Jonathan Blavin is a partner in the San Francisco office of Munger, Tolles & Olson.
Mr. Blavin has substantial experience in high-technology intellectual property disputes, including claims brought under the Copyright and Digital Millennium Copyright Acts, the Lanham Act and state trademark statutes and trade secret laws. Mr. Blavin also has significant experience in Internet and privacy-related litigation involving the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Additionally, he has litigated federal antitrust actions, consumer class actions in the wireless and telecommunications areas and constitutional matters.
Mr. Blavin has an active pro bono practice and recently has represented clients in actions alleging police brutality and inadequate medical care brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Mr. Blavin serves as chair of the San Francisco Barristers Intellectual Property and Internet Law Section. He also is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Intellectual Property American Inn of Court, the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association, the 9th Judicial Circuit Historical Society and is a panel attorney for the California Lawyers for the Arts. Mr. Blavin has been selected as a 2012 Northern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine.
Prior to joining the firm in 2004, Mr. Blavin served as a law clerk to Judge Richard R. Clifton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Mr. Blavin received his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he served as a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review. Mr. Blavin received his B.A. in history with highest distinction from the University of Michigan, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa.
Key Representations
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Facebook, in appeal in U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in a putative class action brought by advertisers who claim they have been overcharged.
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HTC, in nationwide class actions concerning alleged installation of data collection software on smartphone devices, asserting claims under the Wiretap Act, Stored Communications Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and related state law causes of action.
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Emeco Industries, Inc., in pursuing trade dress and trademark infringement claims against Restoration Hardware, Inc. for copying the design of its iconic aluminum chair, “The Navy Chair.” The action settled with Restoration Hardware agreeing to permanently cease sales of its chairs and having its existing inventory of chairs recycled.
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The six motion picture studio members of the Motion Picture Association of America, in securing an injunction against the operators of Zediva, an unlicensed video-on-demand service that transmits performances of copyrighted motion pictures to Zediva customers through the Internet.
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Microsoft, against device manufacturer Datel, alleging copyright infringement of the Xbox 360’s source code and violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act stemming from Datel’s circumvention of the Xbox 360’s technological protection measures.
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Electronic Arts, in copyright litigation against Zynga in which EA alleged that Zynga's online social game "The Ville" infringes EA's copyrighted game "Sims Social."
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Vostu, Brazil’s market leader in social gaming, against claims of copyright violations by Zynga in both the U.S. and Brazil.
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Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Group, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, in their action against LimeWire and its founder. After obtaining a permanent injunction against LimeWire, Munger Tolles proceeded to a damages trial in U.S. District Court. Two weeks into trial, the defendants agreed to pay the record companies $105 million.
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Six major motion picture studio members of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), in obtaining permanent injunctions against RealNetworks "RealDVD" device for copying DVDs.