Professional Background
Peter Perkowski is the founder of Perkowski Legal, PC. A former partner at an international law firm, Mr. Perkowski has nearly 20 years of experience in intellectual property, business litigation, and immigration matters.
Experience and Accolades
Mr. Perkowski started his career advising clients and litigating high-profile cases at the Los Angeles entertainment powerhouse Troop Steuber Pasich Reddick & Tobey, followed by stints with top international firms Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Winston & Strawn. His experience has included litigating, consulting, and advising on patent, trademark, copyright, publicity rights, false advertising, and trade secret disputes, as well as providing guidance on IP rights protection, enforcement, licensing, and clearance. He has appeared in state and federal trial-level and appellate courts across the country and has also assisted clients in immigration matters before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the INS) and immigration courts at all levels.
For his work, Managing Intellectual Property has named him an “IP Star” (2013-2015), and Intellectual Asset Management has given him a Bronze rating in its IAM Patent 1000 (2012-2015), recognizing him as a “brilliant strategist” with “intellectual firepower” who provides “outstanding client service” across the spectrum of IP litigation. In 2010, the National LGBT Bar Association included Mr. Perkowski on its inaugural Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 list.
Significant Cases
Mr. Perkowski’s significant cases include copyright disputes related to the James Bond and Spider-Man movie franchises and the Reginald Denny beating video; trade secret disputes between competitors in the sports-apparel and video-game programming industries; and TV and film contract disputes. He was a member of Disney’s trial team in Katzenberg v. Disney, which famously involved valuing some of Disney’s best-known IP. He has appeared in litigation for the ownership group of a local baseball franchise and has consulted on publicity-rights matters for Olympic athletes and trademark issues for a local pro soccer team.
Bar Admissions
California 1998; District of Columbia 2013
Court Admissions
Supreme Courts: United States, California
U.S. Appeals Courts: 3rd, 5th, 9th, Federal Circuits, Armed Forces
U.S. District Courts: Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of California; Eastern District of Michigan; Eastern District of Texas
Education
George Washington University Law School
J.D. 1998, with highest honors
California State University, Long Beach
M.A. Kinesiology (sport management option), 2011
University of Rochester
B.A. Mathematics, 1992
Teaching Positions
In addition to his law practice, Mr. Perkowski teaches Legal & Ethical Issues in Sport to Master’s students in the Graduate Program in Sports Management at California State University, Long Beach.
Community Involvement
Mr. Perkowski is Vice Chair of the Boards of Directors of AIDS Project Los Angeles—one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States—and its affiliate, APLA Health & Wellness, a multi-location federally qualified health center that provides free or low-cost primary medical and oral health care, behavioral health services, HIV testing, PrEP counseling and management, STD screening/treatment, and health education and HIV-prevention services, with a specific focus on low-income gay and bisexual men of color and transgender individuals living in Los Angeles County. In addition, he also serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Forum on MSM & HIV, a network of advocates and experts in health, human rights, research, and policy working to ensure an effective global response to HIV among gay men and other men who have sex with men.