ATTORNEYS - Byron L. McMasters

Practice Areas
Byron McMasters concentrates his practice in business and intellectual property litigation. Additionally, Byron provides advice to clients on tax issues.

Work for Clients
Byron assists clients in all facets of complex litigation. He has handled issues of patent and trademark infringement, unfair competition, breach of residential and commercial construction contracts, valuation of a limited liability company in a buyout proceeding, and commercial transactions.

Prior to joining the firm, he successfully served as lead counsel, settling or securing dismissal of several cases including a copyright infringement claim against an internet user in connection with downloading movies and music from a peer-to-peer network, a property dispute with a national cellular telephone service provider over placement of a cell phone tower, and a fraud action against a supplier of building materials for a large construction company.

Byron has represented clients before state and federal courts and before American Arbitration Association, JAMS, National Association of Securities Dealers and New York Stock Exchange arbitration panels. He has appeared on behalf of clients in a number of jurisdictions, including Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York and California.

Byron also counsels the firm's clients on sophisticated business and transactional tax matters. He has handled issues concerning corporate reorganizations, S corporation elections, unrelated business taxable income to tax-exempt entities, tax withholding requirements in real estate transactions with foreign individuals and the statutory requirements for formation of real estate investment trusts and real estate operating companies.

Professional Activities
Byron has been named to the board of directors of Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living, a non-profit founded in 1994 dedicated to promoting sustainable living practices as a catalyst to creating healthy communities. While in law school, Byron served as a legal intern for the Office of Unfair Import Investigations of the United States International Trade Commission where he assisted investigative attorneys representing the American people in patent, copyright and trademark infringement actions between private individuals and entities.

American Bar Association, Rhode Island Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Education
Pennsylvania State University (B.S. Mathematics with a minor in Economics, 1999); Franklin Pierce Law Center (J.D., 2002); Boston University School of Law (LL.M. Taxation, 2003).

Bar and Court Admissions
Rhode Island (2006); Pennsylvania (2004); United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island (2007); United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (2005); United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (2005); United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2005); United States Court of International Trade (2005).

bmcmasters@duffysweeney.com