Bio

Barry Benjamin chairs Kilpatrick Townsend’s Advertising and Marketing group and is the Managing Partner of the firm's New York office. His practice focuses on advertising, privacy, and technology transactions, in areas where traditional and digital media converge, and where evolving distribution platforms and data gathering tools push the boundaries of intellectual property rights, privacy, technology, and content. Mr. Benjamin regularly advises clients small and large, from multinational corporations to start-up ventures, across numerous industries including retail, fashion, gaming, telecommunications, cosmetics, food and beverage, consumer products, and technology. Clients view Mr. Benjamin as a trusted advisor for assistance with disputes, often in the areas of false advertising, trademark, unfair competition, trade dress, and copyright, as well as general commercial and fraud claims. Mr. Benjamin has extensive experience representing companies in court, in competitor challenges and investigations through the self-regulatory advertising industry process (NAD), and in responding to and defending governmental and regulatory (FTC, State AG) inquiries and investigations. Mr. Benjamin regularly negotiates technology and commercial contracts, including advertising industry contracts such as agency-client deals, brand licensing, promotion, native advertising, celebrity talent, endorsement, influencer, and sponsorship agreements, as well as technology contracts such as website development agreements, programmatic media transactions, email marketing and list rental, software development, and hosting agreements. Mr. Benjamin also has an extensive and varied counseling practice, advising on the structure of and reviewing advertising and marketing campaigns, and drafting terms and conditions for all forms of marketing and promotion initiatives, including sweepstakes, online, mobile, and app games, skill contests, social media engagement, fantasy sports, email, text messaging, and charitable marketing and co-venture programs. He also assists clients with claim substantiation, consumer research, and product testing, with managing risks in social media engagement (rights of privacy and publicity, protection of intellectual property), and with the conduct of due diligence in transactions. With start-up, emerging growth companies, he assists with initial organization, financing, acquisition, and governance issues. Mr. Benjamin also contributes his time to the industry. He is a former member of the Board of Advisors / Directors of the Brand Activation Association (formerly the PMA) and is an active member of the BAA’s Government and Legal Affairs Committee. He is a former Co-Chair of the BAA Law Conference. Mr. Benjamin is a frequent speaker on advertising, marketing, privacy, and emerging media issues, and has written articles in many different publications. He is also the author of the chapter “Push the Boundaries, but Stay in Bounds: The Advertising Lawyer’s Role in an Increasingly Aggressive Marketplace,” in Advertising and Marketing Law (Aspatore, 2005). He has been recognized for many consecutive years as a New York “Super Lawyer” in the area of First Amendment / Media / Advertising Law by Super Lawyers magazine and has been listed for many consecutive years in The Best Lawyers in America® for Advertising Law. Mr. Benjamin is listed in the 2023 and the five years immediately preceding editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for Transactional and Regulatory Advertising and was also ranked nationally as a "Recognized Practitioner" in its 2023 and the five years immediately preceding editions. He has been recognized repeatedly for Data-Telecoms and Media Law in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers.