"Andy sees the big picture and the full range of issues in a way that few lawyers do."
Chambers USA 2023
"Andrew is a great combo of personality, intellect and quality of work."
Chambers USA 2023
“Andy Gass has built the best team in the business.”
The Legal 500 US 2022
“Andy is a consummate professional and an expert counselor when it comes to complex, cutting-edge copyright issues.”
Chambers USA 2022
“Andy Gass is one of the preeminent music copyright lawyers in the United States.”
The Legal 500 US 2022
Top Music Lawyers
Billboard 2023
Top Intellectual Property Lawyers
Daily Journal 2023
Profile
Andy Gass is an acclaimed antitrust and IP lawyer who represents technology companies in their highest-stakes disputes.
Mr. Gass is the architect of the firm’s decorated copyright practice and teaches a course titled “Copyright, Competition & Technology” at the UC Berkeley School of Law. He serves a wide range of clients, from early-stage startups to the largest companies in the world, as a trusted counselor and lead litigator. In that capacity, Mr. Gass has shaped the highest-profile, most cutting-edge issues in digital copyright law in the past decade, whether by resolving a matter behind the scenes, advocating in regulatory proceedings, or trying a case in US federal court. Leading legal and general publications, including the Financial Times, Billboard, and ChambersUSA, have recognized Mr. Gass’ work for its pragmatism, efficiency, and quality.
Mr. Gass regularly writes and speaks on issues related to the legal rules that govern artificial intelligence products, internet platforms, streaming services, and other topics. Before joining Latham, he was a law clerk to the late Honorable Stephen F. Williams on the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Experience
Mr. Gass has served as lead trial and appellate counsel in copyright cases, antitrust cases, and the unique hybrid form of dispute known as music-rights rate-setting cases across a range of industries, from software to streaming and beyond.
His recent, publicly known experience includes representing:
OpenAI in ongoing litigation challenging the training and operation of ChatGPT as large-scale copyright infringement
Apple in cases involving the unauthorized use of iOS and the copyrightability of emoji
Spotify in the Phonorecords III appeal and the Phonorecords IV proceeding
Shopify in a suit challenging its eligibility for DMCA immunity
Roblox in a variety of litigation matters related to copyright, antitrust, privacy, and other issues
The Andy Warhol Foundation in its Supreme Court case about whether Warhol’s iconic depiction of the musician Prince was a fair use of the source photograph from which it derived
Live Nation in all of its highest-stakes litigation in the past decade
DeviantArt in a federal court lawsuit seeking to assert liability arising from an implementation of the generative AI product known as Stable Diffusion
Internet Archive in a copyright infringement lawsuit over the “Great 78” project
The National Association of Broadcasters in the Web V matter
The Radio Music License Committee in litigation against all four major US performing rights organizations
Creative Commons in litigation over the interpretation of its copyright licenses
Pandora in litigation over the use of “pre-1972” sound recordings
iHeartMedia in all of its music-rights-related disputes since 2016
IMDb in several lawsuits over unauthorized content on its website
The Digital Media Association and other industry trade groups in connection with the Department of Justice’s review of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees
Qualifications
Bar Qualification
California
Education
JD, University of California, Berkeley, 2008 Order of the Coif
Two Latham teams were recognized for getting a summary judgment win for multinational telecom company Telefónica in a busted deal suit involving the client’s operations in Costa Rica, and for securing an important early win for OpenAI in a proposed copyright class action brought by Sarah Silverman and other authors.
The Order marks an ambitious effort to stand up a whole-of-government approach to encouraging the benefits and managing the risks of artificial intelligence, with many of its most significant private-sector implications announced but not yet in place.
A California federal judge has agreed to let Pandora out of a copyright suit lodged against it by 1960s rock group The Turtles over royalty payments for pre-1972 records, finding that the music duo's infringement claim sunk due to the "absence of a public performance right."
Notice: We appreciate your interest in Latham & Watkins. If your inquiry relates to a legal matter and you are not already a current client of the firm, please do not transmit any confidential information to us. Before taking on a representation, we must determine whether we are in a position to assist you and agree on the terms and conditions of engagement with you. Until we have completed such steps, we will not be deemed to have a lawyer-client relationship with you, and will have no duty to keep confidential the information we receive from you. Thank you for your understanding.