Thompson & Knight has a specialized and significant practice in sports, entertainment, and media law.

The sports industry is a multibillion-dollar business whose participants need lawyers with both fundamental business experience and a detailed understanding of the issues unique to sports teams and individual athletes. Thompson & Knight attorneys have the expertise to counsel sports industry clients on the issues of critical importance to them.

In sports law, the range of our client representation is as broad as the industry itself: individual athletes, coaches and agents, professional teams and championship events, equipment manufacturers, and sports administrators. We have advised and represented these clients on general operational issues; performance and endorsement contracts and allied rights; financial matters; insurance coverage and premises liability; negotiation, litigation, and dispute resolution; the protection and licensing of intellectual property; rights of privacy and publicity; use of name and likeness; and AFTRA, SAG, and SESAC issues.

Combining the best of legal acumen, business experience, and prestigious industry credentials, Thompson & Knight represents athletes in:

Thompson & Knight also provides personal business counsel and comprehensive legal advice to clients in the multibillion-dollar global entertainment industry. Our attorneys work to maximize opportunities and protect the artistic freedom and creative work product of individual artists, performers and ensembles, music publishers, entertainment companies, and performance venues. We help with general business issues, performance and endorsement contracts and allied rights, financial matters, insurance coverage, tax planning, and protecting and licensing intellectual property. When litigation or other disputes arise, we combine vigorous advocacy with in-depth knowledge of industry precedent and procedures to defend our clients' interests.

We have particular skill at protecting and extending the reach of performing artists' creative intellectual property assets. Our attorneys offer effective guidance on promotion and advertising, technology, licensing, and valuation of creative work product. We have special experience with issues arising from the transfer of traditional copyrighted works to the Internet, CDs, DVDs, and other high-technology communications media. And we frequently advise entertainment clients on First Amendment protection, rights of privacy and publicity, prepublication review rights, and the legal rights of public figures.

Our entertainment attorneys often must protect their clients' interests in adversarial negotiation, dispute resolution, and litigation. We regularly advise these clients on trademark and copyright infringement, allegations of slander and libel, and use of name and likeness. We also use our business skills to represent clients in sensitive and sometimes contentious contract negotiations.

In the related field of media law, Thompson & Knight attorneys have represented television, radio, cable, broadband, and wireless broadcasting companies, as well as multimedia companies, new media involved in interactive television and web-based broadcasting, specific programs, and investors in these entities. We understand the broadcast industry's competitive structure and complex technology, and we know the legislation and regulations under which it operates. And in today's global economy, our clients and our work extend far beyond the borders of the continental United States.

Our attorneys have extensive experience in helping clients and investors form innovative broadcast media entities. We were pioneers in the legal regulation of the Southwest's earliest radio and television stations, handling the financing, negotiation, and documentation of acquisitions that helped them become media empires. In addition to our corporate work on asset purchases and sales, we help broadcast industry companies secure the equity and private debt offerings needed for growth and operation. We are also thoroughly familiar with regulatory compliance issues involving broadcast applications, licensing, station transfers, and cable franchising.

IP protection and dispute resolution are among the most crucial issues on which Thompson & Knight guides media, new media, and multimedia clients. Our IP attorneys advise media clients on advertising, signage, marketing policies and practices, technology transfers, licensing, and asset evaluation. We also advise media clients on First Amendment protections, compliance with Open Meeting and Open Records Acts, prepublication review rights, and reporters' privileges and access matters. And our trial attorneys bring traditional litigation skills to the protection of our broadcast media clients' interests in adversarial negotiation, dispute resolution, and litigation involving patent, trademark and copyright infringement, false and disparaging advertising, and antitrust and unfair competition.