Ed Sybesma

Mr. Sybesma’s practice emphasizes general business, corporate, and transactional representation, including product distribution and competitive business practice issues; intellectual property practice, including trademark, copyright, advertising liability, unfair competition, privacy and publicity rights, and confidentiality and trade secret issues; and antitrust, fiduciary duty, and officer and director liability issues.

Mr. Sybesma is currently engaged Of Counsel with Rutan & Tucker, having been a partner from 1977 through 1997, when he changed his status in order to engage in outside business activities. He has been a member of both the Corporate and Trial Sections of the firm, maintaining an active practice in both disciplines throughout his career. He originally joined Rutan & Tucker in 1971, after graduating from the University of Michigan Law School, Order of the Coif.

Mr. Sybesma received his B.S. in Business Administration, with a minor in accounting, from Indiana University, graduating magna cum laude, in 1968. He formerly served as Corporate Director for Argent Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ACCT), Bauman Engineering, Inc., Hi Rel Connectors, Inc., Dick & Jean Enterprises, Inc., and Portolano Resort, Inc., and as General Counsel for D3V Entertainment Ventures and affiliated entities.

Areas of Expertise

• General Business and Corporate
• Product Distribution
• Internet and e-commerce
• Intellectual Property (Trademark, Copyright, Advertising, Confidentiality and Trade Secrets, Unfair Competition, Privacy and Publicity) 
• Antitrust
• Fiduciary Duties, Officer and Director Duties and Liabilities  
• Software and Technology

Representative Matters

• Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. and its affiliate BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC (“BFRC”) – Represented BFRC and numerous other defendants in the Trevor Law Group (or “CEWC”) Section 17200 Unfair Competition Cases, serving as lead defense liaison counsel, resulting in dismissal of all of the CEWC cases. Have also assisted with trademark, trade name, fictitious business name selections and registrations, and disputes in those areas and in connection with copyright and other intellectual property matters, legislative and regulatory advocacy, real estate litigation, and various other disputes and litigation.
• Christies Great Estates – General Representation for this Worldwide Association of Residential Real Estate Brokers.
• City of Anaheim – Trademark and Related Development Agreements with Respect to SportsTown Anaheim and The Anaheim Resort Developments.
• Clearview Capital Corporation – Represented this HUD Title I Loan brokerage company in matters of general representation and in a series of transactions with its bank credit and loan purchase facilities.
• D3V Entertainment Ventures – Served as General Counsel, providing general representation in connection with Las Vegas Hotel/Casino and other Entertainment Development Projects.
• DB Works – Successful defense of claims of ownership and right to assignment of copyrights to software created by client.
• DGWB, Inc. – Representation of this advertising agency on a wide range of intellectual property matters, both litigation and transactional, including ad copy reviews for advertising liability prevention.
• DM Properties – General Representation in connection with the formation and operation of Real Estate Investment Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies.
• Elpac Electronics, Inc. v. Whitemont Associates Limited Partnership, et al – Action for securities law violations and fraud in connection with Hotel investments, resulting in cancellation of client’s promissory note issued for the investment.
• Far West Management adv. The Opus Corp. – Defensive action for breach of software development and installation contract. Action resolved by court action dismissing with prejudice both the complaint and cross complaint.
• Goodwill Industries of Orange County – Representation in connection with all trademark matters; WebSite and Web hosting agreements and advice; software licensing and other technology contracts.
• Hang-Ups Art Enterprise, Inc. adv. Images International. Inc. – Retained after client suffered a multi-million-dollar judgment for trademark infringement, which was thereafter settled for $375,000.
• In.vision Research, Inc. – Wide range of software licensing and software OEM agreements.
• INOVx Solutions, Inc. – Representation in connection with all trademark matters; technology development agreement.
• Leisure Entertainment Development & Operations International, Inc. – General representation for this Location Based Entertainment (LBE) Development and Consulting Firm.
• Management Resource Center, Inc. – General representation for this investment banking firm, as well as representation of elected client in connection with financing and acquisition transactions.
• Mines Exploration, Inc. – Outside General Counsel for this California-based hard rock mining company, including general corporate representation, representation in connection with various mining lease agreements, including with Houston Oil & Minerals Exploration Company (Tenneco, Inc.) and Glamis Rand Mining Company (Glamis Gold, Inc.); as well as a wide range of litigation, including litigation by which management regained control of the company from its then largest shareholder and was successful in canceling the stock, note, and first trust deed on company’s property, held by that shareholder.
• Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America adv. Pollock – Successfully obtained a voluntary dismissal of action based on claims of fraud, unfair competition and antitrust violations.
• NetChemistry, Inc.– Outside General Counsel providing representation on general matters, including responsibility for trademark matters, software licensing, and other intellectual property issues and transactions.
• NorthropGrumman Corporation – Representation in connection with a variety of real estate related disputes and transactions.
• Northwestern National Life Insurance adv. NWKL Partners – Coordination and compulsion, without litigation, of final partnership dissolution and accounting.
• Open Architecture Systems Inc. adv. Erb Lumber Co. – Copyright infringement claim asserted by our client, software developer, resolved without litigation after demand and negotiation based on payment of royalty, acknowledgment of copyright, and further covenants.
• Prime Financial Corporation – Represented the purchasers in the stock acquisition of this HUD Title I Loan servicing company, and later represented the owners in the sale of substantially all of the assets and going business of the Company; ongoing general representation thereafter in connection with long term winding up of remaining matters.
• Receiver’s Counsel, Vesper Corporation Receivership, Sealy M. Yates, Receiver – General Counsel in $20 million Securities Fraud Receivership involving a corporation and 66 real estate limited partnerships.
• Sale of Great Estates, Inc., to Christie’s Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Christie’s International plc. – Sale of corporate stock along with negotiation of contingent earnout and ongoing employment arrangements.
• Systems Science & Software v. Manufacturing & Consulting Services, Inc. – Successful defense of a complaint alleging theft of software trade secrets and prosecution of a cross complaint for defamation and interference with contractual and economic relations. Settlement resulted in a new, multi-million dollar contract for our client.
• TAI [ValCom] Computer Center adv. SoftwaireCentre International – Assisted in preserving three year multi-million dollar statewide software contract awarded to client by the California Department of General Services against attack by third party competing bidder.
• TAI [ValCom] Computer Center adv. Zeno Computer Products – Negotiations and threatened action with original contractor on an Air Force computer hardware procurement contract, after entire contract was subcontracted to our client, resulting in recovery of over $1 million.
• Unicon Conversion Technologies, Inc. – Outside general counsel; handling wide range of software license and services agreements, intellectual property issues, employment issues, real property issues, and other matters of general representation.
• VelociTel, Inc. – Responsibility for all U.S. trademark matters, and for supervision of all foreign trademark registrations.

Other Activities

• Mr. Sybesma has also served as panelist, presenter, or moderator at various functions including the Mealey’s Section 17200 Conference, the Orange County Bar Association, American Electronics Association, and Orange County Venture Forum, and to private groups such as the Fluor Corporation annual legal counsel retreat and Rutan & Tucker internal MCLE courses.