Digital Assets / Rights Management Expert Witnesses: 4

Chris Silver Smith is an Internet Marketing Expert who has served in lawsuits involving search engine optimization (SEO), search advertising (Pay-Per-Click advertising / PPC), social media, domain names, and more.

Mr. Smith bears the distinction of long occupying the topmost organic rankings for searches for "SEO Expert Witness", establishing that he is a not only able to speak to the theory of search engine optimization, but is also able to practice it. Smith's legal work has enabled his clients collectively to be awarded more than $94 million in their court cases, and his clients prevailed in the majority of cases he has served upon.

Litigation Support - Mr. Smith helps large companies and large brand names protect their marks in trademark infringement cases and online defamation cases. He has served as an expert on behalf of PODS Enterprises, Starbucks, Versace, GoDaddy, Adidas, and others. He does not assist companies involved with gambling, porn, recreational pharmaceuticals, tobacco, alcohol, multi-level marketing, or cults.

Specializations:

Background Experience - Mr. Smith has a diverse background as he was self-taught programming in high school, and was first trained in hypertext, the protocol subsequently succeeded by HTML, which continues to be the dominant markup language for webpages. Smith also learned higher-level C programming language in college, and later went on to work for a decade for Verizon where he ultimately was head of the technology department for one of the company's largest websites. In his roles at Verizon, Mr. Smith performed software development in multiple internet programming languages that included a proprietary Verizon language, PERL, PHP, and JAVA. 

Mr. Smith also provided user-interface design and served as an analyst. He was promoted to overseeing multiple developers and teams for usability research, search engine development, SEO, graphic design, internet analytics, advertising system design, and advanced research. As the company's pioneer in SEO research, Mr. Smith was awarded the company's highest honor, the Individual Excellence Award, for increasing search engine referral traffic and associated revenues. Smith's contribution also resulted in multiple patents awarded for search and presentation technologies.

After leaving Verizon, Mr. Smith worked for a couple of prominent and exclusive internet marketing companies before founding his own agency at Argent Media™.

Chris Silver Smith has long been a writer for Search Engine Land, one of the industry's top news and information websites for search engine marketing, and he has spoken at numerous conferences on his areas of expertise. 

View Argent Media™ Consulting Profile.

Donald A. Jasko, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Economics, is an attorney by training. He has for many years focused his energies on the Economic, Technological, and Legal issues involved in the Publishing and Licensing of Creative Content.

Mr. Jasko served in various management positions at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), in which he was instrumental in transforming the process by which performance rights in musical compositions are licensed for television broadcast. He was a key participant in the complex music industry negotiations that culminated in the new "per program" license, as well as the development of the process by which music performance and pricing data are exchanged electronically between television broadcasters and performing rights organizations.

After a 16-year career with ASCAP, Mr. Jasko resigned from ASCAP to found Digital Economics. He then became a major catalyst in the merger of Solana Technology Development Corporation with Aris Technologies, creating Verance Corporation. He joined Verance with key product development, business affairs, marketing and sales responsibilities. He also played a key role in forging international joint ventures.

After nearly two years of service in Verance management, Mr. Jasko returned to the leadership of Digital Economics. As Chief Executive Officer, he provides publishing administration, license administration and product development services to Digital Economics' clients.

Litigation Support - Mr. Jasko serves as a strategist and expert witness in litigation involving best practices in publishing and licensing administration, and the monetization of creative content, catalog valuation, and technology strategy and implementation as they relate to content metadata and content identification.

Areas of Expertise:

• Publishing and licensing creative content, including musical compositions, master recordings, digital sound recordings, photography and art;
• Monetizing public performances of musical compositions and digital sound recordings, and the creative content of writers, directors, actors, and musicians;
• Developing, deploying and monetizing databases of content metadata associated with programming, advertising and editorial;
• Using ratings data to monetize programming, advertising, and the creative content incorporated therein.; and
• Developing, deploying and using digital fingerprint and watermark technologies to monetize public performances of programming, advertising, and the creative content incorporated therein.

View Digital Economics' Consulting Profile.

Jacob Sharony, PhD, MBA, has over 25 years of experience in Mobile and Wireless Technologies. He is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University, teaching wireless technologies and applications. He also served as a faculty member of the electrical and computer engineering department and director of the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology at Stony Brook University. Dr. Sharony held engineering and management positions in diverse technology disciplines at Time Warner Cable, Motorola, BAE Systems, NEC Research Institute, and IBM Research. He has over 50 US patents (pending and issued) and has served on several government expert panels.

Litigation Support - Dr. Sharony provides Patent and Class Action litigation support and expert consulting in mobile and wireless technologies. This includes patent infringement and invalidity analysis, FRAND analysis, writing expert reports, and deposition, and testimony in court. His deep knowledge of target markets, including telecom, healthcare, logistics, transportation, government, hospitality, mobile commerce and supply chain management, combined with extensive expertise in wireless and mobile technologies ensure innovative and successful solutions.

Areas of Expertise:

View Dr. Sharony's Consulting Profile.

Bruce Weiner is an Information and Internet Technology executive with over 30 years of in-depth experience managing product and software development for contracting companies and Fortune 100 companies. Since 2012, he has been a Technology leader at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Mr. Weiner is a Princeton trained computer scientist and electrical engineer, and a patent holder. Over his career, he has gained extensive experience in Information Systems management, program/project management, software development, software architecture, internet delivery, business applications, technology vendor selection, IT Outsourcing, and customer contact center operations.

Litigation Consulting Services: Mr. Weiner has experience as a consulting and/or testifying expert witness in software development, patent infringement, and commercial litigation matters for both plaintiffs and defendants. He is adept at translating complex software, patent, and technology issues for the lay person audience. He consulted on industry transforming anti-trust cases in the travel industry.

Industry Experience:

• Travel Industry Technology - Former technology leader for American Express Travel and Chief Technology Officer of United.com;
• Loyalty Industry Technology - 30 years experience in the technology that powers loyalty programs, working on Membership Miles, Thank You Rewards, Mileage Plus, #1 Gold, eRewards, MyPoints, Blockbuster Rewards, and AAdvantage
• Financial Services Technology – 30 years experience working with Financial Services Companies (American Express, Citibank, and Chase) on credit card and banking technology.