Eric E. Johnson
Assistant Professor of Law
ejohnson@law.und.edu
www.eejlaw.com
Professor Johnson received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2000, where he was a member of the Board of Student Advisers and an instructor in legal reasoning and argument. He received his B.A. with highest honors and special honors from the Plan II program at the University of Texas at Austin in 1994.
After law school, Professor Johnson was an associate in the litigation and intellectual-property litigation practices at Irell & Manella in Los Angeles, where his clients included Paramount, MTV, CBS, Touchstone, Immersion Corporation, and the bankruptcy estate of eToys.com. At Irell, Johnson’s matters included claims of patent infringement in the video-game industry, copyright infringement of a television series, breach of a motion-picture director’s contract, and breach of a profit-participation clause in a television executive-producer’s contract. Professor Johnson later became in-house counsel to Fox Cable Networks in Los Angeles, drafting and negotiating deals for Fox Sports Net (“FSN”) and Fox College Sports.
Outside of his legal career, Professor Johnson was a consultant to an early-stage internet start-up, a top-40 radio disc jockey, and a stand-up comic. In 2005, he was awarded a patent on a headrest he invented for patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.
At UND, Professor Johnson’s courses include Torts, Entertainment Law, Sports Law, and electives relating to intellectual property. His primary scholarship interests are intellectual property and entertainment law. Before joining the UND faculty, Johnson taught as an adjunct professor at Whittier Law School and Pepperdine University School of Law, teaching Patent Law, Trademarks, and Entertainment Law.
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
PUBLICATIONS
SCHOLARSHIP IN PROGRESS
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
University of North Dakota School of
Law
Assistant
Professor of Law, 2007 - present
Courses:
Torts,
Entertainment Law
Pepperdine
University
School of Law
Adjunct Professor of
Law,
2006
Course: Trademarks, Unfair Competition
and Unfair Trade
Practices.
Whittier Law School
Adjunct Professor of
Law, 2005 - 2006
Courses: Entertainment
Law, Patent Law.
Harvard Law School
Instructor, member of
Board of Student Advisers, 1998 - 2000
Course: Legal
Reasoning and Argument.
PUBLICATIONS
Calibrating Patent Lifetimes
22 Santa
Clara Computer &
High Technology Law Journal 269 (2006)
Lindstrom's Summary of Employment Law
June
Co. Press (2000)
Reporter's Privilege, Communications Law
1999 (co-author)
Practising Law Institute, 580 PLI/Pat 27
(1999)
Reporter's Privilege, Recent Developments
1998-1999 (co-author)
Practising Law Institute,
580 PLI/Pat 7 (1999)
SCHOLARSHIP IN PROGRESS
Rethinking Sharing Licenses for
Entertainment Media
(law review article)
The Secret Life of the Right of
Publicity
(law review
article)
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
Harvard Law School‚ J.D., cum laude, 2000
University of Texas at Austin‚ B.A.,
with
highest honors and special honors, 1994
Major: Plan II
Honors Program
Northwestern University‚ B.S.J.
candidate, 1990 to
1991
Major: Journalism, Medill School of
Journalism
Admitted to Practice:
State Bar of California
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Fox Cable Networks
Los Angeles,
California‚ 2005
to 2007
In-house counsel.
Irell & Manella LLP
Los Angeles,
California‚ 2000 to 2004
Associate in litigation and
intellectual-property litigation practices.
Debevoise & Plimpton
New York,
N.Y.‚
1999
Summer associate in the litigation
practice.
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
New York,
N.Y.‚ 1998
and 1999
Summer associate in the litigation
and corporate
departments.
Macfarlanes
London, UK‚ 1998
Visiting article
clerk in the company, commercial, and banking
practice.
Cybersource Corporation
Menlo Park,
CA‚ 1996
Consultant to very early stage
internet start-up. Worked in operations eventually
spun off as publicly traded
beyond.com, a software retailer.
