Carolyn Wimbly Martin
Senior Counsel
carolyn@lutzker.com (202) 408-7600 ext. 8

Carolyn Wimbly Martin

Carolyn Wimbly Martin

EDUCATION

Harvard Law School, J.D. (1981)
Duke University, B.A. (1977, cum laude, Angier B. Duke Scholar)

BAR ADMISSIONS

District of Columbia
U.S. Supreme Court

In addition to her decades of experience as a practicing lawyer, Carolyn Martin has been a law professor, founder of an intellectual property consulting firm and corporate executive focusing on intellectual property, communications, contracts, mergers and acquisitions and venture capital. She has proven results in working with corporate and nonprofit clients to develop strategies, business ventures and market-driven product introductions. Carolyn has a special interest in copyright, privacy and artificial intelligence, particularly as they affect K-12 education and creative professionals.

Prior to joining Lutzker & Lutzker, Carolyn spent 16 years at Gannett Co., Inc., first as Assistant General Counsel for intellectual property, acquisitions and transactions before transitioning to Director of New Media, Planning and Development, where she focused on early stage strategic investing and served on the board of directors of startups, including The Away Network (sold to Orbitz), Luxury Link, LLC, I/PRO (Board Observer) and Legacy.com, Inc. Since its founding in 1998, Legacy has become the destination for online memorials and a top-50 website in the U.S. with more unique monthly visitors than Wikipedia or LinkedIn. Carolyn also represented Gannett at the MIT Media Lab, bringing the experiences of traditional media to transformative research and development. She helped build the USA TODAY brand and introduced over 50 new market-driven products in education, print, electronic publishing, and merchandising. Previously, she was in private practice at Dow, Lohnes & Albertson in Washington, D.C.

After more than two decades in the corporate world, Carolyn co-founded Giving Tree Group, LLC, a brand building and intellectual property development consulting firm for nonprofit organizations and value-based companies. Her clients have included Catholic Charities USA, Cambridge Information Group, CSA, the National Archives Experience, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Sitar Arts Center, Sotheby’s Institute of Art – London and New York, Healthy Teen Network, Historic Congressional Cemetery and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA/GLOBALCOMM).

For approximately 30 years Carolyn has been an Adjunct Professor of Intellectual Property, Media and Internet Law and Intellectual Property Management and Strategic Planning. She has taught at American University’s Washington College of Law, Howard University School of Law, George Mason School of Law and University of Maryland University College.

Her board experience also includes educational institutions and nonprofits focused on youth and educator development, including CollegeTracks, Young Artists of America, Georgetown Day School (Board President 2008-2010), Center for Inspired Teaching, National Child Research Center, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University and Greater Washington Boys & Girls Clubs.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES

Carolyn has spoken internationally and authored and co-authored numerous articles, primarily on the intersection of law and emerging technologies. Her most recent publications and presentations include:

BOOKS AND ARTICLES

REPRESENTATIVE SPEECHES

  • Mastering Fair Use and IP Infringement in the Social Media Realm: A Guide for Attorneys, a CLE course co-sponsored by the Federal Bar Association and myLawCLE (May 2023)
  • Protecting Designs and Intellectual Property in the Virtual World, co-presented with James Aquilina, for the American Intellectual Property Law Association Design Rights Bootcamp (November 2022)
  • Digital Fashion and Brand Protection: Leveraging Copyright, Trademark, and Trade Dress; NFTs; Ownership Challenges, a CLE webinar sponsored by Strafford (May 2022)
  • Annual Presentation to the Association for Information Media and Equipment (AIME) on current Intellectual Property and Privacy Issues Impacting K-12 Education
  • Copyright Issues for K-12 National Association of Media & Technology Centers (NAMTC) Northeast Regional Leadership Summit in Syracuse, NY (May 10, 2019)
  • The Impact of Multimedia, The Internet and Online Services on Content Licensing: A Mock Negotiation, Technology Law for the Information Age, D.C. Bar, Computer and Telecommunications Law Section
  • Multimedia: The Changing Landscape, D.C. Bar Winter Convention Seminar
  • Association of News Media Internal Auditors
  • Music Meets Technology, D.C. Bar, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, Washington Area Music Association, Georgetown University Law Center Sports and Entertainment Law Society
  • International Federation of Newspaper Executives
  • The Brookings Institution – MIT Alfred Sloan Fellows
  • Wireless Data Conference
  • University of Navarro, Pamplona, Spain
  • Research and Engineering Council of the Graphics Arts Industry, Inc.
  • Conference on Newspaper and Telecommunications Opportunities, Voice, Fax and Online Services, The Kelsey Group
  • Mobile Data Conference & Exhibition
  • Journalism in the Information Age, New York City Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists
  • Understanding Business Policy and Operations, Brookings Institution Conference for Corporate Executives