John D. Mason, Esq.
Special Of Counsel
John is an art, entertainment and intellectual property attorney, and a literary agent. He is based in the Washington DC/Maryland area but has a national and international client base and has handled copyright and trademark matters in numerous federal district courts by admission pro hac vice.
John’s practice focuses on copyright and trademark registrations and transactional matters, litigation, publishing and media issues, licensing and contracts, and commercial matters relating to creative industries. He works with writers, artists, filmmakers, photographers and creative people and companies of all kinds to protect, promote and productively exploit their work.
Over more than sixteen years of active practice, John has worked in boutique intellectual property law firms as an associate and owner/partner, and in a large multi-office regional litigation firm as that firm’s primary intellectual property attorney. While he is philosophically oriented to the artist and usually acts as plaintiff’s counsel in copyright and trademark infringement disputes, he has acted as defense counsel in copyright and trademark infringement, libel and other types of cases and disputes.
John is admitted to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia, the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia and Maryland, and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He has been admitted pro hac vice in U.S. District courts in California, New York, Virginia, and a number of other states.
In addition to his law practice, John is adjunct faculty teaching Art and the Law at George Mason University, lectures regularly at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Art as Applied to Medicine Master’s program, and gives numerous lectures and talks every year on legal issues related to artists of all kinds.
John is also committed to non-profit service and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington.
Mark S. Zaid, P.C. 