comedienne Roseanne, who claimed that the manager had acted as an unlicensed talent agent, obtaining a precedent-setting ruling for the manager, resulting in a widely-cited written opinion.
Mr. Iser has served for the past 20 years as outside litigation counsel for real estate developer The Watt Companies. On behalf of Watt and other real estate clients, he has advised and litigated disputes involving breach of contract, fraud, specific performance, broker’s commissions, landlord-tenant, construction defects and partnership disputes. Recent matters include the successful defense of a winery against a class action lawsuit concerning underlying water rights, and the successful defense of a popular public golf course against a landlord’s efforts to close the golf course in order to build condominiums.
Mr. Iser regularly represents clients in commercial and employment matters involving breach of contract, wrongful termination and sexual harassment, products liability, insurance coverage, bad faith and subrogation, securities fraud, partnership disputes and dissolution, and commercial torts. His clients have included manufacturers, importers, lending institutions, law firms, accounting firms, oil and gas companies, airlines and numerous entrepreneurially oriented companies. In one nationally publicized case, Mr. Iser obtained summary judgment in favor of Mattel, Inc. obtaining dismissal of a financial "whistleblowing" charge brought by a former Senior Vice President.
Mr. Iser is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A. 1976) and the University of California, Hastings College of Law (J.D. 1980). He is the President of the Board of the non-profit Reprise Theatre Company, and is a member of El Caballero Country Club.
- Dale Kinsella, Howard Weitzman and Larry Iser were honored in the 2009 edition of "Southern California's Best Lawyers."
- Dale Kinsella, Howard Weitzman and Larry Iser named "Best Lawyers in America" for 2009.
- Larry Iser presented a lecture for the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC.
- Dale Kinsella, Howard Weitzman and Larry Iser named "Best Lawyers in America" for 2008.
- Dale Kinsella, Larry Iser, Howard Weitzman and Michael Kump were named "Super Lawyers" by Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine, a supplement of Los Angeles Magazine.
- Larry Iser and Chad Fitzgerald wrote an article that appears in the November issue of Intellectual Property Today.
- Eight KWIKA lawyers named "Super Lawyers" and "Rising Stars" by Los Angeles Magazine in the February 2007 issue.
- Dale Kinsella and Larry Iser named "Best Lawyers in America" for 2007.
- Larry Iser was quoted in the in the following publications commenting on the copyright implications of Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube