Vol 30, No. 6, #4. Ever Done Copyright Litigation: Check yes or no.

• Author: Author: Mary Angell

Wyoming Bar Journal

2007.

Vol 30, No. 6, #4.

Ever Done Copyright Litigation: Check yes or no

Wyoming Bar Journal Vol 30, No. 6, #4 Issue: December, 2007

Author: Mary AngellEver Done Copyright Litigation: Check yes or noThrough his representation of songwriters and music publishing companies, Jackson attorney Paul Stacey knows all about music piracy and karaoke, has followed the rise of unauthorized sharing of music on the Internet and has even taken on the Barbie- empire. As a copyright attorney, he protects the rights of people he's usually never met, whose work he may not be familiar with or even like.

"I'm lawyering on their behalf full time, but not listening to their music as much as I would like. And as strange as it may sound, in virtually every copyright case in which I'm now involved, inevitably there is some music - rap music readily comes to mind - that would make me physically ill if I listened to it," he told the Wyoming Lawyer recently. "That's one of the ironies of what I do. For the most part though, the copyrights are for the most popular and best loved songs of all time."

Always a sole practitioner, Stacey has litigated almost every type of case: personal injury, professional liability (medical and legal), commercial and divorce; even the occasional criminal defense case. "I've been very fortunate to get all kinds of litigation experience, even appellate practice work, from very early on," he said. "When I started out, I'd take whatever I could get to make ends meet...and was fortunate enough to get all I could ever dream of."

Now all he does is copyright litigation.

Stacey grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, completing his undergraduate and graduate work in English at the University of Illinois. He graduated from John Marshall Law School in 1979 and practiced law in Wheaton for 10 years before coming to Wyoming.

Stacey first visited Wyoming in 1986. He spent Thanksgiving with some friends in Colorado Springs and decided to visit another friend in Jackson "on a fluke." "I had thought Colorado was God's gift to the world, but I fell in love with Jackson instantly," he said. "I owned a home there in less than nine months. It was an extraordinary, life-changing, wonderful thing to happen to me to discover Wyoming. I took the bar exam and started spending more and more time in Jackson, and taking on cases."

Now...