About:

Mark Edward Blankenship Jr. joined Ott Law Firm as an Associate in April 2021, and currently serves as the Media Law Committee Chair for The Missouri Bar. His specializations include: labor and employment law, commercial tort litigation, intellectual property law, sports and entertainment transactions and licensing, and data privacy law. In addition to handling employment and commercial disputes against tech companies and Fortune 500 businesses, Blankenship has represented musical artists and other entertainers in negotiations with various talents agencies, record labels, and producers both in and out of St. Louis. Blankenship has been featured in the 2023 Sports & Entertainment Attorneys POWER List for Missouri Lawyers Media.

Additionally, Blankenship has written legal scholarship involving the behavioral, technological, and societal influences impacting intellectual property law and Internet law, as well as the employment and labor aspects of the media and entertainment industries. His works have been featured in the South Carolina Law Review, the Northern Kentucky Law Review, the Nevada Law Journal Forum, the ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law, the Journal of Legislation, and many others (available on SSRN).

Blankenship obtained his Master of Laws (LL.M.), with an emphasis in intellectual property law, at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. He also received his Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law (2019), where he served as the Operations Manager for Volume 107 of the Kentucky Law Journal, the Vice President for the UK Sports & Entertainment Law Society, and as a research assistant for the Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law Brian L. Frye. During law school he did internships for the Georgia Public Defender, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville’s Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts (VLPA), and a judicial externship for Hon. Kimberly N. Bunnell of the Fayette County Circuit Court in Lexington, KY.

Prior to law school, he graduated magna cum laude from Georgia Southern University with a B.A. in Music (percussion emphasis), and a minor in Business. During his time at Georgia Southern University, Blankenship participated in various ensembles and became a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity and other honor societies.

Awards:

• Missouri Kansas City Super Lawyers Rising Stars List, Thompson Reuters (June 2024).
• Sports & Entertainment Attorneys POWER List, Mo. Lawyers Media (Sept. 2023).

Press:

• Nassim Benchaabane, Lawsuits Allege Ferguson Discriminated Against Black Women Workers, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Apr. 30, 2024).
• Rihem Akkouche, Catholic Hospital Vaccine Bias Suit Sees Judge’s Stunning Decision, USA Herald (Feb. 13, 2024).
• Emmy Freedman, Catholic Hospital’s Religious Status Dooms Vaccine Bias Suit, Law360 (Feb. 13, 2024, 1:44 PM EST).
• Former Head of Missouri Humanities Council Alleges Wrongful Termination Based Upon Age, Gender, and Political Association, St. Louis Post- Dispatch (Jan. 6, 2022).

Presentations:

• Panelist, Legal Issues in the Arts at Midwest Music Expo VII – Decatur, Illinois (May 4, 2024).
• Media Law Spring Committee Meeting – Secondary Copyright Infringement & Open AI, Mo. Bar (May 2, 2024).
• Media Law Fall Committee Meeting – Social Media Influencing and the Law, Mo. Bar (Nov. 13, 2023) (on file with author).
• Co-Founder, Missouri Free Speech Launch Meeting at Schlafly Library (June 1, 2023).
• Media Law Spring Committee Meeting – The Impact of CDA Section 230 on E-Commerce CLE, Mo. Bar (May 15, 2023) (on file with author).
• Media Law Fall Committee Meeting – Litigation Takeaways from 2022’s High-Profile Cases CLE, Mo. Bar (Nov. 17, 2022) (on file with author).
• Alumni Member, Copyright 101 Presentation at the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity 57th National Convention (July 22, 2022).
• Student Led Webinar, Cardozo Sch. L. (December 15, 2021) (on file with author)

Publications:

• Oli London in the Workplace: Transracial Identity and Employment Discrimination in the Post-Bostock Era, 38 A.B.A. J. Lab. & Emp. L. _ (forthcoming 2024).
• Gastrophysics and Intellectual Property Law: Analyzing the Legal and Market Effects of a Reimagined Form of Culinary Art and Science, 75 S.C. L. Rev. 471 (2023).
• “Apprenticeship” as IP Metaphor: A Modern & Innovative Natural Law Approach in Intellectual Property Law, 50 N. Ky. L. Rev. 33 (2023).
• Laid to Rust: Proposing Strict Liability in Tort for Prop Firearm Injuries Following the Alec Baldwin Shooting, 7 Nev. L.J. Forum 76 (2023).
• Oh Brother, Where Art Thou Royalties? Reflecting on the Emergence of Bluegrass and Appalachian Folk Music in Promoting the American Music Fairness Act, 49 J. Legis. 101 (2023).
• “I’m Not a Biologist”: A Hayekian Perspective on the Judge’s Implementation of Knowledge and the Umpire Analogy, 20 Rutgers J.L. Pub. Pol’y 77 (2023).
• Dead Frogs, Dissected Jokes, & Thin Copyright: Analyzing Copyrightable Elements and Legal Protection of Stand-Up Comedy, 2 Fla. Enter. & Sports L. Rev. 117 (2023).
• With Eyes to See and Ears to Beer: Navigating Multisensory Intellectual Property Rights in the Craft Beer Industry, 21 Wake Forest J. Bus. & Intell. Prop. L. 395 (2021).
• A Horse Walks into a Bar: Comparing Easterbrook’s Criticized Cyberlaw Analogy to the Study of Alcoholic Beverage Law & Regulation, 25 Ill. Bus. L.J. 41 (2020).
• Harry Potter & the “Chinese” Philosopher’s Stone: Deconstructing Copyright Piracy Through Shanzhai, 19 UIC Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 101 (2020).

Committee & Executive Positions

• Media Law Committee Chair, The Missouri Bar (Sept. 2022-Present)
• Co-Founding Member, MO Free Speech (Feb. 2023-Present)
• Solo/Small Firm Committee Chair-Elect, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (May 2024)
• Landslide Editorial Board Member, American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law (July 2024)

Memberships:

• American Bar Association (2021-Present)
• American Intellectual Property Law Association (2021-Present)
• Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (2021-Present)
• Federal Communications Bar Association (2022-Present)
• Intellectual Property Owners Association (2022-Present)
• International Association of Privacy Professionals (2021-Present)
• Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association (2022-Present)
• The Missouri Bar (2020-Present)