In the last days of 2020, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (the CASE Act) was enacted as part of the $2.3 trillion omnibus spending and COVID-19 relief bill. The CASE Act establishes the Copyright Claims Board and a voluntary, streamlined adjudication process for pursuing: infringement claims capped at $30,000 in damages (actual or statutory); declaratory judgments of non-infringement; and certain claims related to notices and counter-notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. As next steps, the Copyright Office has a year (or up to 18 months if an extension is sought) to establish the Copyright Claims Board. For this panel, we have gathered speakers from multiple perspectives and backgrounds -- groups in support, groups in opposition, and former Copyright Office officials -- to discuss the CASE Act and the Copyright Claims Board, implications, and implementation. Topics for discussion will include an overview of the Act, considerations and concerns around the Copyright Office's implementation, potential impact on the broader copyright ecosystem and specific industries, and how we might benchmark success for the Copyright Claims Board.

SFIPLA is pleased to welcome the following speakers on these topics for a moderated virtual question and answer panel discussion: (1) Jacqueline Charlesworth, principle at Charlesworth Law and the former General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights at the U.S. Copyright Office, (2) Keith Kupferschmid, CEO of the Copyright Alliance, a nonprofit membership organization that represents a variety of organizations and individual creators and supported the CASE Act, and (3) Mitch Stoltz, a senior staff attorney from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which opposed the CASE Act. The panel will be moderated by Rachel Fertig, an associate at Morgan Lewis, and a former Ringer Fellow and attorney-advisor at the Copyright Office.

PANELISTS

Jacqueline Charlesworth founder and principal of Charlesworth Law, is a litigator and transactional attorney whose practice is focused on copyright law and policy. Jacqueline’s clients include leading music, film, entertainment and software companies, industry trade associations, and songwriters, recording artists and other individual creators. In addition to handling litigation and licensing transactions, Jacqueline advises on copyright related legislative and regulatory matters. In 2018, she was named a Billboard Woman Executive of the Year for her role in helping to craft and secure passage of the Music Modernization Act, landmark legislation to update U.S. music licensing rules. Previously, Jacqueline served as General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights of the U.S. Copyright Office, where she had primary responsibility for interpretation of the U.S. Copyright Act and oversaw a wide range of litigation, legislative, regulatory and policy matters, including the Office’s participation in Supreme Court cases. Jacqueline has lectured extensively on music and copyright law, including at Yale, Harvard, Columbia and other law schools. She serves as a trustee of the Los Angeles Copyright Society and is Special Counsel to the songwriter advocacy organization Songwriters of North America (SONA).

Mitch Stoltz is a Senior Staff Attorney at EFF. Mitch focuses on copyright, trademark, antitrust, telecommunications, and free speech. He has worked for years to fight the use of copyright as a tool for censorship, and to keep the Internet open for creativity and innovation from far and wide. His recent projects include formulating new approaches to antitrust and competition policy in Internet industries, litigation on the copyright status of mandatory safety codes, and cases on Internet TV and radio. Mitch also counsels clients on the use of open licenses for software and media. Before joining EFF, Mitch was an associate at Constantine Cannon LLP in Washington DC. Long ago, in an Internet far far away, Mitch was a security engineer at Netscape Communications, where he worked to secure Web browsers against malware and coordinated the security research efforts of hackers on three continents. Mitch has a JD from Boston University School of Law and a BA in Public Policy Analysis and Computer Science from Pomona College.

Keith Kupferschmid is chief executive officer of the Copyright Alliance. Before joining the Copyright Alliance, Keith served as the General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Intellectual Property for the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). During his 16 years at SIIA, he represented and advised SIIA member software and content companies on intellectual property (IP) policy, legal and enforcement matters. He has testified before Congress and various federal and state government agencies on IP issues and also supervised SIIA’s Anti-Piracy Division, including working with federal and state government officials on civil and criminal piracy cases. Prior to joining SIIA, Keith worked as an IP attorney at the law firm of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, IP attorney-advisor at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), Director of Intellectual Property at the United States Trade Representative, and Policy Planning Advisor at the U.S. Copyright Office.

Rachel Fertig is an associate at Morgan Lewis where she assists media, technology, and retail companies with copyright protection and enforcement, bringing government and private-industry perspective to the firm’s intellectual property practice. Previously a Ringer Fellow and attorney-advisor at the US Copyright Office, Rachel helped develop the government’s amicus brief in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc.; revise the Compendium of US Copyright Office Practices; and advise whether to grant or deny final administrative appeals of rejected registrations. Rachel also previously worked at the Association of American Publishers and helped draft accessibility legislation and proposals to modernize copyright law.

Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Time: 12pm-1pm

Place: ZOOM (login credential details to be provided prior to program meeting date)

Cost: FREE

The San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association is an approved provider of California MCLE credit, and certifies that the above activity meets the requirements for one hour of participatory credit.