John Tehranian / Partner

Office: (949) 502-2870
Direct: (949) 502-2873
Fax: (949) 258-5081
Email: jtehranian@onellp.com
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John Tehranian is an experienced intellectual property and entertainment attorney who represents prominent Hollywood, publishing, new media and technology clients in high-profile copyright, trademark, patent, right of publicity, defamation and First Amendment litigation. He has handled a wide range of cases, from the alleged infringement of Winston Churchill’s speeches and an ownership dispute over the recording of Jimi Hendrix’s last major concert to fair use rights to Britney Spears photographs and remake rights to a Jules Verne classic.  His experience runs the gamut, from the ancient (trademark claims over Sanskrit words) to the cutting edge (infringement claims over a leading file sharing application), across subject matter both traditional (film and television, music, literature, art and photography) and novel (internet metatags and computer source code). He is a founding partner of One LLP and began his legal career at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

Tehranian received his A.B. from Harvard University and his J.D. for Yale Law School, where he served as Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is the author of two books, Infringement Nation: Copyright 2.0 and You (Oxford University Press, 2011), which the Harvard Law Review has praised for its “insightful critique of the copyright regime” and “convincing case for . . . reform,” and Whitewashed (New York University Press, 2009), which Publisher’s Weekly has lauded as a “consistently informative” work that “covers fresh legal and social territory.” His articles have appeared in such publications as the Yale Law Journal, George Washington Law Review, U.C. Davis Law Review, B.Y.U. Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, University of Colorado Law Review, Connecticut Law Review, Utah Law Review, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Legal Times.

John has been named one of Orange County’s Top Five Intellectual Property Lawyers and Top Five Litigators by OC Metro.  He has also received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services from the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California in recognition of his work on behalf of low-income clients. A frequent commentator for the broadcast and print media, he has appeared on such television programs as ABC’s Nightline and has been quoted as an expert on legal issues in such publications as The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter and Christian Science Monitor. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences and his work has been widely cited, from testimony before Congress and decisions of the Israeli courts to amicus briefs before the United States Supreme Court and leading publications such as the Yale Law Journal and Harvard Law Review.

As an academic, Tehranian is the Irwin R. Buchalter Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School and the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute. He has previously served as a tenured Professor of Law at the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law, and as Visiting Professor of Law at Loyola Law School.

Education

  • Yale University, J.D.
    Editor, Yale Law Journal; Senior Editor, Yale Law & Policy Review; Editor, Yale Journal of Law and Humanities
  • Harvard University, A.B.; magna cum laude
    Phi Beta Kappa; Palfrey Exhibition Prize for the most distinguished scholar in the senior class; John Harvard Scholarship and Detur Prize for academic performance of the highest distinction.

Notable Entertainment & Intellectual Property Litigation

Copyright

  • Representing a leading Hollywood photography agency in a high-profile copyright infringement and “hot news” misappropriation suit against a prominent Internet gossip blogger.
  • Representing a renowned artist and illustrator in copyright and trademark infringement suits against several multinational media conglomerates.
  • Defending a prominent Southern California architect in a novel and high-profile architectural copyright infringement suit involving two multi-million dollar Tuscan-style mansions.
  • Serving as an expert witness on copyright law in an infringement suit involving architectural works and construction designs under the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act
  • Serving as an expert witness on copyright law in an infringement suit involving product labeling and instructions for a major home appliance manufacturer.
  • Representing a leading financial media publication in numerous copyright, misappropriation and breach of contract suits .

Trademark

  • Defending the developer of a leading Internet software application against trademark infringement claims by the world’s largest peer-to-peer file sharing network.
  • Representing a major Hollywood studio in a movie title dispute over a prominent forthcoming summer release.
  • Defending a prominent international Yogini in trademark infringement litigation over a best-selling line of DVDs.
  • Representing the owners of a famous restaurant chain in a dispute involving trademark ownership and infringement of the restaurant’s name.
  • Representing a leading consumer product company in the extreme sports space regarding protection of its marks.

Patent

  • Representing a scientist-patentee, the inventor of a microprocessor-controlled artificial respirator system, in a successful willful patent infringement suit against a medical manufacturer that resulted in a $3.5 million judgment, including a $1 million award for attorneys’ fees.
  • Representing a multinational biotechnology conglomerate in patent infringement litigation relating to cardioplegic solutions infused into the human heart to minimize muscle damage during open-heart surgery.
  • Representing a manufacturer of music-related technology in a patent infringement and antitrust lawsuit.
  • Defending a publicly traded technology developer in patent infringement litigation involving optoelectronic transceivers and surface emitting lasers for use in multi-gigabit fiber optic telecommunications networks.

Notable Appellate Experience

  • Obtaining a unanimous reversal in Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844 (9th Cir. 2002), a civil rights appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
  • Obtaining a successful remand in Al Salami v. Ashcroft, No. 02-70260 (9th Cir. 2002), a political asylum appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
  • Drafting an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the respondents in Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495 (2000), a constitutional and Native Hawaiian rights appeal before the United States Supreme Court.
  • Representing respondent in Tehrani v. Hamilton Medical, Inc., 331 F.3d 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2003), a patent infringement appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
  • Obtaining a unanimous reversal and remand in Crow Irvine #2 v. Winthrop California Investors Limited Partnership, 128 Cal. Rptr. 2d 644 (Ct. App. 2002), a commercial dispute involving partnership rights before the California Court of Appeal.

Scholarship Highlights