Mark Avsec

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Mark Avsec is an American rock keyboardist who is best known for founding and being a member of Donnie Iris the the Cruisers since 1979. Avsec has produced all of the band's albums, and was a former member of the band Wild Cherry ("Play That Funky Music") where he befriended Donnie Iris, with whom he composed Donnie Iris & The Cruisers' hits "Ah! Leah!" (#19 Billboard Mainstream Rock) and "Love Is Like A Rock" (#9 Billboard Mainstream Rock). Avsec was the founder of the band and wrote all of the songs on all of the albums. In 1980, Avsec wrote and produced the debut album for the band LaFlavour which garnered the hit single "Mandolay", climbing to #7 on Billboard's Disco Chart. Avsec later released "Mandolay" himself under the artist name "Art Attack".

By the time Avsec composed LaFlavour's follow-up album, the band's label, MCA, had decided to change the band's name to "Fair Warning" due to interest in disco music tapering off. The lead-off Fair Warning single composed by Avsec was called "She Don't Know Me", which was taken by MCA from the Fair Warning debut album and given to New Jersey's Bon Jovi, who were preparing their debut album for MCA's Mercury label. The label felt Bon Jovi needed the song as a single, making Mark Avsec one of the only outside songwriters ever to compose a song released by Bon Jovi. Avsec has played with other musicians such as Mason Ruffner and The James Gang featuring Joe Walsh, Jimmy Fox, and Dale Peters.

Avsec decided to become a lawyer because he was sued frivolously for the song "Ah! Leah!" He won the lawsuit but lost all of the royalties defending himself. Today Mark has a very successful practice specializing in intellectual property law based in Cleveland, Ohio, having graduated from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1994 magna cum laude.

Avsec focuses his practice on entertainment, copyright, trademark, and e-business matters, including copyright and trademark litigation, privacy law compliance, and the provision of strategic counseling and contract preparation services for various types of entertainment and media companies. He regularly advises clients regarding copyright and trademark infringement, and is involved in trademark preparation and prosecution on behalf of his firm’s clients. Since 2003, Avsec has taught "Law Of The Music Industry" at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Avsec has considerable experience negotiating agreements that involve music-related intellectual property. These include record label agreements, music publishing agreements, personal management agreements, and all aspects of music licensing. Further, he represents music publishing businesses which are either seeking to sell music catalog or are seeking growth through catalog acquisition.^[1]^[2]^[3]