Rick Kurnit, Esq.
Rick Kurnit has over thirty years experience in the advertising and marketing services and publishing industries, representing advertisers, advertising agencies, public relations, promotion, and publishing companies.
Rick is Vice Chair of the ABA Committee on Private Advertising Litigation. He has handled many of the leading cases defining the application of intellectual property law to advertising and marketing communications, including representing the defendants in the Vanna White, Woody Allen, and Jackie Onassis look-alike cases; Viking Press, Nelson DeMille, Terry McMillan, and other authors and publishers in libel cases based on works of fiction; Prodigy in the Stratton Oakmont case and other cases defining online liability; John Deere in defining use of trademarks in comparative advertising; the maker of a smaller copy of the necklace from Titanic in defining the scope of parallel marketing; and "Gone With The Wind" in defining parody and copyright infringement. Rick has also handled numerous Lanham Act and comparative advertising cases and NAD challenges.
In addition to all aspects of marketing communications, Rick advises companies and individuals on mergers, acquisitions, succession plans, employment agreements, partnership agreements, and phantom equity plans.
Rick teaches advertising and intellectual property law and lectures regularly for the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Promotion Marketing Association, the Association of National Advertisers, the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., and the American Law Institute/American Bar Association. He has repeatedly been a guest lecturer at Beijing University; Harvard, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, NYU, Fordham, New York and Cardozo Law Schools; and conferences in Asia, Europe, and North America. He is a member of the Boards of The Miami Ad School, The Art Directors Club, and The Advertising Compliance Service.
Rick’s published works include: the Advertising Law chapter in Corporate Legal Departments (2011); "Exclusivity of Sponsors" in Journal of Sponsorship 379 (2010); The Legal Side of the Creative Process, a chapter in Advertising and Marketing Law (2005); “Restricting Speech on the Internet,” a panel discussion, 8 Fordham Intel. Prop. Media L. J. 395 (1998); “Liability Online,” 1 Journal of Internet Law 15 (1998); “Pornography on the Internet,” a panel discussion, 14 Cardozo Arts and Ent. L. J. 343 (1996); “Right of Publicity in the Year 2020,” a symposium, 20 Columbia-VLA Journal of Law and Arts 1 (1995); and “Libel Claims Based on Fiction,” 51 Brooklyn L. Rev. 401(1985).
Rick served as law clerk to Federal Judge Thomas P. Griesa, and was associated for five years with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He is a graduate of Columbia College (AB, magna cum laude, 1972) Phi Beta Kappa, and Harvard Law School (JD, cum laude, 1975).
Daniël Haije
Daniel Haije was admitted to the bar in 2004. The reputable legal practice guide Chambers (2013) recommends Daniel as a 'rising star in IP, advertising and media law'. Chambers (2015) writes: 'Observers are quick to praise Daniel Haije, noting he "has a passion for creativity and manoeuvres ideas to make them a reality."’ He advises and litigates on advertising-related matters. In addition he focusses on intellectual property law, especially trademarks and trade names. Furthermore he provides discrete pre-publication or pre-broadcast advice to companies and individuals exposed to unwelcome press intrusion. Daniel always considers the PR-aspects of the case at hand, en regularly co-operates with PR-agencies so as to optimally protect the reputation and trademarks of his clients. Past and present clients are diverse and include celebrities, advertising agencies and multinational and national companies from a range of industry sectors (FMCG, entertainment, aviation, fashion, charity).
Daniel teaches advertising law to lawyers in a postgraduate program and lectures on portrait law at VU University Amsterdam. He is an active member of several professional associations, including the Dutch Advertising Law Association (VvRr) and the Benelux Trademark and Design Law Association (BMM). He is on the board of the Stichting Persprijs Jacques van Veen and the Stichting Entertainment Groep (STEG), and is a member of the Supervisory Council of the Dutch Association of Public Relations Consultancy Agencies (VPRA).