“I leverage my diverse background and experience in the private sector and government to my clients’ advantage. It’s important that I not only understand the legal issues but also address my clients’ business goals.”
Sherri N. Blount, a highly regarded IP attorney who once served in the top management of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), practices at the intersection of IP and advertising and promotions law. She is an experienced transactional attorney and has negotiated hundreds of agreements involving the intellectual property rights of Fortune 100 companies, including issues related to brands, copyrights, licensing agreements, including software and content licensing, privacy compliance, technology development, and technology transfer relationships. She routinely is called on to advise clients on advertising and marketing strategies in traditional, digital, and social media.
Sherri’s clients comprise corporations in multiple industry groups including telecommunications and hospitality sectors as well as trade associations, nonprofit organizations, colleges, and universities. She counsels clients on matters related to compliance with advertising and marketing regulations at the state and national levels and privacy compliance matters. Sherri regularly handles entertainment and media matters, such as television and radio production deals, program acquisitions, rights clearances, syndication, FCC content review, and other related issues. Internet and e-commerce clients seek Sherri’s counsel on new media and content licensing matters and actions under the Lanham Act. In the entertainment arena, Sherri represents media clients including national cable networks, television and radio broadcast networks, television and video producers, website operators, new media entrepreneurs, music publishers, recording artists, and authors. Sherri handles matters concerning data protection and privacy in connection with state laws, GDPR, and routinely advises clients on its privacy policies and practices.
Prior to joining Fitch Even, Sherri was a partner at Morrison & Foerster. She previously served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for PBS. In that role, she represented PBS in all domestic and international copyright matters, including copyright cable royalty issues. Sherri also was responsible for legal issues related to PBS’s national program service. While there, she negotiated programming deals for some of PBS’s best-known programs and series that are still in production today. Before joining PBS, she served as an Attorney Advisor to a Federal Trade Commissioner, responsible for consumer protection matters, including false advertising, unfair competition, and anti-trust issues.
In 2011, Sherri was named “Woman Lawyer of the Year” by the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia. This prestigious award has been given to select women lawyers since 1964 for “their exceptional achievements in the legal profession and/or for extraordinary contributions to the advancement of women in the legal profession.”
- Reviewed all traditional and digital advertising assets for one of the largest entities in the hospitality industry, meeting same-day or three-day turnaround deadlines.
- Developed Social Media Guidelines in connection with marketing on social media channels (You Tube, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.) for corporations and nonprofit entities.
- Advised national nonprofit organization on the implications of native advertising.
- Advised leading global retailer on issues related to its advertising practices in connection with sale pricing and duration of sale promotions.
- Drafted Official Contest Rules for a public television station awarding prizes in connection with a contest.
- Advised health-aid consumer product manufacturer in connection with its packaging disclaimers.
- Advised former National Basketball Association player on sponsorship and endorsement agreements.
- Negotiated Agency of Record agreements with numerous advertising and public relations agencies on behalf of global hotel chain.
- Provided strategic IP counseling to large communications trade association on revamping and updating its global brand.
- Provided strategic counsel to commercial land developer and landscape design company in connection with its selection of new global brand.
- Negotiated publishing agreements with national publishing company on behalf of global accounting firm.
- Negotiated complex Software as a Service Agreement with an online hotel booking entity.
Presentations
- Sherri is a frequent speaker on entertainment, intellectual property law, and other legal issues at presentations sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters, the American Bar Association, and the National Bar Association. She was an Adjunct Professor in the School of Communications at Howard University for several years.
- “Advertising and Promotions: Basic Legal Principles in Today’s Fast-Paced Digital World,” Fitch Even Webinar, with Nicole L. Little, January 23, 2014.
Publications
- While attending law school, Sherri was Associate Editor of the Howard University Law Journal.
- “Meet the Women Rainmakers: Sherri N. Blount,” Law Practice Today, American Bar Association, July 2012.
- Washington Bar Association
- National Bar Association
- International Trademark Association
- The Links, Incorporated
- Association of Public Television Stations Leadership Council
- WHUT- TV
- Member, Board of Directors
- The Duke Ellington School of the Arts
- Member, Board of Directors