Preferred Partner Network

Steven Masur, Founder
Masur & Associates, LLC

101 East 15th Street
New York, New York 10003
Phone: (212) 931-8220
Fax: (212) 931-8221
Email: smasur@masurlaw.com
Website: www.masurlaw.com

Service Offerings

Masur & Associates, LLC provides best-of-class legal services to media, entertainment and technology businesses.

We help our clients with media and technology licensing, copyright and trademark issues, corporate and partnership organization, financings, M&A, and strategic consulting. We structure deals and handle complex negotiations. When needed, our attorneys can function as general counsel, managing outside legal and business consultants and keeping legal fees within budget.

Our clients are engaged in media, software, hardware, wireless technology, music, film, video gaming, art, fashion, publishing, graphic and web design. Our specialty is making unconventional business models pay. We are known for rapid response times, partner-level access and the use of our extensive network of industry contacts to help clients build their businesses.

Billing Information

Our hourly rates are between $200 and $300 per hour. Our initial consultation fee is $250 for a one hour meeting, which we may waive at our discretion. When circumstances warrant it, we may agree to prenegotiated fees on a per project basis. Under certain circumstances, we practice "value billing" in which we adjust invoices to match value provided without regard to hours spent.

Estimated Response Time

Within 48 hours

Industry Specialization

Transactional, Media, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, Start-Up Business, Corporate and Finance. No Litigation.

Client Testimonials

Company Organization and Contract Drafting

Masur & Associates, LLC has helped hundreds of companies in their early stages with simple company organization, contract drafting and intellectual property protection.
First we evaluate the founder’s goals and growth plan for the company to determine whether a partnership, corporation, or LLC is best suited to the new company’s long term needs. Then, in addition to processing the formation paperwork, we work with the founders to develop a partnership, shareholder, or operating agreement tailored to fit the relationship of the founders and investors and the growth strategy of the company.
Next we evaluate the new company’s intellectual property and contract needs, any necessary protection issues and outline any work needed in the early stages of formation. Such work could include registering a trademark, drafting an employment or independent contractor agreement, or putting together a license or other agreement for the sale of the company’s products or services. We always remain focused on setting up the company correctly to avoid pitfalls and move quickly to profitability.
Before starting any work, we prioritize what work needs to be done first and schedule all of the work such that it fits within the company’s operating budget.

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Intellectual Property Licensing

Cductive.com was one of the first companies to sell downloadable (MP3) music and custom CD compilations. The primary competitive advantage in the business is to control the rights to the best selection of music. Masur & Associates, LLC assisted Cductive.com in its bid to acquire exclusive rights from independent record labels in their complete music catalogs during the most heated period of growth and competition in this market.
Masur & Associates, LLC attorneys worked closely with all levels of the Cductive staff from management to the in-house licensing team to draft strong revenue-generating music licensing agreements, which took into account the complex and changing landscape of Internet music licensing. Thereafter, our attorneys played an integral role in helping to negotiate deals with hundreds of record labels as Cductive. com raced to secure the best music for the service. Our firm worked as an outsourced general counsel, delivering high-speed turn around, with high quality results, often in the same day.
In addition, Masur & Associates advised Cductive on and drafted a variety of joint venture agreements and strategic affiliate deals, which helped Cductive build and maintain market share. When Cductive expanded operations into the foreign markets, Masur & Associates assisted in negotiating joint venture, employment and contractor agreements with key European consultants and sales representatives.
By nurturing daily personal working relationships with Cductive's staff and management, our attorneys were able to develop a level of trust, which allowed us to operate as an integral part of the Cductive team. Furthermore, we were able to deliver the value of an entire firm for the monthly cost of a single in-house associate. We have often served in this role when the business exigencies call for a highly efficient low-cost solution to finishing a large amount of legal work in a short amount of time, and when a company lacks the time or resources to train a full-time in-house legal staff to perform the same function.

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M & A and Employment Contract Negotiation

5th Floor Interactive was formed when four early employees of THINK New Ideas, Inc. left that company shortly after it went public. THINK New Ideas was one of the preeminent new media companies of its time and an early entrant in the nascent Internet industry, as well as a breeding ground for many successful Internet entrepreneurs. 5th Floor Interactive was formed to exploit the burgeoning market for high-end website development and systems integration.
Masur & Associates, LLC was engaged by the founders to organize 5th Floor Interactive, LLC, advise on its early financing and serve as general counsel. Masur & Associates, LLC drafted the company's LLC operating agreement and advised it on such issues as lease negotiation, member liability and compensation, employment and independent contractor issues, and negotiations with major clients. Within eighteen months of its formation, 5th Floor had built a growing concern with 10 full-time employees which served an impressive list of blue chip clients, as well as some venture-backed start-ups. When the management team began researching exit strategies, Masur & Associates, LLC helped them evaluate competing offers from a client and two publicly-traded web development and systems integration conglomerates. Ultimately, 5th Floor chose to merge with Xceed, Inc. (XCED) and engaged Masur & Associates, LLC as its counsel in this transaction.
In this capacity, Masur & Associates, LLC, engaged a tax counsel to research and recommend a workable tax structure and worked directly with management to negotiate nearly every aspect of the deal, from purchase price, to financing structure and stock registration issues, to employment agreement negotiations. Masur & Associates, LLC also completed a due diligence and internal liability assessment and minimization program.
As a result of the negotiations, the original 5th Floor members were able to obtain a good part of the purchase price in cash and the earliest possible registration rights for their equity portion as well as preferential severance packages. Each member eventually left Xceed, Inc. and Masur & Associates, LLC negotiated the terms of their departure. Because of Masur & Associates, LLC's performance during these negotiations, each of the original 5th Floor Members has continued his relationship with our firm and regularly contacts us for advice on new projects.

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Innovative Corporate, Tax and Intellectual Property Solutions

3-Legged Dog, Inc. is a not-for-profit media and theater group founded in New York in 1994. In 1999, Masur & Associates helped 3-Legged Dog form a for-profit subsidiary called Shape of Time, Inc., to develop and manage intellectual property created by 3-Legged Dog in the the course of fulfilling its not-for-profit mission. This intellectual property holding company will provide an income stream in the form of dividends to its not-for-profit parent, thereby creating a self-sufficient not-for-profit arts organization.
Shape of Time's first venture, Wet Electrics, has developed Production Designer, a software technology which allows a single operator to control, in real-time, all of the cameras, lights, computers and other elements which make up a modern staged production. The Production Designer software is derived from intellectual property originally developed at 3-Legged Dog, which will be licensed through Shape of Time, Inc. to third parties for business, entertainment, arts and educational applications.
Masur & Associates provided general corporate and tax legal serices to all three entities, and corporate and intellectual property and licensing advice to Shape of Time and Wet Electrics since their inception. Our attorneys helped Wet Electrics, Shape of Time and 3-Legged Dog, establish the overall corporate and tax structure that preserves the tax-exempt status of 3-Legged Dog, yet permits the not-for-profit to benefit economically from technological and artistic innovations that it develops.
In addition, the attorneys at Masur & Associates have handled all aspects of Wet Electric's formation, including drafting and negotiating the company's operating agreement, executive employment and independent contractor agreements, subscription agreements and equity incentive plan. Our attorneys have been instumental in helping Wet Electrics structure and negotiate equity investments and lending arrangements with such prominent equity investors as the New York Investment Fund, Rockefeller Foundation, the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation and the Artist's Federal Credit Union.
With Masur & Associates' assistance, Wet Electrics is quickly becoming a success and, as part of the Shape of Time and 3-Legged Dog group of companies, a self-supporting, not-for-profit arts organization, which can serve as a model for the future.

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