Intellectual Property, Trademarks, Copyright’s and a Coffee: An Interview with Mr. Jan Paul Vissepó, LLM

Jan Paul Vissepó is his name. He is a young man of 34 years old who lives alone in his apartment in an exclusive building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “I’m single, happy, and full of work”, he states with a smile in his face. Mr. Vissepó makes his Bachelor Degree in Communications in the University of Kansas, then he study Intellectual Property Master degree in Chicago and finalize his studies in Law in the prominent Catholic University in Ponce, Puerto Rico. After his preparation as a student he discovered his passion for the entertainment industry.

He received me in his office in the middle of his lunch break: “Do you want a coffee? Elena (his secretary) brings some coffee for me and for my student friend Jose, We are going to have a chat about this fascinating industry”. With this comment I felt very comfortable doing the interview and began to express myself regarding the Industry and the issues we should encounter in the middle of a project, productions, artist management and many other scenarios.

“How was your first job?” I said, he started to look to his pictures and said, “My first job as attorney was when I was an intern in the office of another entertainment lawyer here in the Island, Wisin & Yandel was my first real job (clients), when they were broke and without any fame”.

Wisin & Yandel (famous urban artists) and the “reggaeton” (music genre) were a pretty hard work for Vissepó back then, he didn’t know what he was doing with these artists and suddenly one day they became the #1 duo in all radio stations in Puerto Rico and Latin America. They made a world tour in countries like: Israel, Spain, Italy, Colombia, Panamá, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico and USA among others. The New Post said: “Reggaetón, the Puerto Rican rhythm-and-rhyme style that spread from regional to international audiences as the 21st century began, has been stalled in the United States by a language barrier. Hip-hop and R&B had their flirtation with it around 2005. But in other Spanish-speaking territories, reggaetón has entrenched itself so strongly that the Puerto Rican duo Wisin & Yandel sold out Madison Square Garden on Saturday night” – (J. Parles, June 9, 2008).

During his search for a position in the entertainment industry of legal services, he started to work for local artists like: Fiel a la Vega (Spanish rock), Jadiel (urban), Glen Monroing (folklore), Melina León (Merengue), Don Omar (actor and urban) among others. These artists are well known in the Puerto Rican entertainment industry. One of his big case was regarding a claim were the ex manager of Wisin & Yandel request a twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) for breach of contract. In this case, the ex manager of this group ask for money because apparently, they throw him from their career. The case is being seen now on court. “I’m very excited with this case, I am working hard and I will win the battle”, said the lawyer with his strong voice.

Passion is the key word to be successful in this competitive career. I really like the “extraordinaire mind” of this lawyer. He is very aggressive in his tone of voice and spontaneous. If Mr. Vissepó could work with me in my production company I would definitely be honored and going to feel comfortable because he demonstrates me his real “professional side”. This side is the part of a businessman who likes what he does and what he is doing to others.