| Joseph
P. Costa is
the principal in the firm. Mr. Costa received his undergraduate
degree from the University of California at Los Angeles, and
went on to study law at The National Law Center at the George
Washington University in Washington D.C. While at the George
Washington University, Mr. Costa was honored to serve as the
President of the Moot Court Board, and as the Editor in Chief
of its publication, the Moot Court Handbook.
Upon graduation from
law school in 1987, Mr. Costa joined Finley, Kumble, Wagner,
Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, which at
the time was the second largest law firm in the country;
however, as was true of many firms at this time, the firm
dissolved six months later. Thereafter, Mr. Costa joined
the litigation department at Ervin, Cohen & Jessup,
and engaged in general business litigation with an emphasis
on intellectual property, real estate and employment litigation
matters.
In 1991, Mr. Costa joined
the entertainment boutique firm of Leopold, Petrich &
Smith, where he was involved in representing most of Hollywood's
major studios. His work there involved litigating copyright
infringement matters relating to motion picture/television
and music cases, as well as a wide variety of unfair competition,
trademark, libel, idea submission and invasion of privacy
cases. Mr. Costa also enjoyed a close working relationship
with Fred Leopold where he performed a significant amount
of entertainment clearance work for motion picture and television
projects.
Mr. Costa is presently
a panel attorney for the California lawyers for the Arts
and has served on the Executive Committee for the Entertainment
Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.
Elizabeth Koepf is
a permanent associate of the firm. She received her undergraduate
degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles,
and graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law in
Malibu, California. While at Pepperdine, Ms. Koepf interned
for Paramount Pictures' Television/Legal and Sony Pictures'
litigation departments. She is a former national level figure
skater.
Gary Grossenbacher
is an attorney affiliated with the firm. Mr. Grossenbacher
received his undergraduate and law degree from the University
of Texas, with honors in 1987. Mr. Grossenbacher is a former
associate of the Los Angeles office of Sheppard, Mullin,
Richter & Hampton and a former partner at Leopold Petrich
& Smith.
Mr. Grossenbacher has
been involved in the following published decisions:
| Stewart
v. Abend, 495 U.S. 207, 110 S. Ct 1750, 19 L. Ed 2d
184 (1990). |
| Subafilms
v. MGM-Pathe, 24 F.3d 1088 (9th Cir. 1994) (en
banc) |
| Dr.
Suess Enterprises v. Dove Audio, 924 F. Supp. 1559 (S.D.
Cal. 1996), 109 F.3d 1394 (9th Cir. 1997). |
| Dangerfield
v. Star Editorial Inc., 7 F.3d 856 (9th Cir. 1993),
97 F.3d 1458 (9th Cir. 1996). |
| Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences v. Creative House,
944 F.2d 1446 (9th Cir. 1991). |
| Shaw
v. Lindhiem, 919 F.2d 1353 (9th Cir. 1991). |
| The
Clorox Co. v. Inland Empire Wholesale Grocers, 874 F.
Supp. 1065 (C.D. Cal. 1994). |
| Woods
v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 920 F. Supp. 62 (S.D.N.Y.
1996). |
| FASA
Corp. v. Playmates Toys, Inc., 108 F.3d 140 (7th Cir.
1997). |
| Morgan
Creek Productions, Inc. v. Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.,
22 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1881 (C.D. Cal. 1991). |
|