PERSONAL PROFILES
Dennis F. Fredricks is a lawyer licensed in the States of California and Ohio with a dual specialization in international business law and entertainment law. He is an advisor and counselor to domestic and international manufacturers and distributors of industrial and commercial goods in the formation of business associations, and in contract negotiation, financing and commercial dispute resolution. He is also regularly referred or retained by other lawyers in matters involving cross-border litigation or transactions between U.S. and European parties.
A major California industry in which Mr. Fredricks counsels is media and entertainment, personally advising film, television, internet, DVD and video production and distribution companies in several countries of North America and Europe. He acts as production counsel in Los Angeles for independent feature films and television programs and transacts in literary works of authors and screenwriters. Similarly he represents sellers and collectors of vintage art as well as contemporary painters.
In additional to commercial businesses, Mr. Fredricks represents a number of 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations, foundations, charities and cultural institutions.
Mr. Fredricks is the managing attorney of the Los Angeles based law firm of Fredricks & von der Horst. The firm has corresponding law firms in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The firm has an in-house language bank that includes French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish.
In 2002, Mr. Fredricks was named Special Counsel (Vertrauensanwalt) of the Consulates General of both the Federal Republic of Germany and of Austria. With the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Mr. Fredricks had been the European Chairman of the International Law Section from 1995-1996, and served on the Board of Governors of the Business Law Section. He is a member of the German American Chamber of Commerce since 1990 and the firm is a founding member of the international media lawyers organization Media Attorneys International (MAI). Mr. Fredricks, through his firm, has sponsored an in-office internship program in international business and entertainment law for legal interns from Europe since 1991.
Mr. Fredricks has chaired or moderated live and recorded symposia for the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) on the subject of international business, and for the Voice of America Radio broadcasts from Los Angeles as well as for the Exame Group in Sâo Paolo, Brazil on the subject of media and entertainment. In January, 1998, he taught a seminar in Los Angeles on the subject of new developments in film and television contracts for European television companies, and hosted a roundtable program of comparative law for Austrian lawyers. In 2001, Mr. Fredricks instituted a mini-seminar series for diplomats and interns studying in Los Angeles at various diplomatic missions, government offices and private law firms. In 2005, the seminar series was expanded to include the subject of “Domestic and International Probate”.
Mr. Fredricks has written or co-written several publications and articles on the topics of business associations and entertainment. In March, 1997, he was the co-author of the publication “Unternehmensgründung in Kalifornien” for the German American Chamber of Commerce. In March and in October, 1998, he was interviewed on U.S. national television on the subject of copyrighting intellectual property and then negotiating its sale within the entertainment industry, and in April, 2000, for VOX Television (Germany) on the subject of German film subsidies. He was interviewed on the subject of film and television coproduction in the November, 1998, edition of Los Angeles Film and Music, and the German monthly Stadtmagazin on the subject of Europeans establishing companies in the U.S. in May, 2000. In Spring, 2003, he was the guest on a local Los Angeles talk show, interviewed on the subject of international business law.
Mr. Fredricks is a reference counsel for several European Consulates as well as Trade Commissions and Chambers of Commerce. On April 20, 2001, he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz by the Federal Republic of Germany. On November 11, 2001, he was awarded the Amicus Poloniae by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland.
Dr. Rutger von der Horst is associated with the firm of Fredricks & von der Horst, providing services primarily in Germany and the European Union. His emphasis lies in the field of media law. This field covers the negotiations and drafting of contracts in the areas of eCommerce, web advertising, on- and offline multimedia productions, entertainment (music, film and radio), licensing and the protection of copyrights, competition law, trademarks and marketing strategies.
In the end of summer 1997, he established MAI – MedienAnwälteInternational (Media Lawyer International, www.mai-law.com). This is an information pool for media lawyers organized as a network of independent law offices. This was followed in October, 1997, by the establishment of the multimedia-pool originally in Münster, Germany, set up as an institution for professionals in the field of multimedia and IT.
From 1994 until 1996, Dr. von der Horst worked as a lawyer and lobbyist for the “Deutsche Landesgruppe der IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), “Bundesverband der Phonographischen Wirtschaft” (Federation of the Phonographic Industry) and the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (Society of the Utilization of Licensing Rights) in Hamburg. He was responsible for the licensing of functional music. He also represented the interests of the foundations as a lobbyist towards the legislative power and ministerial departments, especially with a focus on developing and adaptation of copyrights and media law in the on- and offline area which has become necessary due to new technologies.
During his activities for the Parliament of the European Union, in 1991 he drew up the substantial work sheet to advise the Parliament about the harmonization of international copyrights. Dr. von der Horst gained practical experience in the Anglo-American case law when he worked in a major law firm in Los Angeles in 1992.
In 1995, he finished his doctoral thesis “European Radio Law”. In the meantime, he wrote several essays and articles in the field of copyright and media law and he gave a lectures about the aspects of copyright and competition law of on- and offline multimedia productions.
Dr. von der Horst is a member of the legal committee of the “Deutscher Multimedia Verband” (German Multimedia Foundation) in Düsseldorf, of the legal committee of the “Zentrum für interactive Medien” (Centre of interactive media) in Cologne and of other foundations that are working in the field of copyright and media law.
Since 2003, Dr. von der Horst is admitted to the Court of Appeal of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.
Christian Eimer started at Fredricks & Vonderhorst in November, 2006, in a dual capacity, serving in both the core business and media practice of the firm as well as in the ancillary specialty of estate planning and probate. He has been a practicing lawyer since 2002, admitted in his native Germany, AK Frankfurt. His application to the State Bar of California is pending.
Mr. Eimer brings extensive media and entertainment law experience to the firm, having worked from July 2002 through July, 2006 in the legal department of the national broadcasting network Second German Television (ZDF) at its headquarters in Mainz. There he had full charge of all contractual matters involving the new digital broadcasting channels ZDFdokukanal and ZDFinfokanal and was responsible for questions of German and European Union copyright law and broadcasting law.
His California estate planning and probate support work he began in Los Angeles in 2006, emphasizing living trusts and international planning considerations, as well as complex cross-border probate proceedings.
Mr. Eimer worked for the Texas-based Electronic Data Systems (EDS) company in the German legal affairs department, advising software and internet law. From March 1999 until February 2000, Mr. Eimer worked for the Goethe-Institut in Frankfurt am Main. He was a liaison for the international students and counseled them on visa issues. He worked as a free lancer in the news department for several German broadcasting companies (both television and radio), e.g. RTL Nord, NDR, ZDF.
He is an alumnus of the Freie Universität of Berlin and the University of Hamburg where he graduated in 1998 and passing the First State Examination, and becoming a licensed lawyer with his passing the Second State Exam in Hannover in May, 2002.
Christian Eimer is fluent in English and German and has a working knowledge of written and conversational French.
Martin Vorbrodt joined Fredricks & von der Horst in 2006, bringing to the firm specialized experience in IT law, intellectual property, licensing and music law. His work with law firms in Germany spanned the general field of international transactions and dispute regulation and his job at a major international media group gave him specialized experience in the area of business associations and intellectual property law. He counseled the group's European headquarters in matters of structuring issues, including establishment of the legal framework for the group's international cash-pooling system.
Mr. Vorbrodt's emphasis on Information Technology responds to the firm's growing clientele for services in software, internet piracy, personality rights, and related matters. Further, Mr. Vorbrodt offers also a strong background in entertainment law, in particular music law, having worked on both sides of the desk, as a music lawyer and as a musician with international recording deals. Within the music practice, Mr. Vorbrodt's experience covers publishing and copyrights, recording and distribution deals, orchestra and band organization, touring and merchandising, and agency and management issues.
After graduating from the University of Bielefeld in Germany with a Juris Doctor degree, he passed the German Bar Examination and wrote a thesis on the subject of legal frameworks for the composition of supervisory boards in German stock corporations.
Martin Vorbrodt is fluent in English and German and conversant in French, and is a candidate for the California State Bar Examination.