Charles J Harder

Charles Harder is one of the few go-to litigators in the United States for defamation, reputation protection, privacy, media law, entertainment, intellectual property and business litigation. Licensed to practice in California, New York and the District of Columbia, Mr. Harder litigates cases in federal and state courts throughout the country, as well as arbitrations and administrative proceedings. His experience includes cases in a variety of industries: from representing major celebrities, to clients in the various entertainment industries (film, TV, videogames, music, live theater, etc.), to general business clients including multi-billion dollar corporations, and high net worth individuals in various business industries including technology, investing and financial services. Mr. Harder literally “writes the book” on some of his core practice areas, serving as Editor and Co-Author of ENTERTAINMENT LAW & LITIGATION, a law treatise published by LexisNexis which provides in depth analysis of the substantive and procedural law of defamation, right of privacy, right of publicity, profit participation, copyright, trademark, Talent Agencies Act, labor/employment, and insurance law. In March 2017, Mr. Harder was named California Lawyer of the Year in Media (winning the CLAY Award), by California Lawyer magazine. He is listed to the Top 100 Lawyers in California by Daily Journal newspaper. His is listed to the Top 100 “Power Lawyers” in America by The Hollywood Reporter (one of only 30 litigators). Mr. Harder has been listed repeatedly as an “IP Star” by Managing Intellectual Property, a media division of Euromoney’s Legal Media Group. In 2017, Mr. Harder won a multi-million dollar settlement and obtained a full retraction and apologyfor the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, in a libel action against the Daily Mail. In that same year, Mr. Harder filed a $100 million libel lawsuit on behalf of Ivan Aguilera, the heir of Mexican pop icon, Juan Gabriel, against Univision and Telemundo. In 2016, after a three-week trial in state court in St. Petersburg, Florida, Mr. Harder won a $140 million verdict for his client, Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan), in an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker Media. In 2011, after a four-week trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, Mr. Harder won an $18 million verdict for his client, Cecchi Gori Pictures, also obtained valuable film rights to seven motion pictures including The Departed and Shutter Island, and simultaneously defeated a $5 million counterclaim filed by the opposing party. In 2009, Mr. Harder won four separate ICANN domain name arbitrations on behalf of four different A-list actors. Each case involved a three-arbitrator panel, and each decision sided 3-0 for Mr. Harder’s client. Links to each of these public case decisions are provided below, under “Reported Decisions.” In 2007, Mr. Harder represented UBISOFT, a Top 5 worldwide videogame publisher, defending an $11 million claim by a German videogame producer. After a one-week arbitration trial, Mr. Harder won a complete defense verdict. Mr. Harder has obtained numerous seven-figure and eight-figure settlements on behalf of his plaintiff-clients in recent years, and favorable settlements and defense verdicts on behalf of his defendant-clients. Juris Doctor (1996), Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Dean‘s Honor List Bachelor of Arts, Politics, with College Honors (1991), University of California, Santa Cruz