Michael J. Grygiel is a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig's Albany office. In his national media law practice, Michael defends news and entertainment organizations from newsgathering and publication-related claims, including defamation, copyright infringement and invasion of privacy matters. He also represents media companies and other clients in complex Lanham Act, trade secret and Internet-related litigation and counseling. Michael has served as lead trial counsel to media and other clients in bet-the-company litigation, including a nationally watched news aggregation copyright case and a trade libel action against a major medical device manufacturing company. He is experienced in representing the press in a wide range of matters involving applications for access to civil and criminal court proceedings and records and in freedom of information law cases in both federal and state courts. Prior to Michael's career in private practice, he was the director of the Arthur Levitt Public Policy Center at Hamilton College, where his teaching specialty was First Amendment and constitutional law. Areas of Concentration ˇ Media and First Amendment law ˇ Defense of defamation actions ˇ Complex commercial litigation ˇ Digital rights management ˇ Copyright infringement - litigation and counseling ˇ Advertising and Lanham Act matters ˇ Invasion of privacy and newsgathering claims ˇ Trade secret litigation and counseling ˇ Internet litigation and counseling ˇ Reporter's/newsroom subpoenas ˇ Pre-publication review ˇ Litigation and counseling regarding social networks, blogs and user-generated content ˇ Anonymous/pseudonymous postings to news websites ˇ Right of publicity litigation and counseling ˇ "Hot news" misappropriation litigation and counseling ˇ Digital Millennium Copyright Act service-provider liability limitations ˇ Press and public access to court proceedings and judicial documents ˇ Freedom of Information Act litigation Significant Representations ˇ Lead national counsel to and personally supervised legal matters for several media clients, including industry-leading newspaper/website publishing company ˇ Primary outside counsel to the New York News Publishers Association, Inc. ˇ Primary regional counsel to an international communications/entertainment company ˇ Represents several national media companies and publications *The above matters were handled by Mr. Grygiel prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Professional & Community Involvement ˇ Chair, Committee on Media Law, New York State Bar Association ˇ Member, Albany County Bar Association Awards & Recognition ˇ Listed, Best Lawyers in America, Media Law, 2007-2012 ˇ Selected, Super Lawyers magazine, First Amendment/Media/Advertising, 2007-2011 ˇ Rated, AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5 Previous Employment ˇ Assistant General Counsel, University of Vermont in Burlington ˇ Director of Arthur Levitt Public Policy, Hamilton College Articles, Publications, & Lectures Speeches ˇ Frequent speaker to various media groups and professional associations on First Amendment issues. |