Profile
Rob provides legal services for clients in corporate, technology and entertainment law. Many of his clients are companies that create and own intellectual property. He spends most of his time negotiating and drafting agreements.
Rob is a co-author of the volume on Internet and Interactive media law that is part of Lexis/Nexis' ten volume treatise entitled Entertainment Industry Contracts and has served as an instructor in the professional education program at Georgia Tech. He has written more than 35 articles that have been published in popular magazines and journals including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Business to Business Magazine, thte Daily Report, the Gwinnett Business Journal, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Northside Woman Magazine and the Atlanta Lawyer.
Rob was a founding board member of the intellectual property law section of the Atlanta Bar Association and chair of a subcommittee of the American Bar Association focused on the development of the domain naming system and resolving the conflicts between domain names, on the one hand, and trademarks and service marks, on the other hand. He has given more than 75 presentations involving his areas of expertise.
Selected To
Georgia Super Lawyers 2011
Georgia Super Lawyers 2006
Georgia Super Lawyers 2005
Georgia Super Lawyers 2004
No Rising Stars publication in 2008
About Rob Hassett
Admitted: 1976, Georgia
Professional Webpage: www.internetlegal.com/
Honors and Awards:
- Member of Law Review Editorial Board
- Graduated Cum Laude from the University of Georgia Law School.
Bar/Professional Activity:
- Board of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the Atlanta Bar Association. (2007 - 2011). Formerly co-Chair and then Chair of a subcommittee of the American Bar Association focused on the domain naming system and conflicts between it, on the one hand, and rights of trademark and service mark owners, on the other hand.
Pro bono/Community Service:
- Active Member of the Life Sciences/Medical Commitee of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Board of Directors of IMAGE (now known as the "Atlanta Film Festival 365"), which produces the Atlanta Film Festival, for 6 years. Member of the Board of the Georgia Chapter of the International Interactive Communications Society for many years and was Chair of the first Atlanta Interractive Media Expo in 1995.
Scholarly Lectures and Writings:
- — In 2008 and 2009 Rob conducted about 15 interviews for BtoBMagazine.com. People interviewed include (links are to transcripts) the manager of a very successful mutual fund about the stimulus package, the District Director of the SBA for Atlanta, the manager of a venture capital fund, the director of the Atlanta Technology Angels, an economist who focuses on China, a Georgia Tech researcher in sustainable energy, a Georgia Tech researcher in biomechanical engineering and a leading bankruptcy expert..
- Rob has been a featured speaker or panelist about copyright, trademark, technology, entertainment and internet law on more than 75 occasions. Sponsors of Rob's presentations include PLI, National Business Institute, Fast Company Magazine, Georgia Tech, the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia and Law Seminars International. Locations have included Atlanta, Costa Rica, Dana Point, CA, Beverly Hills, CA, St. Simons Island, Georgia, Costa Rica and New York. A list of many of those engagements are set forth on this web page.
- This article provides a history of the creation of the internet, how it grew and its status when the article was written in 1998. The way it operates has not changed much since the article was written., Author, Governing the Internet, Paper for Seminar Sponsored by the National Business Institute, 1998
- This article provides a summary of the law relating to general common law and statutory privacy and publicity rights., Author, Privacy and Publicity Rights in Interactive Media, 1st Version - Cutting Edge Music Conference, 1997; 1st Revision - Multimedia & Technology Licensing Law Report, 1998; 2nd Revision - NBI Program, 2000 , 2000
- This article addresses the 5 legal mistakes most often made by business people in connection with the development and posting of their websites., Author, Insights into law - The five most common legal mistakes involving commercial Web sites, Business to Business Magazine - print and online editions, 2008
- This guest column concerns the problems with and ways to curb excessive executive pay., Author, Curbing excessive pay, board clout of executives would help business, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2009
- Rob has written and/or co-written many scholarly articles. Summaries and links to some of his most widely read ones are below.The incentives of executives of Bear Stearns, as was and continues to be true for the surviving Wall Street firms, was and is to take substantial risk with their investors', and indirectly the taxpayer's money. In this article Rob suggests enacting legislation to partially correct those incentives., Author, Why Bear Stearns' Collapse Was Inevitable, Daily Report , 2010
Transactions:
- Rob has acted as legal counsel for many transactions especially mergers and acquisitions which involve intellectual property rights. His policy is not to disclose information about those transactions. One reason is that in many cases disclosure requires permission from the acquirer.
Newsletters:
- Rob sends out an eNewsletter that refers to his articles and podcasts that were most recently published or posted. It is currently opt-in only. It is distributed to about 500 people. Here is a link to a copy of one issue. Links to other eNewsletters are available on the home page of Rob's Website: www.internetlegal.com.
Educational Background:
- Bachelor of Industrial Engineering, Co-op Program, from Georgia Tech. JD from the University of Georgia.