David Modzeleski
Key details
- Job title: SVP Legal & Head of Global IP
- Organisation:Warner Bros. Discovery
- Geography: US
- Practice Areas: Trademarks, Patents
- Type: Non-Contentious
- Level:Senior-level
Profile
David Modzeleski leads intellectual property strategy at Warner Bros. Discovery, overseeing the protection, management and growth of the company’s global IP portfolio. In this role he supervises trademarks, copyrights, patents and content protection initiatives that support the company’s film, television and media brands. Modzeleski joined Discovery in 2012 and has played a key role in managing its IP portfolio and commercial litigation. Following the merger that formed Warner Bros. Discovery in April 2022, he assumed broader responsibilities, leading the integration and strategy for one of the entertainment industry’s largest and most valuable IP portfolios.
Comments
“David is an obvious choice for this award due to his critical role as senior vice president and head of global IP. He is responsible for the global IP function at WBD—including its trademark, brand protection, copyright, domain, antipiracy/content protection, patent and IP policy functions.
“He leads a talented team of 50 professionals spanning five offices both domestically and internationally. In addition to his global responsibility for IP at WBD, David also manages the trademark function on a day-to-day basis as chief trademark counsel. WBD’s talented trademark team comprises over 25 attorneys and paralegals supporting WBD’s trademark portfolio of 65000 active marks in 175 countries.
“WBD’s trademark holdings include some of the media and entertainment industry’s most recognised and valuable brands. These include various brands associated with its best-in-class film and TV business, such as Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO, DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman), Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird), Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo), Harry Potter/Wizarding World, Cartoon Network, Discovery, HGTV, Food Network, Eurosport, CNN, and Turner Entertainment (The Wizard of Oz, Tom and Jerry), among many others.
“WBD’s enforcement measures are extensive, with well over 44,400 active opposition and cancellation actions pending worldwide. WBD manages its trademark function internally soup to nuts—including clearance, prosecution and enforcement. Likewise WBD’s brand protection team is best-in-class and successfully pursues infringements, including counterfeiting activity in virtually every part of the world daily.
“David assumed his current role in Spring 2023 and was tasked with integrating the legacy WarnerMedia and legacy Discovery IP functions. Prior to assuming his current role, David was senior vice president for IP and litigation at Discovery. David quickly adopted a “One Team” approach to managing the IP function—empowering his team to work more closely with internal clients and truly understand their commercial objectives and how best the IP team can support them in achieving these objectives.
“A talented operational leader, he encourages his team to lean in, collaborate, share in successes and learn from setbacks. He truly views his team’s individual and collective success as his own.”