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BIOGRAPHY
Mark E. Avsec is a partner and Vice-Chair of the Innovations, Information Technology & Intellectual
Property (3iP) Practice Group of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP. He leads Benesch’s 3D
Printing Legal Team.
A copyright, trademark, and media lawyer by trade, and a litigator and business attorney, Mr. Avsec
focuses his practice on consumer products, music, and other entertainment-related licensing matters, as
well as mobile commerce and “old” and “new” media issues. Mr. Avsec provides general legal support to
various types of museums, technology, consumer products, media, music, film, software, creative content,
and content distribution companies. His practice includes complex technology licensing deals involving
creative content, 3D-printing industry-related counseling, copyright, trademark, and trade dress litigation,
copyright and trademark prosecution, fair use and rights of publicity/privacy counseling, celebrity
endorsements, and an expertise in privacy and data security compliance. Before becoming a lawyer, Mr.
Avsec earned a living as a studio musician, producer and songwriter, writing over 500 songs and producing
or performing on more than 35 albums for, among other artists, Carlos Santana (“Angel Love”), Bon Jovi
(“She Don’t Know Me”), Donnie Iris (“Ah! Leah!” and “Love Is Like A Rock”), Mason Ruffner (“Gypsy
Blood”) and Wild Cherry (“Play That Funky Music, White Boy”).
Mr. Avsec is an American Music Award winner and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. He
was a member of Wild Cherry and is the founding member of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers. As keyboardist
for Wild Cherry, Donnie Iris, Breathless, and Mason Ruffner, Mr. Avsec performed in concert with, among
others, Carlos Santana, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Average White Band, Loverboy, Bon Jovi,
Nazareth, Ted Nugent, Joan Jett, Cheap Trick, The Commodores, Earth, Wind and Fire, The Isley Brothers,
George Benson, Chuck Mangione, Journey, Brothers Johnson, Chaka Kahn and Rufus, Natalie Cole,
Graham Central Station, The Ohio Players, Tower Of Power, ABBA, George Clinton and the Funkadelics,
Bootsy Collins, The O’Jays, KC and the Sunshine Band, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Dr. John, Stevie Ray
Vaughan, Foreigner, UFO, The Romantics, Hall & Oates, KISS, The Iron City Houserockers, Foghat,
Triumph, Huey Lewis and The News, and Eddie Money. He has performed on many television shows,
including The Grammy Awards, Midnight Special, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, The Merv Griffin Show,
and The Dinah Shore Show.
Mr. Avsec regularly teaches and is a frequent speaker on entertainment, intellectual property, and media
topics. He serves as an Adjunct Law Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where
he has taught “Law of the Music Industry” since 2003. He is also a faculty member at the Great Lakes
Sports and Entertainment Academy, a joint program of Case Western Reserve University School of Law
and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, where he has taught music and
entertainment law since 2012. He has participated as a faculty member for the Federal Judicial Center and
the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology where he has presented on copyright law basics and
infringement analysis to federal judges with Professors David Nimmer and Peter Menell at the University
of California, Berkeley, Boalt School of Law.

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Mr. Avsec is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, a nonprofit youth
orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio and in residence at Cleveland State University. He is a member of The
American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers and is a former chairperson of The Volunteer
Lawyers for the Arts section of The Cleveland Bar Association. He also serves as a member of the
Cleveland Foundation’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Scholarship Fund Selection Committee.
Mr. Avsec is also a current member of the Dean’s Visiting Committee of Cleveland State University’s
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and sits on the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland
Metropolitan Bar Association.
Mr. Avsec earned his B.A. summa cum laude in 1992 and his J.D. magna cum laude in 1994 from
Cleveland State University. He is a ranked lawyer in Chambers USA 2015 and has been named an Ohio
“Super Lawyer” for Intellectual Property in 2008, 2012, 2013, and 2014. He is a member of the Leadership
Cleveland Class of 2014. He was named one of Cleveland State University’s most fascinating alumni.
Mr. Avsec remains active in the entertainment industry as a writer and a performer, regularly performing as
keyboard player with Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, Michael Stanley, and occasionally with The James
Gang, featuring Joe Walsh, Jimmy Fox, and Dale Peters. He produced a documentary film about
Cleveland, Ohio’s 11th
Annual High School Rock-Off and continues to compose and produce new music.
In February 2010, Carlos Santana released “Angel Love (Come For Me),” a song co-written by Mr. Avsec,
on Mr. Santana’s album “Supernatural – Legacy Edition.” In November 2010, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers
released “Ah! Leluiah! (the Christmas Album),” a critically-acclaimed concept album of Christmas music
entirely composed, arranged, and produced by Mr. Avsec. Most recently his songs were performed on the
following shows and networks: Arena Bowl Football; Bones; CBS NFL Football; CBS This Morning;
Extra; Hard Copy; Lightmusic; Metal Mania; NBC NFL Football; NBC Spoirts; NBC Sunday Night
Football; VH1 Best of American Bandstand; and Wet Hot American Summer (to name a few).
Recent Presentations
Featured speaker (The Future of 3D Printing), Association for Corporate Growth (Cleveland) (November
19, 2015)
Speaker, 3D Printing, The IP Strategy Summit (DEFENSE: CHICAGO) (October 13, 2015)
Guest Lecturer, Contemporary Youth Orchestra, APeak Summer Workshop, Drinko Recital Hall at
Cleveland State University (June 15, 2015)
Lead Speaker and Organizer, 3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing Symposium, Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame and Museum (May 6, 2015)
Intro to 3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing, Crains Webinar (April 27, 2015)
Speaker, Annual Symposium of the Entertainment and Sports Law Association at Cleveland-Marshall
College of Law: “Protecting and Monetizing the Publicity Rights of Athletes and Entertainers” (April 10,
2015)
Speaker and Panel Moderator, South By Southwest Music Conference 2015: “Licensing Made Difficult:
Issues Clearing Music Rights” (March 19/20, 2015)
Featured Speaker, Content Marketing World 2014: Copyright and Content (Cleveland Convention Center);
other speakers include such brands as Kraft Foods, Microsoft, Facebook, SAP, Cisco Systems, Coca-Cola
Brazil and more than 100 content marketing experts from around the globe (with actor, director, producer
Kevin Spacey as keynote speaker) (September 9, 2014)
Presentation for the Northern District of Ohio (U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson): Copyright
Infringement in the Creative Content Industries (May 21, 2014)

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Presenter, Leveraging Creativity: Artists, Entrepreneurship, and Intellectual Property Law sponsored by
the Center for Intellectual Property Research, Maurer School of Law, the Indiana University Jacobs School
of Music, and the Indiana Arts Commission (May 16, 2014)
Presenter, Film Director: Quality of Life/Cleveland Leadership Center (April, 2014)
Featured Speaker, Intellectual Property Law Society at the Ohio State Moritz College of Law: Copyright
Infringement and Fair Use (March 3, 2014)
Lead Speaker and Seminar Co-coordinator, Case Western Reserve University School of Law – Journal of
Law, Technology and the Internet (JOLTI) Symposium, “From Product to Service: The Digitization of
Culture” (February 28, 2014)
Keynote Speaker, Poynter Institute National Ethics Conference – Entertainment Journalism, Poynter
Institute / Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication (September 19, 2013)
Presenter/Faculty Member (The Federal Judicial Center and the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology,
University of California, Berkeley, Boalt School of Law) – presented music copyright law basics and music
infringement analysis to federal judges with Professors David Nimmer and Peter Menell
Featured Speaker, Severance Hall, Cleveland Ohio (invited by the Federal Judicial Bar) – music
infringement analysis
Publications
Featured cover story interview “3D Printing. It’s Here. It’s Now. It’s Rattling IP Law.” Metropolitan
Corporate Counsel (September 2015)
Numerous films on 3D printing, published through Benesch’s website
Featured cover story interview – Scene Magazine (“From Rock and Roll to Law School and Back Again:
Mark Avsec is Living the Dream”) February 2010
“‘Nonconventional’ Musical Analysis and ‘Disguised’ Infringement: Clever Musical Tricks to Divide the
Wealth of Tin Pan Alley” 52 Clev. St. L. Rev. 339 (2004-2005)
“Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films LLC: A New Standard As To What Constitutes Actionable
Infringement Of Sound Recordings In The Sixth Circuit” New York State Bar Association Entertainment,
Art and Sports Law Journal Vol. 15, No. 3 (Winter 2004).