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Stephen Bate

Profile

Stephen has a general Chancery/Common Law background. He specialises in media, entertainment, communications and sports law.

Stephen is one of the highest-ranking junior barristers in the Media & Entertainment sections of Chambers and the Legal 500 directories for 2009/10.

Stephen has regularly acted for well-known musical artists, song-writers, media organisations, publishers, production companies and record companies. He recently acted in a dispute concerning a TV advertising campaign for Marmite (Far Out Productions Inc v Water Music Productions Ltd). He represented Universal in a multi-million dollar dispute over the licensing of the UK television rights to The Jerry Springer Show (Universal Studios Inc v Flextech Rights Ltd and acted for Aston Barrett, a former member of Bob Marley & the Wailers, in his claims for artist royalties and copyright infringement (Barrett v Universal-Island Records Ltd & Ors). He acted for Michael Jackson in his litigation against Granada over the Martin Bashir interview (28 February 2003 (Unrep), Etherton J) and for Celador in a dispute over the licensing of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”. He also acted for Robbie Williams, EMI and BMG in their dispute with other publishers over the lyrics to the song “Jesus in a Camper Van”; and for Random House at the trial of copyright infringement proceedings before Laddie J brought by the ex-Tory MP Rupert Allason concerning authorship of the memoirs of the spy, the late John Cairncross (16 October 2001 (Unrep) Laddie J).

Stephen also advises broadcasters and telecommunications organisations on regulatory, copyright and other issues. He is a co-author of the textbook, “Satellite Communications in Europe: Law and Regulation”.

His work in sports law involves image rights, contractual disputes and disciplinary tribunals. He is a member of the Licensing Committee of the British Horseracing Authority and sat on a number of occasions as Legal Assessor to the Disciplinary Panel of the Jockey Club, dealing with corruption and non-corruption cases. Stephen acted for David Bedford in his dispute over the 118 118 advertising campaign and represented the footballer Gary Flitcroft in his privacy dispute with Mirror Group Newspapers, A v B plc.

Stephen is also a Chartered Arbitrator, FCI Arb. and a CEDR accredited mediator. He is on CEDR’s Select and Direct panels, a panel mediator with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is a member of the London Dispute Resolution Service, an association of London lawyers dedicated to dispute resolution. Stephen also undertakes mediations through 5RB. A detailed mediator profile is available from the clerks and further information is available in the Direct Mediator Directory at www.cedr.com. Stephen has handled mediations in a wide range of civil matters including media and entertainment disputes, with values up to £30M. He is also a panel expert for Nominet, determining disputes over registrations of .co.uk domain names.

Stephen is married with 3 daughters. His interests include golf, cricket and fishing.

Career

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Verbatim

“Very thorough and knowledgeable … enjoys a great deal of respect when on his feet and is fantastic with clients” (Chambers 2007). “Enjoys an excellent reputation” (Legal 500, current edition).

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Testimonials

“A creative thinker ….”, “As good as it gets for understanding the industry”, “A tremendously hard worker [whom] solicitors like because he gets results” (Chambers, previous editions).

For mediation work, “We thought Stephen Bate was excellent .. his approach was very measured, sensible and helpful”, “He managed the day well and I will be recommending him for other mediations”.

Languages

French, German

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Publications

(26 Jan 2006)

Cases

Privacy and Confidence

Sports Law

Intellectual Property

Contempt

Copyright

Entertainment Law

General Common Law

Human Rights

Injunctive Relief

Media Law

Passing off

Publishing

Articles

News

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• Desmond Browne QC
• Adrienne Page QC
• Patrick Milmo QC
• James Price QC
• Mark Warby QC
• Gordon Bishop
• Stephen Bate
• Andrew Monson
• Iain Christie
• Alexandra Marzec
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