Brian L. Frye

Brian L. Frye is a Professor of Law at Tulane Law School. He is a leading scholar of intellectual property law, with a focus on copyright and trademark law, especially in relation to the arts. He has taught many different subjects, and currently teaches intellectual property and the legal profession, as well as a seminar on art law. He has published more than 100 scholarly articles on a wide range of subjects, including copyright, trademark, patent, the right of publicity, charity law, constitutional law, and more.

Before joining the Tulane Law School faculty in 2026, Frye was a Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, where he taught from 2012 to 2026. He was a visiting assistant professor of law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University from 2010 to 2012. He practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York. He also clerked from Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Richard B. Sanders of the Washington Supreme Court.

Frye is also an artist and a filmmaker. He co-produced the documentary film Our Nixon (2013), which premiered at SXSW and was broadcast on CNN. He was included in the Whitney Biennial 2002 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He continues to make art and also provides pro bono legal services to artists and arts organizations.

Professor Frye received a B.A. From the University of California at Berkeley, an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.