Brian J. Pass

Brian Pass is a partner in the Entertainment, Media and Communications Practice Group in the firm's Century City Office.

Areas of Practice

Mr. Pass advises clients in all aspects of technology and media transactions, including the licensing, development and distribution of computer software and hardware; internet and new media licensing, development and marketing; online advertising; video gaming; IT and business process outsourcing; intellectual property and trade secret protection; broadband communications; interactive television and e-commerce. Mr. Pass also advises companies on internet privacy and other regulatory issues affecting the Internet and e-commerce.

Before joining Sheppard Mullin, Mr. Pass was a partner at Brown Raysman. Prior to that he co-founded Passport New Media and served as its President and CEO. He led the development of Passport's critically acclaimed children's Internet service, Your Own World. At Passport, Mr. Pass raised $7.5 million in venture capital, while concluding numerous third-party content partnerships and negotiating key technology and distribution relationships.

Prior to forming Passport, Mr. Pass served as Vice President & General Counsel at americast, a joint venture of The Walt Disney Corporation and several of the Baby Bell telephone companies to develop interactive digital television services. In addition to advising the americast partnership and its board on all general corporate matters, Mr. Pass negotiated and administered numerous technology purchasing and licensing agreements including a $1 billion set-top box purchase agreement; an $80 million dollar hardware purchase agreement; a multimillion dollar intellectual property licensing agreement and numerous software development and licensing agreements.

Education

• J.D., University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, 1991
• B.A., Social Studies, Wesleyan University, 1986, high honors

Mr. Pass has closed over $3 billion in technology transactions.

Representative work includes:

Negotiation of numerous affiliation agreements on behalf of leading Internet search portal;

Outside counsel to leading manufacturer of third-party video game accessories;

Outside counsel to joint venture formed to develop and deliver video on demand and interactive services;

Negotiation of multi-million dollar white label e-commerce co-marketing agreements;

Outside counsel to leading Internet-based music discovery service; and

Negotiation of numerous multi-million dollar enterprise license and Web services transactions in the entertainment, healthcare and fashion industries

Honors

• Leading Lawyers for Business in the IT and IT Outsourcing field in California, Chambers USA, 2006, 2007
• Southern California Super Lawyer, 2007

Speeches

• Mr. Pass is a frequent speaker and lecturer on technology issues and intellectual property law, including the Anderson School at U.C.L.A. and the Marshall School of Business. Recent topics include the law of ecommerce, recent developments in internet law, outsourcing, basic intellectual property law, domain name dispute resolution, children's online privacy and venture capital in the education market. Mr. Pass served as a panelist before the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Academy of Sciences in connection with its study "Youth, Pornography, and the Internet."