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Donald E. Biederman, a veteran entertainment lawyer and law school professor who put a face on the dangers of too much exposure to the sun by appearing in a graphic public service commercial sponsored by the American Academy of Dermatology, has died. He was 67.
Biederman, founding director of the National Entertainment and Media Law Institute at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, fought a six-year battle with skin cancer, during which doctors were forced to remove his nose and a cheek. He died Thursday at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica.
Before joining the full-time faculty at Southwestern in 2000, Biederman spent 17 years as executive vice president and general counsel of Warner/Chappell Music, the world's largest music publishing company.
As the firm's chief legal officer, he supervised its legal staff and outside counsel in litigation in the U.S. and abroad. He also served as liaison with Time Warner's corporate legal staff and worked with trade groups on legislation to combat piracy in electronic media.
Biederman wrote what many consider to be the finest case book on entertainment law, "Law and Business of the Entertainment Industries," which is in its fifth edition and is used in more than 80 law schools.
But it was his battle with skin cancer and his decision to appear in 1999 in a national campaign about the dangers of sun exposure that propelled him into the public spotlight.
Campbell Mithun, the Minneapolis-based advertising agency for the American...