Her litigation experience spans a wide variety of entertainment disputes, including recording artists suing their bandmates, recording artists being sued by their bandmates, recording artists suing their record labels, music publishers being sued by their songwriters, personal managers being sued by recording artists, recording artists suing their personal managers, soundtrack producers suing their distributors, former trademark owners being sued by their trademark buyers, joint copyright owners being sued by their co-owners, copyright and trademark owners suing alleged infringers, alleged infringers being sued by copyright and trademark owners, animation film directors suing their producers, and many others.
She has also handled various business disputes between contracting parties, partners, LLC members, and employors/employees, in many different industries and in various venues, including Superior Court, federal court, AAA arbitration and mediation, and the California Labor Commission.
One of the first cases she worked on involved the novel claim that religious scripture could be protected as trade secrets (RTC v. Wollersheim). Wollersheim pitted RTC (the Church of Scientology’s trademark owner which controlled the Church’s scripture), against, among others, newspaper reporters using the “reporter’s privilege” to avoid disclosing their sources. A victory in another case involving religion was a claim filed in Pismo Beach. Koslyn sued the City Council on behalf of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and an atheist resident of the City alleging constitutional violations because the City appointed an official City Chaplain and opened their City Council meetings with prayer. Most often, these prayers were Christian prayers. Koslyn got the ideal settlement that achieved all the relief sought in the complaint: the City agreed to stop prayer and to terminate the position of City Chaplain, plus paid Koslyn’s and the FFRF’S lawyer’s attorneys’ fees. The settlement happened fast, within weeks after the lawsuit was filed.
Koslyn’s most noteworthy trial resulted in winning a $14.3 million jury verdict against Marion “Suge” Knight and Death Row Records on behalf of a music producer and a music publisher (who happened to be in jail at the time for cocaine possession) who owned the rights to music of the rap artist Kurupt. $10 million of this $14.3 million jury verdict was punitive damages, and this was the 8th largest punitive damage award in California during 2000. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s ruling in favor of Koslyn’s client.
Her expertise has been featured globally, on BBC World News https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci5alTnD6ZO/ , and in the national publications Rolling Stone, MTV News, Apparel News, USA Today and People. Koslyn has appeared on industry panels at the DIY Convention and University of Southern California, the KPFK radio show Samm Brown’s For the Record, and on television shows Entertainment Tonight, the E! Entertainment special, “Women on the ‘Net” and web television show “Asked and Answered.”
Pro bono litigation includes cases for the Feminist Majority (Rock for Choice), and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Pro bono work includes contracts for CineWomen, International Global Corps, the Exceptional Children’s Foundation, and Center for Inquiry. Community pro bono involvement includes grading the California Bar Exam, judging moot court competitons at UCLA and at Pepperdine Law School, and answering a rather ridiculous number of questions on the legal Q&A site AVVO.com
Rivas is one of Southern California’s preeminent entertainment attorneys, specializing in music and entertainment, serving, variously, as current or former outside counsel, in-house counsel, and general counsel, for domestic and international clients such as Pennywise, The Vandals, Kula Shaker (UK), Palaye Royale, Yoshiki, Hawthorne Heights, ALT BLK ERA (UK), The K’s (UK), Bad Cop Bad Cop, Strung Out, Fortunate Youth, The Mystery Lights, Dead Meadow, Bandshare (UK), Kung Fu Records, Hopeless Records, Fearless Records, Smarkpunk, Modern Sky (China), Fire Records (UK), ARTISTdirect, Lawrence Arms, Anti-Flag, Michael DesBarres, Michael “Miguel” Happoldt/Skunk Records, Jim and Jakob Nowell, LBDA, The Aggrolites, Robert Trujillo (Metallica), Kim Deal (The Pixies, The Breeders), Josh Freese (Sting, Nine Inch Nails), Taku Hirano (Bette Midler, Fleetwood Mac), Brooks Wackerman (Bad Religion, Tenacious D, Avenged Sevenfold), Kevin Lyman (Van’s Warped Tour owner/concert promoter), Joe Escalante (The Vandals, TV/radio executive/show runner), Corey Feldman (actor/producer), Larisa Love (brand ambassador), Ulrich Wild (record producer), Cameron Webb (record producer) and many others. Rivas has also consulted for corporate clients NBCUniversal, Sole Technology and LegalZoom.
Rivas’s transactional practice focuses on intellectual property, business affairs, corporate formation, mergers and acquisitions, and government filings. Rivas drafts, negotiates and advises clients with regard to a vast array of agreements, including corporate-sponsored record deals, “360″ major label deals, “singles” deals, production, publishing, merchandising, distribution, soundtrack, producer, ambassador, merchandising, partnership, operating and settlement agreements, along with music licensing for films, videogames, home video and TV programs.
She has successfully cleared immigration for the J Rock Festival line-up on behalf of producer/artist/entrepreneur Yoshiki, the Taste of Chaos Tour, X-Japan, M.I.A. and various business executives. Rivas has also acted as production counsel and music supervisor and has been credited as associate producer for a number of documentaries, live concert films and feature films, including “Rockstar’s Taste of Chaos Live” DVD/CD package (feat. My Chemical Romance) and “Van’s Warped Tour 2007 LIVE!” DVD, “Endless Bummer” and its soundtrack (feat. Katy Perry, Blink 182, Pennywise and Joan Jett), “She Makes Comics” and many others.
Since 2018, Rivas has served on the highly-esteemed Planning Committee for the USC Gould School of Law & Beverly Hills Bar Association Institute on Entertainment Law and Business. Rivas previously served on and co-chaired the Syllabus Committee.
Rivas has been quoted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal regarding politics and record deals; and also featured and quoted in the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly and the SF Weekly, regarding artist development and the concert industry. She has also produced and A&R’d artist showcases for NARAS, ASCAP and BMI, and has moderated or appeared on music industry panels at SXSW, CMJ, NXNW, NARIP, EAT’M, IPELS (LACBA), ASCAP, NARAS, California Lawyers For The Arts and universities including, UCLA, Loyola Law School, Biola and CSU Fullerton along with the DIY Convention, which she co-founded in 2000 with USA Today/Variety/Billboard journalist, Bruce Haring and most recently at the iHeart Music Festival & Conference in Sweden.
In addition to authoring many articles about performance rights in sound recordings, the Audio Home Recording Act and U.S. Copyright Law for NARIP over the years, she has testified on behalf of rights holders at hearings held by President Bill Clinton’s Information Infrastructure Task Force on Intellectual Property. She has been active with the Recording Academy’s lobbying efforts and received a grant to participate in the “Grammys on the Hill” program in support of artist rights legislation. She was also awarded substantial grants by the California State University system for various music industry education endeavors and honored by CSU Chico’s Provost with a generous financial award for her “Exemplary Performance” as an educator and more recently has also served as an adjunct professor at USC’s Thorton’s Masters program, teaching the capstone course on copyright.