Gene Rhough
Attorney at Law
California
CA, DC, Patent Bar
"Quick and quality work"
About
I provide plain-spoken guidance and hands-on drafting, advising, review and negotiation of business, commercial, employment and IP transactions and matters. I support a wide range of matters including among other things preparing website policies, drafting services contracts, customizing BYO templates, reviewing term sheets, and drafting loan notes.
Representative clients include Fortune 500 corporations (such as Apple, Viacom, Time Warner and AOL) and disruptive startups (such… read more as the original Napster). See more on LinkedIn!
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Practice Areas
Client Reviews
"Quick and quality work"
"Gene is fantastic. He makes a commitment to clients that he will charge X amount of billable hours on a job and then puts in the work required to satisfy the client. Unlike any other lawyer I've ever worked with, he charged me LESS money than he could have and didn't stop until the job was done. I will be using Gene again and again. I couldn't be more pleased with the experience."
"Gene is an amazing human being! I had the pleasure to work with him on a document that needed a deep understanding of a tricky investor relationship. With his guidance, I was confident I was making the best choice to address the issue."
"Gene performed a excellent job drafting terms for my company, great communication and fast delivery."
"We were confronted with a big book of onerous information security commitments at a very late stage in the sales process for b2b SaaS services. Gene made it a point to understand Google's real issues and to use that to substantially simplify and surgically revise a problematic barrier to something we could both live with, close the deal and move on to a partnership."
"Gene negotiated complex, global content rights with Korea's largest entertainment company while we were a small scrappy startup. He got us what we needed, on time, on budget, and maintained an excellent business relationship throughout some tough negotiations. I would definitely use Gene again for deals where I needed a confident advocate by my side."
Work History
Law Offices of Gene Rhough
Principal
Mar 2016 - Present
Provide wide-ranging services relating to corporate, commercial and intellectual property matters and transactions, including among other things drafting and negotiating contracts, such as MSAs and licenses, supporting launch rollout activities such as preparing website policies, supporting financings by preparing patent strategies for VC diligence, and negotiating software development deals.
Sony Music Entertainment
VP, Global Digital Business, Business & Legal Affairs
Apr 2014 - Mar 2016
Helped lead the legal team for digital partnerships during the major market disruption resulting from downloads to streaming music. Led and negotiated legal strategy with key market-making partners, including YouTube, Google, VEVO, Spotify and Amazon. Significantly cut down deal cycle times by rehauling workflows. Led multiple IP compliance & protection initiatives, incl. open source & privacy.
Bolster
GC & SVP Business Development
Oct 2012 - Mar 2014
As part of the founding team of this Allen & Co. Series A start-up, led development of the flagship hybrid legal, financial and insurance product for guaranteeing on-budget, on-time building renovations. Secured an alliance with the American Institute of Architects as its first Discovery Partner. Managed all day-to-day legal activities of a fast growth startup.
Beyond Oblivion
GC & SVP Business Affairs
Mar 2010 - May 2012
Guided the music start-up through the Series B to C growth curve. Negotiated and signed major key accounts including $>200M Sony Music and Warner Music content deals. Partnered with VP Engineering to quickly ramp up onshore and offshore development (Argentina, Eastern Europe & India). Managed all day-to-day legal activities of a fast growth startup.
Viacom
VP, Global Digital & New Media, Business & Legal Affairs
Jan 2008 - Feb 2010
Led negotiations and managed technology vendor agreements, strategic partnerships, IP and patent protection, and content transactions to ensure legal compliance in digital markets. Ensured company-wide best practice in IP and content copyright, including general legal policies relating to mtv.com, open source, UGC, and website policies. Negotiated significant inbound enterprise SaaS deals.
AOL Time Warner
Sr. Director, Technology & Patents
Jan 2003 - Jan 2008
Self-directed tech counsel focused on IP and patent portfolio for digital products and corporate transactions including $50M+ licensing transactions and a $5M patent prosecution budget; led ambitious initiatives to increase patent portfolio across AOL (and its many acquired startups), Warner Bros., TW Cable, WMG and Turner in dozens of key emerging arts fields.
Napster
Associate General Counsel
Jan 2001 - Jan 2002
Led all re-launch legal activities.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Corporate & Tech Transactions Associate
Sep 1996 - Sep 1999
Straddled both the corporate and tech transactions groups, specializing in financings, M&A, joint ventures, strategic alliances as well as commercial and technology transactions. Prepared and prosecuted patent applications.