About
Leading Expertise in Financial Damages, Economic Damages, IP, Royalty Auditing, & Licensing
With over 30 years of experience in forensic accounting and economic damages analysis, Mr. Blum specializes in financial damages spanning from millions to billions of dollars. His expertise covers a broad range of areas, including:
-Intellectual Property: Patent and trademark infringement, licensing disputes, and reasonable royalty rates.
-Contract and Financial Disputes: Breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, fraud, and lost profits.
-Royalty Audits: Analysis of royalty auditor competence and the calculation of damages related to royalty agreements.
Mr. Blum’s career includes leadership roles such as serving as the Chief Audit Officer at Beats (now Apple) and a former KPMG Partner, where he led corporate and complex financial audits. He is also the author of two books on contract financial language and auditing, published by Oxford University Press and LexisNexis.
His well-grounded reports have been cited by judges as best examples in legal proceedings. Having been retained in more than 150 matters, he brings invaluable real-world corporate experience to every case.
Sidney P. Blum is a highly experienced economic damages expert with a specialization in State, Federal, and USITC matters. He has worked on a broad range of cases, from simple to multi-billion dollar complex litigations, providing expert testimony in areas including economic damages, lost profits, royalty audits, and royalty auditor competence.
Areas of Expertise:
-Intellectual Property: Patent disputes, copyright and trademark infringement, false advertising, DMCA (including expert witness for the $66 million award), Lanham Act, and business interruption.
-Financial & Economic Damages: Breach of contract, class action, complex commercial litigation, fraud, forensics, accountant malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful termination, and USITC matters.
-Royalty Audits, Licensing, & Compliance: Royalties, auditor independence, auditor malpractice, and royalty disputes. He is a world-leading authority on royalty auditing with over 2,500 audits supervised.
Mr. Blum is recognized for his profound understanding of Georgia-Pacific factors, having led numerous royalty audits, and providing expert testimony on the responsibilities of independent auditors in these audits. His well-grounded reports have been cited as best examples by judges.
Royalty Audits, Contract Compliance & Licensing:
Mr. Blum led the global royalty audit practices at Ernst & Young and KPMG, and authored two books on the subject published by Oxford University Press and LexisNexis. He has performed contract compliance audits in numerous sectors, including motion picture, video games, oil & gas royalties, publishing, and digital distribution.
Fraud & Forensics:
Mr. Blum was one of five members of the 2016-2017 Board of Regents of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), with over 80,000 members. He was named “Certified Fraud Examiner of the Year” in 2012 and has extensive experience in fraud investigations and forensic accounting.
Industry Expertise:
Mr. Blum's experience spans a wide range of industries, including: Advertising, Automotive, Beer & Beverages, Biotechnology, Construction, Electronics, Energy, Film, Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals, Software, Toys & Games, Video Games, Wireless Communications, and more.
Representative Clients:
Mr. Blum has provided expert services to top-tier clients including: A-list talent, Amgen, Beats Electronics, Disney, Dolby, General Motors, IGT, Microsoft, McDonald’s, NFL, Occidental Petroleum, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Toshiba, Warner Bros., Writers Guild, and many others.
Career Highlights:
Prior Employment: KPMG Partner, Chief Audit Officer at Beats Electronics (now part of Apple), Ernst & Young, Disney Consumer Products, and Occidental Petroleum.
Recognition:
Named “Forensic Services Expert Witness of the Year” in 2016 by Corporate America and California CPA of the Year in 2017 by Surgent.
Sample Landmark Cases:
• UMB Bank v. Sanofi: Stock contingent value rights ($315 million)
• Jillian Michaels v. Lionsgate: free video content released on YouTube ($5.8 million)
• MBC v. Create New Technology: DMCA theft of cable signals ($66.7 million)
• Converse, Inc. vs. Highline United: USITC trademark case for defense