DEAL COPYRIGHT LAW is located in the beautiful university town of Charlottesville, Virginia, within sight of the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains. Our founder, David Deal, is a former magazine, advertising, and documentary photographer, and maintains extensive connections within the commercial photography industry. Our firm is passionate about representing visual artists concerning intellectual property issues, with a particular emphasis on photographic copyright infringement matters.
We believe our small size and singular focus lends itself to stronger working relationships with our clients, which leads to superior results in negotiations or at trial. Although we excel at litigating cases involving complex facts and legal issues, we regularly represent clients with much more straightforward needs which do not require the time and expense of litigation.
Our firm has successfully represented over 500 individual clients in over 3,500 cases involving copyright infringement of photographic works. Our attorneys are admitted in numerous Federal jurisdictions throughout the United States, including the busiest and most consequential ones: Southern New York, Eastern Virginia, Southern Florida, Northern Illinois, and Southern Texas. Our firm also maintains the ability to represent clients in all Federal jurisdictions by partnering with our extensive network of experienced local counsel and expert witnesses.
Our goal is to liberate creative professionals from getting bogged down in the time-consuming and difficult details of registering their photographs with the United States Copyright Office, drafting license agreements, and most importantly pursuing infringers of their copyrighted work, all with a minimum level of interruption to their business and artistic pursuits.
David C. Deal
david@dealcopyrightlaw.com | (434) 261-2704
David Deal is the founder of and principal attorney at Deal Copyright Law. David is a nationally recognized intellectual property attorney, specializing in copyright infringement matters on behalf of photographers and businesses throughout the United States and Europe. David has successfully litigated cases of all sizes and complexities in a majority of Federal jurisdictions.
In addition to working photographers, David represents the prospective heirs to The Estate of Vivian Maier. At the time of her death in 2009, Maier had captured hundreds of thousands of compelling images documenting city life in mid-century New York and Chicago, almost all of which had never been seen or appreciated by the public during her lifetime. David researched and wrote about the legal and moral issues involved when Ms. Maier’s work was exploited by individuals and organizations which did not possess copyright to her images (Moral Rights, Copyrights, and the Case of Vivian Maier, Villanova Law School, February 2013). During the past twelve years, David has performed exhaustive genealogical research on Ms. Maier’s extended family on behalf of his clients and heirs to Ms. Maier’s estate. David’s efforts led to the creation in 2014 of The Estate of Vivian Maier by the Cook County (IL) Probate Court, and more recently, an Order declaring heirship for the two maternal heirs to the estate.
Prior to founding Deal Copyright Law, David worked for twenty years as a freelance documentary and portrait photographer. He traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe on assignment, and his work was featured in magazines and newspapers throughout the world, including Time, Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Fortune, and Business Week. David photographed well-known athletes, politicians, and businesspersons, as well as individuals well outside the public view. In 2001, Alter Books published Prospects: A Portrait of Minor League Baseball, a collection of David’s photographs and short essays. His fine art photographs are included in the permanent collections of major museums and private collectors in the United States.
David is an avid runner, cyclist, and triathlete, and has competed in numerous long-distance road and trail races, as well as Ironman-distance triathlons.
Education:
J.D., Villanova University School of Law, 2013
B.S., Architecture, University of Virginia, 1993
Admissions:
Commonwealth of Virginia
State of Vermont (Inactive)
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Professional Memberships:
American Bar Association
Virginia State Bar
Copyright Society of the USA
Published Cases:
Brammer v. Violent Hues Productions, LLC, No. 18-1763 (4th Cir. 2019)
meredith atthowe
meredith@dealcopyrightlaw.com | (434) 261-2704
Meredith Atthowe grew up in the lush, green mountains of Rockbridge County, Virginia, where an early curiosity about food and nourishment took root. In 2002, Meredith earned a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) from The University of Virginia, then redirected her interest toward the soil. In 2010, Meredith and her husband founded Sandyfoot Farm, an organic vegetable farm located in Prince Edward County, Virginia, where she oversaw all farm operations.
Meredith also studied photography at The University of Virginia, and while at Sandyfoot Farm published a weekly newsletter which included her photographs and writing documenting life on the land and the beauty of each season.
Meredith manages all organizational aspects of our firm.