Mr. Gelbard has provided counsel in all aspects of the adult entertainment industry, including state and federal civil litigation, state and federal criminal defense, transactional matters, federal records keeping compliance, internet domain disputes and the protection and licensing of copyrights and trademarks.

Mr. Gelbard served a two year term as a board member of the Free Speech Coalition, the trade association for the adult entertainment industry, and later represented the association. On behalf of the Free Speech Coalition, he drafter proposed legislation which was subsequently enacted in California as Penal Code Section 1536.5 which allows businesses who’s records are seized pursuant to a search warrant to obtain copies of the records through a judicial proceeding.


Recent notable cases include:

John Stagliano, Inc. v. Kaytel Video Distribution, et al, (Central District of California, 2007), a federal copyright case involving the sale and importation of counterfeit DVDs. On behalf of his client, Mr. Gelbard was successful in obtaining an 11.2 million dollar jury award, the largest ever received for the infringement of the copyrights and trademarks of an adult entertainment company.

In re Grand Jury, (District of Columbia, 2009), a case in which Mr. Gelbard participated in obtaining an order quashing a federal grand jury subpoena seeking customer identities and purchasing information from an adult entertainment company.

United States v. Stagliano, et al, (District of Columbia, 2010), a federal obscenity prosecution of one of the industry’s pre-eminent producers and two corporate entities in which Mr. Gelbard participated in obtaining an acquittal of all charges brought against all defendants.

In practice since 1996, Mr. Gelbard is a member of the State Bar of California, as well as the Bars of the United States District Courts for the Central, Southern and Northern Districts of California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He is also a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association.

Mr. Gelbard has been featured in the Daily Journal, the National Law Journal, California Lawyer, the Los Angeles Times, Adult Video News and X-Biz. He is a frequent speaker and panelist at professional conferences including the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, Internext, the Phoenix Forum, and Erotica LA.