Matthew R.D. Vittone

Matthew R.D. Vittone is counsel to the Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations Group representing agencies, brands and media companies in connection with advertising, branded entertainment, intellectual property and digital media matters. He is recognized by Best Lawyers in America in the 2023 edition of “Ones to Watch” for Intellectual Property law. The Legal 500 lists him as a “Rising Star” in Advertising and Marketing for 2021 and as a “Key Lawyer” for 2023.

Mr. Vittone is experienced in structuring and negotiating the full spectrum of advertising industry transactions. He works with clients on creative services and media agreements, agency-client agreements, talent, endorsement and influencer agreements, sponsorship agreements, branded entertainment agreements, production agreements, and music and other content licenses and releases. His practice also includes counseling clients on a variety of advertising, marketing and intellectual property law matters, including copy and content review, advertising claims and substantiation, social media guidelines, copyright, trademark and right of publicity issues, data protection and privacy and regulatory compliance.

Mr. Vittone is a frequent speaker at major legal and industry conferences. Recent speaking engagements include presentations for the Brand Activation Association, the Society of Digital Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, Creative Operations Exchange, the Federal Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association and ProLawCLE. He has presented on topics including “Key Issues in Agency-Client Agreements: Considerations in Times of Crisis”; “Influencer Marketing”; “Avoiding Potential Legal Pitfalls of In-House Video Production – Permissions, Use, Digital Rights & Clearances and Content Licensing”; “Hot Topics in Advertising and Marketing Law”; and “Right of Publicity – Permissions and Consumer Consents”.

Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, Mr. Vittone was an attorney in the corporate group at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he represented companies in entertainment and other industries in complex business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, corporate reorganizations and joint ventures. His previous professional experience also includes work for the in-house legal groups of MTV Networks, Home Box Office (HBO) and video game developer Harmonix, and music law firm Carroll, Guido & Groffman.

As a student at Harvard Law School, he assisted the litigation team representing artist Shepard Fairey in presenting a “fair use” defense to copyright infringement claims regarding the iconic “HOPE” image of Barack Obama. He was also awarded a Cravath International Fellowship for clinical work at the Arts Law Centre of Australia, a non-profit organization providing legal advice, education and resources to Australian artists and arts organizations.

Matthew is admitted to practice in New York.