Michael Jones

Michael E. Jones

Professor Emeritus

College
College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Department
School of Criminology and Justice Studies
Phone
978-934-2774
Office
Falmouth Hall - 3rd Floor
Email
Michael_Jones@uml.edu

Research Interests

Intellectual property for visual fine artists; Legal and ethical issues confronting the sports, entertainment and art fields.

Detailed research and writings on domestic and international copyright and trademark laws and publicity and moral rights as they apply to visual fine artists especially painters and photographers. Research conducted in Europe, Cuba, South America, Central America, China, and India and throughout the USA. Pioneering research on sports and entertainment law Olympic, college and professional levels.

Education

  • BA: Economics, Denison University - Granville, OH
  • JD, University of Miami - Coral Gables, FL
  • MA, Harvard University - Cambridge, MA
  • MBA, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA
  • Other: Fine Arts, (2010), New Hampshire Institute of Art - Manchester, NH
  • Other: Fine Arts, (2008), Art Students League - New York City

Biosketch

Michael E. Jones is Professor Emeritus after many years of teaching law and serving as the Director for the Legal Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is recognized as one of the pioneer educators and practitioners in the field of Sports Law. He taught the first undergraduate Sports Law class in America and authored the first text of its kind for non-lawyers. He co-created the inaugural professional association for training agents to represent sports figures and celebrities in contract negotiations, which is now part of the NFL Players Association. He was the principal draftsperson for the first collective bargaining agreement for professional soccer in the United States. He covered legal issues in sports, entertainment, and art for a variety of television networks, radio programs and print publications including writing for Huffington Post. Jones won numerous teaching awards, while instructing undergraduate and graduate students in Business Law, Media Law and Ethics, Legal Concepts, International Law, and Sports, Entertainment and Art Law.

In 2019, Jones was named a Fulbright-Nehru Specialist by the U.S. State Department. Under this program he taught Intellectual Property at the Jindal Global University Law School in Sonipat, India. Earlier, he held a distinguished appointment as a Visiting Professor at the University of London. Recently, he addressed the renowned think tank, Santa Fe Institute, as external faculty.

Professor Jones is well known as a visual fine artist. For five consecutive summer Olympic Games he has designed and created the official sport of triathlon poster for the U.S.O.C. His oil paintings have appeared on numerous PBS television sets for cooking shows.

His interest in athletes began at an early age when he competed at the highest level as a swimmer and runner, where he qualified for the Olympic Trials as a sprinter in one event and medaled as middle- distance runner at the Penn Relays in the other. Later he became an elite triathlete winning numerous international and national championships.

His service to sports includes being named the inaugural chair for the International Forum Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law by the American Bar Association. For decades he has adjudicated non-performance enhancing disputes for various Olympic governing bodies. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors for the USA governing body for the sport of triathlon. He has taken a national leadership role in addressing safe sport and transgender participation issues.

Jones is a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors for Provincetown Arts magazine. Previously, he was vice-chairman of the board for First Finest Company, a regional bank holding company and chairman of the board for Pelham Bank and Trust, now a part of Sovereign Bank. His public service also includes representing the public as a four-term state legislator and serving twenty-two years as a trial court judge.

Professor Jones’ publications are extensive. They include more than twenty-five legal articles in leading peer-reviewed publications and six books either authored or edited. The latter are Intellectual Property Law Fundamentals (editions 1 and 2, co-authored, 2019, Carolina Academic Press), Art Law (2016, Rowman & Littlefield), Rules of the Game: Sports Law (2016, Rowman & Littlefield), TIMELESS: The Photography of Rowland Scherman (co-edited, 2015, New England Press), Sports Law (1981, Simon & Schuster), Current Issues in Professional Sports (edited, 1979, UNH Press).

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Fulbright-Nehru Specialist (2019), Teaching - U.S. State Department
  • Outstanding Teacher (2010) - University of Massachusetts Lowell

Selected Publications

  • Jones, M. (2019). Intellectual Property Fundamentals 2nd edition (Carolina Academic Press).
  • Jones, M. (2016). Art Law (Rowman and Littlefield).
  • Jones, M. (2016). Rules of the Game: Sports Law (Rowman & Littlefield).
  • Jones, M. (2015). Copyright and the Arts. Provincetown Arts, 93.
  • Jones, M. (2015). TIMELESS: The Photography of Rowland Scherman .
  • Jones, M., Toomey, W.J., Aiken, N., Bazin, M.D. (2014). Intellectual property law fundamentals. Carolina Academic Press
  • Jones, M., Bazin , N. (2014). Intellectual Property Law Fundamentals (Carolina Academic Press).
  • Jones, M. (2014). Using Service-Learning to Teach Intellectual Property Law to art students: a collaborative museum and university partnership. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 7(1) 227.
  • Jones, M. (1981). SportsLaw (Simon & Schuster).
  • Jones, M. (1979). Current Issues in Professional Sports (editor, UNH Press).

Selected Presentations

  • - Presented more than a 100 conference papers, 2020 - Throughout the world

Selected Artistic and Professional Performances and Exhibits

  • Art - Exhibition, Competitive (U.S. Olympic Committee through IOC) - Colorado Springs, CO
  • Art - Exhibition, Invitational (PBS)