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Carl Person

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Carl E. Person (pronounced /ˈpir sən/) is an American attorney and candidate for the 2012 U.S. Libertarian Party presidential nomination.

Background and Education

Carl E. Person was born in Manhattan and has lived in New York State most of his life with the exception of 2 years when his family lived in Nebraska and his 3 years of service in the U.S. Army. Person dropped out of Northport (NY) High School after his sophomore year, and joined the U.S. Army for a 3-year enlistment. His service included two years on Okinawa as a ship to shore high speed radio operator, to send and receive Morse code. Despite his lack of a high school diploma, Person was accepted by Long Island University, Brooklyn campus, where he was eventually elected president of the student council. After graduating from LIU near the top of his class, Person attended Harvard Law School, graduating third in his class in 1962, and was admitted to the New York bar later that year.

From 1962 to 1968, Person worked as an associate attorney for three New York corporate law firms, including Mudge, Stern, Baldwin & Todd, which accepted Richard M. Nixon as a partner in 1962, shortly after Nixon lost his first bid for the presidency to John F. Kennedy. In 1968, Person started his own law practice, and has been an individual practitioner ever since. Person’s law practice from the start has focused on litigation in federal and state courts. His first case, an antitrust action, was brought against General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation and others, and lasted 18 years. Person’s litigation experience includes civil rights, antitrust, mortgage foreclosure defense, securities fraud, copyright, trademark, age discrimination, price discrimination, employment termination, franchise termination, and other cases in which individuals and/or small businesses have claims against major corporations or government agencies.

Notable Cases

In 1970, Person commenced his litigation practice by filing an antitrust action on behalf of a group of National Auto Brokers Corp. against General Motors, Ford and Chrysler and 60 other defendants.[1] To help him afford the cost of going up against the leading corporations in America, Person in 1972 founded the Paralegal Institute and was instrumental in creating the paralegal field, as the nation’s second paralegal school. Today there are more than 1,000 paralegal training programs.[2]

Person spent more than 20 years in the practice of intellectual property law. Thirty years after the 1962 doo-wop hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" was at the top of the charts, Person recaptured the song's copyright for members of the group "The Teenagers" in a landmark case[3] Person represented playwright Mark Dunn in a case against Paramount Pictures alleging that The Truman Show was essentially similar to "Frank's Life", which appeared in a New York theatre several years before.[4] In another case, Thee v. Parker Brothers, Inc., Eastern District of New York, Index No. 75–1554, commenced about 15 years after the game “Artifax” was first submitted to Parker Brothers by artist Christian Thee, Person obtained a jury verdict for Thee holding that he had been allegedly defrauded by Parker Brothers’ publication of the game “Masterpiece”.[5]

When Ralph Anspach invented a game he called “Anti-Monopoly”, Parker Brothers charged that it infringed on their copyright and trademark for their game, Monopoly, and a lower court agreed. All of Anspach’s inventory of his game was dumped in a Minnesota landfill pursuant to court order. Person obtained a reversal in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld this victory when it denied certiorari.[6]

Person has functioned as a private attorney general in many cases, enforcing civil rights and antitrust laws on behalf of individuals and small businesses.

[7]

Business background

Person has been a solo practitioner of law since 1968. Person was instrumental in creating the Paralegal career field when, in 1972, he opened a proprietary school in New York City, Paralegal Institute, to train paralegals, the second paralegal school in the country. The school continued under his management and ownership through 1990.

Personal

Person is married to Lu Ann Horstman, a songwriter, movie producer, and political activist. They have one child, a son.


References

  1. ^ National Auto Brokers Corp. v. General Motors Corp., 572 F.2d 953, 1978-1 Trade Cases P 61,931
  2. ^ http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article1177.pdf at p. 21
  3. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=KRAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=carl+e.+person+"Why+do+fools+fall+in+love%3F"+Teenagers+trial&source=bl&ots=38qV1euR4c&sig=JbMwnlnYqOf3-qKYZYOfSf6tHaE&hl=en&ei=DdyFTOGMH8OBlAe5vK3bDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=carl%20e.%20person%20%22Why%20do%20fools%20fall%20in%20love%3F%22%20Teenagers%20trial&f=false
  4. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/183572.stm
  5. ^ http://www.opengavel.com/opinions/1978/F/090/1978-F090-03090001.html and http://books.google.com/books?id=A9IxOrv-R4QC&pg=PA163&lpg=PA163&dq="christian+thee"+"parker+brothers"&source=bl&ots=inLyeWyIma&sig=J0ou5hKe6WHCX6JJENcw-w14wHk&hl=en&ei=QOCFTO-sKoWClAew_5y7Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22christian%20thee%22%20%22parker%20brothers%22&f=false
  6. ^ Anspach, Ralph (2000). The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle (Second edition ed.). Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 0-7388-3139-5
  7. ^ Person v. Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Eastern District of New York, Index No. 75 C 1473 (First Amendment right to sell shares in lawsuits and right to compensate expert witnesses on a contingent-fee basis); Person v. Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Eastern District of New York, Index No. 75 Civ. 987 (First Amendment right of lawyers to advertise); Person v. New York City Economic Development Corp., et al., Southern District of New York, Index No. 01 Civ. 8003 (action to stop the City and State of New York from providing financing to construction of a new Yankee Stadium and New York Mets Stadium); Person v. Google, Inc., Northern District of California, Index No. C-06-7297 (allegations that Google is monopolizing the market for search advertising); Person v. New York City Council, et al., Southern District of New York, Index No. 10 Civ. 6304 (allegations that voters have been deprived of the representation of their elected New York City Council members by reason of the City Council Speaker’s alleged control of alleged slush fund payments to non-profit organizations with members’ Districts)

[[Category:United States Army soldiers] [[Category:


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