Frank J. Azzopardi

Partner

frank.azzopardi@davispolk.com

Mr. Azzopardi, a member of Davis Polk’s Corporate Department, has extensive transactional experience in overseeing intellectual property, technology and media-related issues arising from corporate transactions, such as mergers, asset sales, reorganizations, spinoffs, licensing and supply arrangements, joint ventures, collaborations and rights agreements. His experience includes advising entertainment and media, information technology, biotechnology, investment banking, private equity and other clients on a variety of matters.

Mr. Azzopardi also consults in connection with intellectual property disputes, especially in the area of copyrights, trademarks and passing off. Among others, he has recently advised Comcast, NBCUniversal, Bertelsmann, Yahoo!, Baidu, Roche, Novo Nordisk, Warner Chilcott, Polo Ralph Lauren, VF Corporation, Aetna, Texas Instruments, Symantec, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bridgewater, Tailwind Capital and Syngenta.

See “The Name Game: Fund Firms Scramble for Monikers They Can Call Their Own,” Wall Street Journal, October 2, 2012, and “Facebook’s Flotation,” The Economist, April 24, 2012.

Contact

New York
450 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017
P: 212-450-6277
F: 212-607-7425

Related Practices

Bar Admissions

State of New York

Education

B.Com., University of Melbourne, 1996
LL.B., University of Melbourne Law School, 1997
- with honors

Work Highlights

Representations

ARM’s acquisition of rights to MIPS Technology’s patent portfolio
Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA in connection with the combination with Pearson plc of their trade-book publishing companies, Random House and Penguin Group, respectively
Getty Investments in connection with the $3.3 billion acquisition of Getty Images, Inc.
NBCUniversal in connection with its acquisition of Microsoft Corporation’s 50% share of the MSNBC Digital Network joint venture, including negotiation of a complex set of post-closing commercial arrangements
Comcast in connection with the creation of its NBCUniversal joint venture
Comcast in connection with the creation of the technology joint venture with, among others, Verizon Wireless and Time Warner Cable
Warner Chilcott in connection with its acquisition of The Procter & Gamble Company's global pharmaceutical business
Bertelsmann in connection with the sale of its 50% interest in SonyBMG to Sony
Citigroup in connection with the intellectual property and technology aspects of its joint venture with Morgan Stanley that combined Morgan Stanley’s Global Wealth Management Group and Citigroup’s Smith Barney retail brokerage units in the U.S., U.K. and Australia into a new entity, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Symantec in connection with its acquisition of the authentication and identity security business of VeriSign
Baidu in connection with its majority investment in Qunar
BearingPoint, Inc. in connection with the sale of its various business units in the United States and around the world
Roche in connection with its acquisition of BioImagene
Golf Channel, Versus, Comcast SportsNet, G4 and E!, among others, in connection with various programming matters
Citibank in its pre-purchase of AAdvantage frequent flyer miles from American Airlines as part of an amendment and extension of the existing Citi/AAdvantage credit card agreement
Novo Nordisk in its acquisition of certain patents from Neose Technologies, including negotiating agreements between Novo Nordisk and a third party relating to the licensing and joint prosecution of certain patents
Comcast and its affiliates, CAL and CCAD, in connection with the development and licensing of certain conditional access technologies utilized in the cable industry
Comcast in connection with the intellectual property and technology aspects of its $1.05 billion investment in Clearwire, a company resulting from the combination of the high-speed wireless businesses of Sprint, Nextel and Clearwire and which is focused on expediting the deployment of the first nationwide mobile WiMAX network
Harvard University in its agreement with Google, allowing Google to digitally index certain book collections of Harvard’s library and make them full-text searchable via free online access

Recognition

The Legal 500 U.S. (2011, 2012) lists Mr. Azzopardi as a recommended lawyer and recognizes Davis Polk as a leading firm in Intellectual Property: Patent Licensing and Transactional Law.

Of Note

Member, Board of Directors, probono.net

Professional History

Partner, 2008-present
Associate, Davis Polk, 2001-2008
Associate, Allens Arthur Robinson, 1998-2001

News

Davis Polk Advises CITIC Capital Partners on Its Acquisition of AsiaInfo-Linkage

Davis Polk Advises Baidu on Its Acquisition of the Online Video Business of PPS

Davis Polk Advises Strategic Partners on Its Sale to Blackstone

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Publications

2006

Trade Mark Issues in the Financial Services Industry | Trade Marks at the Limit

Client Publications

Sunbeam Products – Offering a Ray of Light for Trademark Licensees When Licensors File for Bankruptcy
Client Memorandum

Bilski v. Kappos: U.S. Supreme Court Declines Categorical Rejection of Business Method Patents
Client Memorandum

In re Exide Technologies: A Ray of Hope for Trademark Licensees When Licensors File for Bankruptcy?
Client Memorandum

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