Peter J. Pizzi

Partner, Roseland, New York City and
Philadelphia Offices

85 Livingston Avenue

Roseland, New Jersey 07068

Phone:  (973) 535-0500

ppizzi@connellfoley.com

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Representative Experience
Professional Activities
Publications

Published Decisions


Peter J. Pizzi is a business litigator with substantial experience in a broad range of subject areas. His practice focuses on business and employment litigation, securities litigation and SRO arbitration, the protection of intellectual property, labor and employment law, and internet law. 

 

Mr. Pizzi has handled matters on behalf of corporate clients in a broad array of industries, including pharmaceuticals, finance services, computer technology, cosmetics, industrial equipment, and foodservice and food processors. Within those industries, he is experienced with contract claims, tort actions, whistleblower and discrimination claims, securities and consumer class actions, shareholder derivative suits, minority shareholder disputes, and copyright and trademark actions.

 

The Board of Trial Attorney Certification of the Supreme Court of New Jersey designated Mr. Pizzi a Certified Civil Trial Attorney in 1998. He was recertified in 2006.

 

He is a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and Co-Chair of the Section’s Internet and Litigation Committee. He also serves as Co-Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Internet and Computer Law Committee.

 

Mr. Pizzi regularly lectures at CLE programs, frequently writes on issues relating to technology law, and is often consulted by news media for insight regarding technology-related topics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice Areas:

Business Litigation

Labor and Employment Law

Internet and Information Technology

 

Admitted to Practice:

State of New Jersey

State of New York

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

State of Colorado

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

 

Education:

Bowdoin College (A.B., Government, magna cum laude, 1975)

Fordham University School of Law (J.D., 1978) 

 

Affiliations:

American Bar Association

New Jersey State Bar Association

New York State Bar Association

Essex County Bar Association

 

News:

Connell Foley Co-Sponsors Summer Associate Mixer for Young Lawyers (July 2008)

Pizzi to Speak on Cutting Edge Litigation Issues at New York State Bar Association’s Spring Meeting of the Litigation Section (March 2008)

MasterCard Worldwide Publishes Pizzi Podcast on Non-Compete Agreements (February 2008)

Pizzi to Speak on Cutting Edge Litigation Issues at Information Technology Conference (December 2007)

The Star-Ledger Quotes Pizzi on Cyber-Bullying Case (November 2007)

Pizzi Quoted on Entrepreneur.com (February 2007)


Representative Experience

Led a team performing an internal investigation of whistleblower claims by a former employee of one of New Jersey's largest insurance and financial services companies;

Defended a consumer class action which presented issues under the Class Action Fairness Act and a class-action waiver clause;

Obtained dismissal of a Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower complaint;

Obtained a favorable jury verdict defending a college professor’s claims of sex discrimination;

Tried to a favorable federal court jury verdict an unfair competition case;

Succeeded at trial in a minority shareholder’s squeeze-out lawsuit;

Successfully represented corporate officers in securities class actions and related SEC investigations.

Professional Activities

Speaker, Spring Meeting, NY State Bar Association, Commercial & Federal Litigation Section, “Web 2.0 Liability Risks” (May 2008)

Speaker, Practicing Law Institute's 2008 Information Technology Law Institute, "Litigation Issues in the Web 2.0 World" (March 2008)

Interviewed, Money Matters syndicated radio show on the RIM Patent Battle (2006)

Interviewed, Money Matters syndicated radio show on Grokster and the File-Sharing Conundrum (2005)

Panelist, New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Spring Meeting, "Ethical Issues Presented by Ex Parte Subpoenas To Unmask Anonymous Defendants" (2004)

Panelist, New Jersey ICLE Seminar, "Privacy Issues in the E-Workplace: Individual Freedom of Speech vs. The Company's Right to Protect Itself" (2001)
Panelist, New Jersey ICLE Labor Law Forum & Bench Bar Conference, "Cyber Smear" Litigation, Privacy, The Internet and the Workplace" (2001)

Publications

Co-Author, "A Primer on Net Neutrality" (with Stephen Elliot) (November 2007)

Author, "Disloyal Employees" published in the New York Law Journal (September 5, 2006)

Author, "Google Image Search: Court Deals a Blow to Fair Use in Adult Site Litigation" published in the New York Law Journal (May 2, 2006)

Author, "Patent Injunctions:The Effect of the Public Interest in NTP v. RIM" published  in the New York Law Journal (March 14, 2006)

Author, "The Google Book Project Takes Aim at Industry's Content Cache" published in the New York Law Journal (January 3, 2006)

Author, "Grokster Means More Litigation For Tech Firms" published in the New Jersey Law Journal (August 8, 2005)

Author, "Employer Communication: E-Mail Can Compel Employees to Arbitrate Workplace Claims" published in the New York Law Journal (July 5, 2005)
Author, "Lessons from Uncle Henry's" published in the New York Law Journal (May 3, 2005)
Author, "Idea versus Expression: Copyright Claim for Industrial Parts Vexes the Third Circuit" published in the New York Law Journal (with Noel D. Humphreys) (February 22, 2005)
Author, "Perfect 10 v. Google, Adult Web Site Challenges Search Engine on Image Hits" published in the New York Law Journal (January 4, 2005)
Author, "Sony v. Does: P2P Filesharing May Involve Protected Speech" published in the New York Law Journal (October 4, 2004)
Author, "Doe' Defendants: The RIAA's New Front in the Battle Against 'P2P' Filesharers" published in the New York Law Journal (June 8, 2004)
Co-Author, "Strategies for Unmasking the 'Anonymous' Internet User" published in the New York State Bar Association's  Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Newsletter (with Rajen Akalu) (Spring 2004)

Co-Author, "Opting In: Congress Passes the Can-Spam Act of 2003"(with M. Trevor Lyons) (2004)

Author, "Grappling with 'Cybersmear" published an article in the New Jersey Law Journal (July 23, 2001)
Author, "Sons of Thunder v. Borden: State High Court Has No Faith in Contracts" published in The Legal Opinion Newsletter (October 24, 2007)

Published Decisions

National Utility Service Inc. v. Huntsman Chemical Corporation, 70 F. Supp.2d 496 (D.N.J. 1999)
National Utility Service, Inc. v. Chesapeake Corporation, 45 F.Supp.2d 438          (D.N.J. 1999)
APC Commodity Corp. v. Ram Dis Ticaret, A.S., 965 F. Supp. 461 (S.D.N.Y. 1997)
NYT Cable TV v. Homestead at Mansfield, Inc., 543 A.2d 10 (N.J. 1988)
Direct Satellite Communications, Inc. v. Bd. of Publ. Util., 615 F. Supp. 1558
(D.N.J. 1985)
Heating and Plumbing Engineers, Inc. v. H. J. Wilson Co., Inc., 698 P.2d 1364 (Ct. App. Colo. 1984)