Profile: William Sloan Coats

Internet and e-Commerce

Biography: Internet & e-Commerce

Bill Coats, an intellectual property partner and executive partner in charge of White & Case LLP's Silicon Valley office, focuses his practice on cases involving software copyrights, patents, trademark and trade secret disputes for the software, electronics and movie industries, and bankruptcy issues.

Mr Coats represents leading business, computer, e-commerce, and entertainment hardware and software companies in complex and groundbreaking intellectual property matters. His clients include Pioneer Corporation; Aztech Systems Ltd; Avid Technology; BBC Technology; DVD Copy Control Association; Dolby Laboratories; In-Three; Digidesign; Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasfilm Entertainment Company and its various divisions, including LucasArts and Lucas Digital (Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound); VIZ Media; and Mesa Boogie.

Mr Coats is consistently recognised by several leading publications as a leading lawyer in the areas of e-commerce, media, entertainment and technology. He is a frequent speaker and has published numerous articles on intellectual property issues in the computer, entertainment, and music industries.

Mr Coats is former chair of the American Bar Association's section of science & technology law, former chair of their computer law division, and former chair of their task force on biometrics. In addition, he was a member of the delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) working group on electronic commerce.

Notable engagements include representing Pioneer in various copy protection organisations and initiatives, such as the copy protection technical working group, the broadcast protection discussion group, the analog reconversion discussion group, and many other technical and standards bodies affecting content and consumer electronic industries.