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Stephen Bate

Profile

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

Stephen is also a Chartered Arbitrator, FCI Arb with an active arbitration practice as arbitrator. He is a member of Sport Resolutions's panel of arbitrators and mediators and regularly sits as Chairman of the Football Disciplinary Commission, hearing arbitrations under the Rules of the Football League. A copy of Stephen's arbitration CV is available from the clerks.

Stephen's international work as arbitrator consists of appointments in commercial matters with claim values up to US$1.5BN and he has appointments in domestic commercial matters also with high values; from presidential appointments by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and appointments by CEDR and by (non-UK) courts. He is also a member of ARBDB, a chambers of arbitrators for international work in particular: www.arbdb.com.

He is a member of the British Horseracing Authority's Licensing Committee, exercising a 'fit and proper person jurisdiction in relation to jockeys and trainers; and also a Legal Assessor for the Medical Practitioners' Tribunal Service, hearing fitness to practice cases brought by the GMC against doctors. He is also a panel expert for Nominet, determining disputes over registrations of .co.uk domain names.

Stephen is an experienced CEDR accredited mediator and accepts mediation appointments  through 5RB. A detailed mediation profile is available from the clerks. He is also a member of CEDR Chambers (see at www.cedr.com) and a panel mediator with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has handled mediations in a wide range of civil matters including media and entertainment disputes, with values up to £30M.

Stephen is one of the highest-ranking junior barristers in the Media & Entertainment sections of Chambers and the Legal 500 directories.He has regularly acted for well-known musical artists, song-writers, media organisations, publishers, production companies and record companies. He 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 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. 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 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”.

Stephen is married with 3 daughters. His interests include a wide range of sports and reading history. He is also a member of the Royal Geographical Society.

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”,  “Enjoys an excellent reputation” (Chambers and Legal 500, previous editions).

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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

(17 Oct 2002)

(17 Mar 2011)

Cases

Privacy and Confidence

Sports Law

Intellectual Property

Contempt

Copyright

Entertainment Law

General Common Law

Human Rights

Injunctive Relief

Media Law

Music Law

Passing off

Professional Discipline

Publishing

Articles

News

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• Desmond Browne QC
• Mark Warby QC
• Patrick Milmo QC *
• Adrienne Page QC
• James Price QC
• Justin Rushbrooke QC
• Matthew Nicklin QC
• Stephen Bate *
• Andrew Monson *
• Iain Christie *
• Alexandra Marzec
• David Sherborne
• Jonathan Barnes
• Godwin Busuttil
• Adam Wolanski
• William Bennett
• Christina Michalos
• Jacob Dean
• Nigel Abbas *
• Adam Speker
• Richard Munden
• David Hirst
• Victoria Shore
• Victoria Jolliffe
• Yuli Takatsuki
• Felicity McMahon
• Chloe Strong
• * non-resident practising member

Associate Members

• Professor Tony Smith
• Anna Coppola
• Patrick McCafferty

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